‘While Others Experimented With Drugs, I Was In Love’

‘When
you
are
in
love,
you
are
preoccupied
just
with
that.’
‘Nothing
else
registers.
It’s
like
being
drugged.’

The
youthful

Rekha
turned
70
on
Thursday,
October
10.

The
diva
discusses
various
elements
of
her
life,
including
the
fact
that


she
wanted
to
have
children,
in
a
fascinating
1994
interview
to

Dinesh
Raheja,
then
editor
of

Movie
magazine.

In
this
concluding
part
of
the
interview,
she
recalls
her
first
Hindi
film

Sawan
Badhon,
“When
my
hero
Navin
Nischol
saw
me,
he
was
ready
to
puke.
He
was
like
‘Yeh
namuna
kahan
se
le
aaye
aap?
Itni
kaali
aur
moti‘.”

What
motivates
you
to
continue
working?

Success
is
not
important.
Now,
the
human
side
of
me
inspires
me.
My
aim
in
life
is
to
be
a
perfect
human
being.

I
want
to
be
friends
with
people
and
relate
to
them
normally.

How
much
do
memories
mean
to
you?

Everything.
My
memories
are
very
personal.

Do
you
remember
your
debut-making
film?

I
made
my
debut
in
my
aunt,
Anjali
Devi’s

Ammakosam.
I
was
about
12
and
had
just
come
back
from
my
hostel
in
Salem
district.

My
mom
said
it
was
either
films
or
study.

I
thought
I’d
rather
do
something
where
I
didn’t
have
to
use
my
brains.

Besides,
my
mum
said
we
needed
the
money.

How
did
you
get
your
first
Hindi
film,

Sawan
Bhadon?

When
my
mother
took
me
to
meet
the
director
Mohan
Sehgal,
I
was
in
a
defiant
mood.
I
didn’t
want
to
act
in
Hindi
films.
I
didn’t
know
a
word
of
the
language.

Every
time
he
asked
me
a
question,
I
just
defiantly
replied,
‘No!’

‘Hindi
film

mein
kaam
karogi?

‘No.’

‘Hindi

aati
hai?‘

‘No.’

He
smiled
and
said,
‘No.

Yehi
dialogue

bolna
hai
meri
picture

mein.’

When
my
hero
Navin
Nischol
saw
me,
he
was
ready
to
puke.

He
was
like,
‘Yeh
namuna
kahan
se
le
aaye
aap?
Itni
kaali
aur
moti.’

Do
you
remember
your
first
day
at
shooting
for

Sawan
Bhadon?

I
had
very
long
hair
and
my
two
hairdressers
Khatoon
and
Khatija
were
in
a
fix
because
those
were
the
days
of
bouffants.

If
my
long
thick
hair
was
packed
into
a
wig,
it
looked
like
a

pahad
on
my
head.

In
desperation,
they
chopped
off
my
hair
to
shoulder
length.

I
was
scared
to
tell
my
mother,
she’d
have
killed
me.
And
I
had
to
stand
for
an
hour
while
someone
body
painted
me
from
head
to
toe.

Because
in
those
days,
heroines
were
required
to
be
fair.

In
the
early
stage
of
your
career,
you
did
a
much-talked-about
kissing
scene
with
Biswajeet
in

Anjaana
Safar.

I
didn’t
do
it,
I
was
taken
by
surprise.

Nothing
could’ve
compensated,
nothing
can
wipe
off
what
I
felt.

Not
even
the
coverage
it
got
in

Life
magazine.

How
did
your
metamorphosis
from
a
buxom
beauty
to
a
svelte
sophisticate
happen?

Before
working
on
my
weight,
I
started
working
with
my
make-up
man
Ram
Dada.
I
saw
that
my
features
could
be
enhanced
with
the
right
make-up.

I
had
atrociously
long
eye-lashes
in

Rampur
Ka
Lakshman,
which
I
felt
was
not
me.

Ram
Dada
came
to
my
rescue
(earlier
he
was
with
Meena
Kumari).
He
taught
me
to
apply
make-up
for
only
two
years.

After
that
he
said,
‘Baby

tum
khud
karo,
tumhara
haath
saaf
ho
jaayega.’

I’m
a
painter,
you
see,
so
strokes
come
easily
to
me.
Make-up
is
another
art
form.

Is
it
true
that
your
mom,
actress
Pushpavalli,
was
hardly
there
by
your
side
when
you
were
a
child?
She
would
be
away
on
shootings.

Not
at
all.
From
the
time
I
was
13
to
the
time
she
died,
I
was
the
only
one
who
had
her
all
to
myself.

My
dad
wasn’t
there
normally.

He
was
an
absentee
father.

Can
you
relate
to
your
father,
actor
Gemini
Ganesh,
since
he
was
absent
for
much
of
your
life?

Feelings
are
everything,
Dinesh,
time
is
not
so
important.

So
even
when
I
met
my
father
after
many
years,
I
could
strike
a
rapport
with
him.

In
the
’70s,
one
heard
a
lot
of
the
Juhu
crowd.
Were
you
part
of
the
Parveen
Babi-Danny
Denzongpa-Kabir
Bedi-Vinod
Khanna
gang?

Very
much
so.
There
were
others
too.
Jayaji,
Amitji,
Raakheedi,
Gulzarbhai
…
we
were
all
like
a
family.

Did
you
ever
try
drugs,
alcohol,
listening
to
spiritual
discourses
etc?

No.
While
others
experimented
with
drugs,
EST,
Rajneesh,
I
was
into
yoga.
And
love.

And
when
you
are
in
love,
you
are
preoccupied
just
with
that.

Nothing
else
registers.
It’s
like
being
drugged.