Lesser known facts about Bollywood’s ‘Umrao Jaan’ Rekha

Rekha

The actress is a huge fan of Aromatherapy and Ayurvedic spa treatments. She believes in leading a highly disciplined life. She practices yoga every day. She believes that these practices are primarily responsible for her ageless beauty, charismatic persona and svelte body.

Rekha

In Kapil Sharma's show, Rekha revealed that her beauty spot his fake. She revealed that her mother gave her the priceless idea to sport a fake mole above her lip.

Rekha

Her portrayal of a classical courtesan in Umrao Jaan in 1981 won her the National Film Award for Best Actress. Rekha once confessed, "After reading the script, I had a strange feeling that I had Umrao in me." In preparation for the role, Rekha, who at the beginning of her career did not speak Hindi, took the task of learning the finer nuances of the Urdu language.

Rekha

Rekha's best known relationship was her long-time affair with superstar Amitabh Bachchan. Silsila was her last film with Amitabh Bachchan and the end of their affair. Silsila was a love triangle involving characters of Amitabh, his wife Jaya Bachchan and Rekha.

Rekha

In 1973, there were rumours that Rekha had married actor Vinod Mehra, but in a 2004 television interview with Simi Garewal she denied being married to Mehra referring to him as a "well-wisher".

Rekha

Rekha married Delhi-based industrialist Mukesh Aggarwal in 1990. A year later—while she was in London when he committed suicide, after several previous attempts, leaving a note, "Don't blame anyone".

Rekha

Rekha quit school to start a career in acting. She did not have any personal aspirations in this direction, but the troubled financial state of her family compelled her to do so.

Rekha

Her parents were not married at the time of her birth, and her father did not acknowledge his paternity during her childhood. Rekha has one real sister, one half brother and five half sisters.

Rekha

She had no interest in acting and was basically forced to work to sustain her family financially. Rekha had a tough time in Mumbai, she did not speak Hindi and struggled to communicate with co-workers, and was constantly missing her mother, who was critically ill. She said, "Bombay was like a jungle, and I had walked in unarmed. It was one of the most frightening phases of my life... I was totally ignorant of the ways of this new world. Guys did try and take advantage of my vulnerability. I did feel,"What am I doing? I should be in school, having an ice-cream, fun with my friends, why am I even forced to work, deprived of normal things that a child should be doing at my age?" Every single day I cried, because I had to eat what I didn't like, wear crazy clothes with sequins and stuff poking into my body. Costume, jewelery would give me an absolute terrible allergy. Hair spray wouldn't go off for days even despite all my washing. I was pushed, literally dragged from one studio to another. A terrible thing to do to a 13-year-old child."

Rekha

Rekha is a daughter of Tamil actor Gemini Ganesan and Telugu actress Pushpavalli. The full name of Rekha is Bhanu Rekha Ganesan who has acted in over 180 films in a career spanning over 40 years.