REKHA

Biography : Bhanurekha Ganesan, popularly known Rekha, is the daughter of veteran Tamil actor Gemini Ganesan and Telugu actress Pushpavalli. She started acting as a child artist in the Telugu film Rangul Ratnam in 1966. She was still a teenager when she entered Bollywood, her first film being Anjana Safar. Rekha had taken up acting due to financial circumstances and not for aspirations. Adjusting to Bombay was a big task for her. She was noticed in the film Sawan bhadon, which is generally regarded as her debut. Subsequently, she acted in several noteworthy movies like Rampur ka Lakshman, Kahani kismet ki, etc. Her personality and appearance underwent sea change in the Amitabh Bacchan starrer Do anjaane. Her first milestone in terms of acting was the film Ghar, opposite Vinod Mehra. Late 70s and 80s saw the rise of Rekha the superstar with hits like Muqadar ka sikandar, Khoobsurat, Ijaazat, Kalyug, Utsav, Silsila, etc. She is best known for her portrayal of Amiran in Umrao Jaan. In the 90s, she did more mature roles like in the films Kamasutra, Khiladiyon ke khiladi and Aastha. Then on she graduated to character roles, especially the role of Hrithik Roshan’s mother and grandmother in Koi Mil Gaya and Krissh. She has been honoured with Padma Shri Award and has been nominated as member of the Rajya Sabha. She was last seen in the film Super Nani. Rekha had a long-standing affair with Amitabh Bacchan. She was married to industrialist Mukesh Agarwal, who committed suicide. She lives in Mumbai.