Rekha had been in the industry
for six-seven years, starring in numerous potboilers like Saawan
Bhadon, Kahani Kismat Ki, Rampur Ka Lakshman and
Gora Aur Kala. It was her professional - and some say,
personal - association with Amitabh that altered the course
of her career. It transformed her from an ugly duckling to a
graceful swan. That Bachchan-inspired makeover set the tongues
wagging.
The rumours of an extra-marital affair swirled around Amitabh
until the early 1980s, when Yash Chopra pulled off a major casting
coup in Silsila. The film starred Amitabh, Jaya (this
was her first ever on-screen credit as Jaya Bachchan) and Rekha
in a love triangle that was believed to mirror their real life.
The publicist and the fans of the three stars could not have
asked for more.
The expected commercial success of Silsila, surprisingly, laid
all |
| ghosts to rest and Amitabh never
shared screen space ever again with Rekha, an actress with him
he done the maximum number of films (nine), including some of
the biggest hits of his career - Muqaddar Ka Sikandar,
Suhaag and Khoon Pasina.
While Rekha has often given her true feelings away in the
course of television and print interviews in the 20-odd years
since then, Amitabh, as always, has maintained complete silence,
neither confirming nor contradicting the allegations.
 That
is the very posture that he adopted when Bollywood gossip
rags went to town in the late 1980s with Parveen Babi's bitter
recriminations against what she described as a "betrayal"
by the Big B.
Amitabh and Parveen had worked with each other in successful
films like Deewar, Khuddaar, Shaan, Kaalia
and Amar Akbar Anthony. Thanks to the linkage with
the megastar, Parveen's career soared beyond all expectations.
Her decline is understood to have been triggered as soon as
Bachchan dropped her like a hot potato when the rumours mills
began to work overtime regarding their alleged affair.
The attention that Bachchan got in the gossip columns wasn't
surprising, though. That is how journalists on the trail of
juicy stories have treated most successful stars down the
years. While in certain cases - notably that of Dharmendra
and Hema Malini - they were proved right beyond an iota of
doubt, in others they had to scurry for cover soon enough
in what were essentially hit-and-run operations.
From Dilip Kumar and Madhubala, Raj Kapoor and Nargis, Rajesh
and Sharmila Tagore to Shahrukh Khan and Kajol, Aamir Khan
and Preity Zinta and Govinda and Rani Mukherjee have all found
themselves at the receiving end of the febrile imagination
of gossip columnists. It would have been too much of an effort
for these obsessed, star-struck journos to leave Amitabh Bachchan
and Rekha alone.
Saibal Chatterjee
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