Calling all Rekha Deewana's

I love this artist's impression of Rekha

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)

Madam X Ko Mera Salaam

Rekha as the one and only MADAM X

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

Ghungroo ki Awaaz (1981)

Here I am just right before the end of this month for what would be my last post for Rekhatober, I had prepared so much for Rekhatober but time would not allow, however the many Rekha movies I've watched are not wasted, and i shall be reviewing them randomly in the following months, also Rekha's induction into the bollywood fashion icon hall of fame shall happen at a later date next month. Seeing as today's Halloween i thought i'd round up Rekhatober with this Ramsay Brother chill fest or is it???

Its love at first sight when wealthy Ranjit (Vijay Anand) sets eyes on kajal (Rekha). Kajal however turns out to be a courtesan who's sick of her life in the Kotha (brothel), Ranjit buys her out of there and she comes to live with him

His uncle Jasbir Singh (Shreeram Lagoo) doesn't take too kindly to kajal as she's considered a taint to their family honour

She receives a letter from one of her former lovers Shakal (Dheeraj Kumar)which Ranjit's uncle reads and then alerts Ranjit about. His uncle comes up with a plan to set her up, he decides that if she does indeed meet up with her old lover, then she's a fallen woman and would be kicked out, on the other hand if she doesn't she'll be received into the family as a honourable woman

Thus Ranjit pretends to go a trip in order to catch Kajal red handed. Kajal falls for the trap as she does indeed go out to meet her lover Shakal (Dheeraj Kumar), but her intentions had been to poison him to stop him from coming back to her ever

Ranjit catches Kajal flirting with Shakal and in a state of fury he shoots them both

He and his uncle cover up the murders by setting the mansion on fire. Kajal's ghost soon starts haunting him relentlessly

if Ghosts looked like this, then i wouldn't mind being haunted by one

While on a trip to Bombay to getaway from it all, he meets a doppelgänger of Kajal called Kiran, she becomes his nurse and he falls in love with her too

So cute na, just look at him feeling very pleased with himself

But Kajal won't let him rest and keeps appearing to him and begins making threats to kill Kiran since he has stolen her happiness, in other words if she couldn't live with Ranjit neither will Kiran

Who is this doppelganger and why does she look so much like Kajal? Will Kajal succeed in her mission to kill?

Oh plus the cops are now on Ranjit's back over the murder that took place in his mansion

Ghungroo ki awaaz (The sound of the anklets) is not a great film by any means and those who are expecting the usual Ramsay brothers horror fest better look away as this film isn't their usual blood fest since Vijay Anand who starred in this was the producer himself, all that Ramsay brother gore had to be cleaned out. Indeed one might ask why he casts himself in this, i can only guess he was besotted with Rekha and wanted to share Screen space, just look at him in the pictures below

With that said I enjoyed the film despite its bad screen play, editing and so many other faults like this imdb reviewer lists here. For me Rekha and her ravishing beauty and the drama she brings to the role, gave me my money's worth. Overall Ghungroo ki awaaz (The sound of the anklets) is quite a watchable and a little enjoyable suspense melodrama ridden with plotholes, i wish it had been more chilling and a bit more daring but overall not a bad watch especially for Rekha lovers and for R.d. Burman's music. And oh, watching Vijay Anand scream like a little girl at the sight of Rekha's ghost added much to my enjoyment ;-)

For all Rekha lover's out there, feed your eyes

Ah how cute is the charlie's bag

Other Eye Candy

Padma Khanna had a small role

Tyhe other reason i'll forever remeber this film are R.D. Burman's songs on here, they're all winners from the fantastic 'ankhiyon ka kajra', the beautiful 'pagla pagla' & 'jo bhi tune dekha' i could go on and on but the two I've chosen to embed are the beautifully haunting 'rote rote naina' - i loved the lyrics to this so much and i wish i was able to upload them with english subtitles but the dvd kept playing up

and the other the wonderful Kishore Kumar number 'o mere humraaz (tere ghunghroo ki awaaz)'

Paisa Vasool rating: 5/10 (worth it especially because of R.D. Burman's music)

Agreement (1980)

The first film in line for Rekhatober is Agreement, i had high hopes for this film but it somehow left me disappointed but since its a Rekha film i don't regret watching it although it could have been a lot more better

Mala (Rekha) returns back to India after studying business management in Germany to run her father's company

Mala is a hardworking and driven woman who's determined to keep her father's empire at the top, she also has modern attitudes like her belief that women should not treat men like Gods (now if you watch your bollywood, we all know her modern attitudes came as a result of living in Germany for years)

vah!vah! I really loved her rather butch style of dressing in this

When her Uncle Mr Mathur (Utpal Dutt) brings up the idea of Marriage to Mala, she proposes top do it her way by marrying a man who'll do all the things a traditional Indian wife usually does, her uncle assures her she won't find such a man in India but Mala insists she will and thus places an advert in the papers about her search for a domesticated husband

you tell him Girl

Fearing a man who's out to drain Mala of her riches will be chosen, her Uncle Mr Mathur outsmarts her and chooses Shekhar (Shailendra Singh) a struggling graduate for her

Shekhar auditions like hundreds of others to become Mala's domesticated husband but Mala is taken aback by his enthusiasm to become the domesticated husband that she chooses him

He agrees to Mala's contract, which reads like these Mala draws a clause of what her marriage partner must adhere to, they're are as follows and can only be terminated after a full year has passed

i love how she even wears a trouser suit to her wedding Atta girl!!

1. the marriage between her Shekhar is a fake marriage set up merely to deceive others

2. No Intimacy

3. The man must be devoted to his wife and do everything for her

4. He must entertain her guests

5. he must gain her permission if her requires to work outside

6. He would receive an allowance of Rs1,000 and 12 hours a week off

7. If he breaks any of the above, she can send him packing without notice

Shekhar agrees to the conditions, and soon finds Mala's ways unbearable

its not long before outsiders (Bindu & Sujit Kumar) start noticing how set up their marriage appears to be

Will Shekhar hang on or will he quit? Will Mala's secret be exposed to all? Will she end up falling in love with Shekhar?

Now if you know your hindi films very well, you should very well know how all this would end, Mala ends up being the very model of womanhood she hated, at the beginning of the film and mostly through the first half Mala sports a short hairdo and wears western clothes by the end of it, she's become a Bharitya Naari (ideal Indian womanhood)

(i couldn't help but think of bollyviewer's Bharitya Naari list, it would have done her a lot of Good to read it, or wait maybe she did)

I was disappointed with this film, as it ended up being sexist, and if you're a feminist, you might want to avoid this film, as it would annoy the hell out of you. Given the premise of the story i was expecting the movie to be given a comedic touch but the whole thing just ended up being a cliche and very manipulative to make Mala realise the error of her ways and become the exact kind of Indian womanhood which she had so much being against.

Acting wise everyone is ok but i found Utpal Dutt's smug uncle act, which he played convincingly well very unbearable

Shailendra Singh was a notable playback singer at the time played the role of Shekhar, he wasn't too bad as an actor but good thing he stuck to his playback singing

Now talking of my Diva Rekha i loved her in this film especially in the first half before she caught the love bug and became a Bharitya Naari, i have to say she rocked the hell out of that wig , it suited her to a T and such a gorgeous face too

The only good thing about this film i have to say are the songs by Bappi Lahiri, highlights are 'Suno baat pateki' 'apne pyar diya' my favourites are Jeena ye koi' a male version by Shailendra Singh and 'jaane kyun mujhe' a female Lata version which i've embedded below with English subtitles