Eternal love saga of Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha

The blistering affair between luminary of the Millennium’ Amitabh Bachchan and the Bollywood’s timeless temptress Rekha remains unequaled. The relationship provided enough substance for chitchat tabloids to run their business for a few good years – that is not surprising given Rekha’s proclivity for loving her men with wild abandon.Amitabh of course was not just her celestial madness- but also he was the madness of the masses and had a ‘basa-basaya ghar’ with devoted wife Jaya, children and parents. Although, Amitabh reportedly had a soft corner, but he did not require any negative publicity to stain his squeaky-clean angry-youngman image. The chemistry between the two was very apparent on screen. Their love story began on the sets of ‘Do Anjaane’ – the second film that they did together. The pair provided hit after hit together – ‘Khoon Pasina’, ‘Ganga Ki Saugandh’, ‘Suhaag’, ‘Muqaddar Ka Sikandar’, ‘Ram Balram’ and ‘Mr. Natwarlal’ amongst others.The on-screen chemistry engendered in the many films they made together, led many to suspect that there was a real life romance happening.

In an unbeliveable casting coup by Yash Chopra, Rekha appeared alongside both Amitabh and his wife Jaya, in the love triangle that was ‘Silsila’ (1981)! This film was their last film together and it incarcerates the real life Rekha-Amit-Jaya infidelity triangle. This Bollywood movie was based on the life story of Amitabh, who had an affair with Rekha while married to Jaya Bhaduri (Bachchan), daughter of eminent Bengali writer Tarun Bhaduri.At the commencement of the affair, the couple apparently met regularly at a secluded bungalow that belonged to Rekha’s friend. It became quite obvious that the two were involved when a normally serious Bachchan roughed up one fellow who heckled her while they were shooting for ‘Ganga Ki Saugandh’. People had begun noticing how the pair was spending more and more time together and were trying to defend their affair from the media glare.Rekha knew she would get the raw deal if Jaya ever found about the affair. She would always be the other woman like her mother had been. There was a lot at stake; especially her fragile ego but she couldn’t care less now that she was madly in love. And once she heard of the clandestine Hema-Dharmendra wedding, she hoped for marriage and threw caution to the wind.

Rekha made headlines when she turned up for Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh’s wedding wearing sindoor, mangalsutra and two rings on her fingers gifted by her Amit. She captured all the limelight that night – even more than the newly weds did.Jaya Bachchan may have pursed her lips at such shameless show of bravado but she would not give in without a fight. She suffered in dignity, refusing to bawl her heart out in interviews and in public.She invited Rekha home for dinner one day. To quote Rekha, ‘Jayaji called me for dinner one evening and though we spoke about everything but ‘him’, before I left that day, she made sure to tell me: ‘I will never leave Amit whatever happens!’ Sure enough, Jaya kept her word.Gossip magazines thrived on the affair. Juicy titbits such as the news of Jaya catching the couple at one of their early morning rendezvous and slapping the other woman appeared with amazing regularity in all leading tabloids. Though she refused to acknowledge the affair in public, Jaya said that if Amit were cheating on her, his conscience would eventually get the better of him and straighten him out.

Jaya’s words rung true – Amitabh the star and the good husband had to buckle under severe media and family pressure. Around the time that ‘Silsila’ captured this torrid love affair, the couple split.It was the end of one of the most passionate affairs both on and off screen. The glamour attached to the couple is such that even today when any of the trio is seen in one place, the camera crews never fail to capture their reactions towards one another. While Mr. and Mrs. Bachchan now present the picture of a happy family nurturing their son Abhishek’s career, Rekha does about a film a year guarding her private life with amazing severity.

Rekha to reveal all in book, Film on her life

In the reclusive silence of Bungalow 2 at Bandra's Bandstand, Rekha has been quietly penning her memories of the last 50 years. But instead of just bringing out a book, the diva now intends to make a film out of
Not only is Rekha penning her memoirs, she plans to make a film from it soon.

"Yes, I have been picking up the pieces of my life from the memories of the past," says the actress. "I have been carefully going back in time to identify every person who has shaped my life and made me realise that I am a product of love. The most important person, of course, is my mother, who couldn't have given me more love."

Prod her about when she intends to publish the book and the actress reveals that she has other plans up her sleeve. She wants to take the help of the "visual medium", too.

"I want to share the experiences of my life and want to thank all those people who made me who I am today," she says. "What I am doing cannot be expressed in such few words. I want to express my gratitude with visuals as well as with words. Though I feel no words are enough to describe the people who have influenced and shaped my life, yet I will take a shot at it."

She doesn't want to reveal much right now. "I am working towards making a formal announcement on the project very soon," she says. "I think I should be ready with my final plans in a couple of months."

Does she really hate getting lifetime achievement awards? "Let me tell you, I never had any problem with the award that was given to me by the Maharashtra government," she clarifies. "Please refer to the speech I gave on the occasion. It is always an honour.

"I never said I will not receive the award. The award was named after Raj Kapoor, who was a father figure to me. I just told them that it is a better idea to name it the Raj Kapoor Award and not add any suffix to it. It was just an idea I gave. I have accepted lifetime achievement awards before... from Ficci, from the South. So, what's the hullabaloo about?"

Rekha too young for 'lifetime' Award!

Time might have raced ahead for her contemporaries, but certainly not for our Rekha. This is what the glamorous actress seemed to have in mind when she refused to accept a “Lifetime Achievement” award from Government of Maharashtra.

Result? The Government of Maharashtra had to change the title of Raj Kapoor Smriti Jeevan Gaurav Puraskar to Pratibha Gaurav Puraskar to please the ageless diva.

Says a source from the government, who did not wish to be named, “She called us and asked us to change the name of the award. She felt that a lifetime achievement award gives the illusion that all the work in one’s career has been done. ‘I still have a lot of unfinished work’ she said to us. We decided to change the name of the award.”

The ceremony will be held in Pune on May 30, and will be graced by Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and Deputy Chief Minister, Chhagan Bhujbal.

We wonder if Aamir Khan might also want the award title renamed as he too has received the same award from Maharashtra govt.