Rekha Birthday Special : Story of her love affair with Amitabh Bachchan

By Lokmat English Desk | Published: October 10, 2020 01:49 PM2020-10-10T13:49:35+5:302020-10-10T13:49:35+5:30

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Amitabh and Rekha's love story is one of the most talked-about affairs of Bollywood even till date. Yet, this much-talked-about love story always remained a mystery as both the actors never accepted their relationship in public.

Their love story began on the sets of film Do Anjaane (1976), when Amitabh was a married man. During the initial days of their secret relationship, the couple used to meet in a bungalow that belonged to Rekha's friend. Nobody knew about this affair between already married Amitabh and Rekha. Everything was a smooth sail until an incident happened

During the shoots of Ganga Ki Saugandh (1978), Big B reportedly lost his temper on a co-actor who was misbehaving with Rekha. After this, their affair came in the limelight and grabbed the media attention. The two denied the affair, but it is loud and clear that the two were dating each other. In one of the interviews, Silsila director, Yash Chopra confirmed their relationship!

The gossip mills started churning out stories of Rekha-Amitabh's affair. They even made headlines saying that Rekha and Amitabh have got secretly married. And, these speculations caught more fire when Rekha made a sensational entry at Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh's wedding, wearing sindoor and mangalsutra. The attention of everyone present at the wedding shifted to Rekha and her much-married look! People started whispering that has Rekha tied the knot!

Not only this, she also went up to Amitabh and started talking to him formally, raising more eyebrows! Talking about how Jaya felt at that time, one of the sources revealed, "Jaya tried to keep a stoic front for a long time, but eventually she had to bend her head and let the tears roll down."

It was reported that after this incident, Jaya Bachchan invited Rekha home for dinner and told her candidly that she would never leave her husband whatever may happen. And likewise, Jaya kept her promise till the very end. Rekha finally realised that she either want to be Mrs. Bachchan or stay single!

In an interview given to Filmfare magazine in 1984, Rekha spoke about Amitabh’s denial of their relationship. She said, "Why should he have not done it? He did it to protect his image, his family, his children. Why should the public know of my love for him or his love for me? I love him and he loves me- that’s it! If he’d reacted that ways towards me in private, I would have been very disappointed.”

She further added, “Mr. Bachchan is still old-fashioned. He doesn’t want to hurt anybody, so why hurt his wife?”Amitabh Bachchan despite the superfluous love for Rekha, never admitted it in public. On the other hand, Rekha boldly admitted her love for him. Silsila was this enigmatic couple's last film together.

In an interview with BBC, director Yash Chopra said that Rekha and Amitabh were very much in a relationship before Silsila. Chopra said, "I was always on tenterhooks and scared (during Silsila) because it was real life coming into reel life. Jaya is his wife and Rekha is his girlfriend and the same story is going on (in real life). Anything could have happened because they are working together."

After the shoot of Silsila, Amitabh-Rekha’s relationship began to fade. Rekha wanted to marry Amitabh and did not want to settle down with the tag of the 'other woman' in Amitabh's life.

She realised she has no future in this relationship as Amitabh was not in any mood to leave his wife Jaya for Rekha. With this, their passionate love story came to an end, both on and off-screen.

After Amitabh and Rekha's relationship had an unfortunate ending, she moved on in life and got married in 1990. Three months into the marriage, Rekha was devastated to know that her husband was mentally ill. . On one unfortunate day, when her distressed husband was not able to take all this, decided to take away his life. In a very dramatic style, he hanged himself to the ceiling fan of his room, using his wife's dupatta. Their marriage lasted for only seven months! She was blamed by Mukesh's family for being a bad wife and taking away his life. She was projected as the 'Vamp' by not only the media but also by many people from the film fraternity.