As anyone who reads this blog knows or should know by now, Rekha is one of my all time favourite bollywood divas, I can never pick her as an all time favourite as I tend not to have a single favourite thing of anything, this is something i also adhere to in every other areas of my life, whether it be friends, food, music, place etc. I find the idea of having one thing as my favourite very limiting. What I do prefer to have instead are 'favourites', but if push came to shove and i was asked to pick my top three bollywood divas of all time, Rekha will surely be there. The main reason for my Rekha rant today was to share my love for a new Rekha photo blog which i think all Rekha fans would appreciate, from old film Magazine covers, advertisements, to photo shoots, The Rekha the Legend blog is one everyone will enjoy, here are a few pictures form the amazing blog
Vintage Magazine Covers
I love how young and Innocent she looks here
I love the serious tone and look she has on this Filmfare cover, I might track it down on e-bay
Vintage Adverts
I love Gold Spot, I had no idea it was in India too, it used to be a really popular soft drink back when i was in Nigeria
ahh cute and young Rekha, I love her look here
Head Wrap Diva Rekha definitely loved her hair Wraps
My Favourite amongst the head wrap lot, I love how Diva-licious she looks here
Other Photo Shoots
Totally loving her pose and attitude here
Those sunglasses are fab, J'adore
This is such a seductive image of Rekha, Je T'aime
Questionable Choices In as much she takes my breath away most times, Rekha also delivers a yeh kya hai (What is this) moments sometimes, case in point is the picture below, where i can only wonder what her inspiration was (Pierrot perhaps)
All images courtesy of Sonali's awesome Rekha Photo blog Rekha the Legend ( be sure to check it out, follow it or bookmark it)
The above blog title is the opening dialogue to Madam X which I've long been praying for to be released, but no one apart from Max Movie Channel seems to have a copy of this classic bollywood female kick ass flick. This 1994 release stars none other than one my favourite bollywood divas Rekha in a double role (wow!!! 2 Rekhas for the price of one). She's working her magic here once more, Kicking ass and parading in fashions fierce enough to give Lady Gaga an envious heart attack and make her quiver in her outrageous platform boots.
Bad asss Rekha, check out that tough babe facial expression!! I love this woman
Lady Gaga would kill to have that Hat
Oh yes and this one too
Giving Face!! You better Work!!!!
Even more FACE!! WHAT 'CHA KNOW 'BOUT THIS
Ahh Lady Gaga would not only Kill, she'll murder to have this ensemble
All hail the Diva!!!
Now let me wet your appetite with a few Youtube clips, that had me hungry (the whole film is available on youtube but without English Subtitles (Part 1 is here), which is something I can never do no matter how desperate I might be, I need to have my English subtitles)
the first clip below includes the line and my new salute for Rekha 'Madam X Ko Mera Salaam' (Madam X I salute you) complete with the theme tune which you just have to hear for yourself 'she is mysterious, she is wanted, she is coming'
The second Clip is Superbly camp and features Rekha in a cat fight against herself (A MUST WATCH)
The height of Campiness with 2 Rekha's in Matching outfits, which is the bad one, see for yourself in the clip below
Alas my pleas have been ignored so far but please Shemaroo, Eagle, T-series, Eros, Big Reliance Pictures, Pen, Priya, Ultra any of you hindi film dvd companies please answer my prayer and release this on Dvd with English Subtitles. Now how about I wet your appetite even further with this gorgeous song from the movie, Rekha's fashion is truly to die for, well ahead of its time I say
A big thank you to everyone for their kind messages and wishes on my previous post marking this blog's second anniversary, it means a LOT (Bahut bahut shukriya). Before i get started on Deol Dhamakka which is going on around some of the Bolly blogosphere at the moment, I thought I'd post this lovely magazine article on Sadhana, who is one of my favourite bollywood diva's from the 60's
The interview gives quite an accurate account of what her life is at the moment with some juicy quotes of course, here are some of the things i learnt about Sadhana from this interview,
She is a bit of a Diva
Sadhana notes that there three major actresses back then , there was
a. Saira Banu (The Beautiful one)
b. Asha Parekh (The Dancer)
c. Me (Sadhana) - The actress Ahh i love you Sadhana i would have done the same
OK so i realise I'm a bit late to the party that is Rekhatober that is going on around some blogs at the moment, but better late than never and i hope i'll pull out all the stops for one of my all time favourite bollywood diva's REKHA (RARE -CAR)
Versatilty is the first thing that comes to mind when i think of Rekha, no other Hindi film actress has reinvented themselves as much as Rekha, no other actress has played with their image and done a wide variety of roles like REKHA, from her courtesan act in Umrao Jaan to the hot Villain cougar in Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi, the decisive avenger in Khoon bhari Maang, to the rape victim in Ghar, the adulteress in Silsila. Rekha has played a wide variety of roles and one would find it hard to pigeon hole Rekha.
Rekha is also the consummate bollywood glamour queen, and diva of course, i can never have an ultimate best song or best film or best actress as i find the idea of picking one thing as your all time favourite very limiting, but if push comes to shove and i have to pick a top ten list of my favourite actresses, Rekha would be somewhere amongst the top.
In Hindi films since women usually don't get much to do i look for my bollywood diva's to bring me these three things
1. Drama - I love an actreess who can emote, , either beautifully or over the top, just be able to deliver dramatic/melodramatic performances and Rekha as we know can handle drama really well. Watch Ghar or Umrao Jaan to see for yourself
Rekha serving some serious drama
2. Glamour - Have you seen Silsila or Khoon Bhari Maang, in fact Rekha always gives me non stop glamour in most of her films, and taking screen caps of Rekha movies is always a problem for me as i am always so enamoured by her beauty right, even from the very start of her career when she was deemed rather unattractive by some.
Rekha in the 70's
3. Dance - Watch the clip below to see Rekha pull some awesome moves
4. Personality - Now i know most people refer to Rekha as some kind of enigma or the Garbo of bollywood as she's often called, due to her very secretive nature or her unwillingness to discuss much about her private life, but from watching her films, i sense she's quite a fun person, i can only think of her Diva act (a great example of this can be seen in the video interview below) that many associate her with as an exaggeration of her personality or her alter ego at best
My contributions for Rekhatober will include movie reviews from different eras of her career and then i shall end things with a bang by inducting her into the Bollywood Fashion Icon hall of fame as i did for Vinod
So hold on to your seats folks, as i take you through the Good, bad, craptastic, and the somewhere in between Rekha films
P.s i also realise i've written more about Rekha than any other actreess on this blog, so far here are the Rekha films i've reviewed (In Chronological order)
Mala Sinha without doubt remains one of my all time bollywood divas, i watched my first Mala Sinha film 'Ankhen' (1968) about this time last year, way before i even started this blog or dreamt of starting it, I fell in love with her grace, charm and Beauty.
Mala was born Alda Sinha to Nepalese Christian Parents, she later changed her name to Mala for professional reasons, her acting career began when Bengali film maker Ardhendu Bose gave her a starring role as a child artiste in a Bengali film, Mala later relocated to Bombay and starred in a few dismal films before being noticed by the playback singer Geeta Dutt who was taken aback by her charm, Geeta introduced her to movie producer Kidar Sharma who cast her in Rangin Raaten where she starred alongside Geeta Dutt and Shammi Kapoor
>>>>>>>>>>>>you can spot a very young Mala at about the 1.04 mark
Following this Mala kept working on perfecting her Hindi and was a singer of some repute on All India Radio, her big break came when acclaimed director Guru Dutt (Geeta's Husband) cast her as Meena in the classic Hindi film Pyaasa thus a star was born and Mala's career took off >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>A painter's impression of Mala in Gumrah (1963)
Mala would go on to act with all the top actors of her time such as Raj Kapoor (Pavarish, Main Nashe Men Hoon) Rajendra Kumar (Dhool Ka Phool), Ashok Kumar (Dharmputra), Sunil Dutt, Dev Anand (Maya & Love Marriage), Raaj Kumar (Phool Bane Angaarey, Mere Huzoor) Shammi Kapoor (Dil Tera Diwana)
Mala became a massive superstar so much so that she often got first billing before some major heroes like Biswajeet, Joy Mukherjee, Manoj Kumar and Dharmendra. In fact most of the success of the classic hindi Spy movie Ankhen relied partly on the massive star power of Mala as Dharmendra wasn't quite a big star then >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Notice Mala receiving top billing on the poster
Asides from actors Mala also worked with all the top prducers like B.R. Chopra, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Subodh Mukehrjee, Guru Dutt, Ramanand Sagar etc. Mala also gave great range as an actress, she did challenging roles most other leading ladies would have shied from, Mala played the greedy woman who married for money in Pyaasa, the mother who gives birth out of wedlock in Dhool Ka Phool, the muslim girl who gets pregnant out of wedlock again in Dharmputra, and the adulteress in Gumrah. Mala was a beautiful performer, indeed i'm aware of all the 'a bit too melodramatic accusations' but Mala was a great performer par excellence often giving very memorable performances
>.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Mala Sinha in Sanjog (1971)
Despite all this i can't help but feel in some way that Mala never really got her due from the Industry awards people, now award shows aren't really my thing, i find them to be very partial and not very fair but still something in me feels uneasy that India's most prestigious film award fraternity 'Filmfare' haven't honoured Mala with a Lifetime Achievement award yet many of her contemporaries and actresses/actors who came after her have all been honoured with one, something just doesn't feel right (of course there's still time to correct this filmfare)
Anyway for the next few days i shall be reviewing some of Mala's well acclaimed work, i had initially planned to do this during her birthday (Nov. 11) last year but due to some work commitments it was impossible but better late than never
