Rekha: The Story She Actually Told

Rekha, yes -- the same, is suddenly in the news again. After years of "being a recluse" and "shutting the doors of her personal life" on the public, the enigmatic yesteryear actress finds every skeleton in her closet being unceremoniously hauled out and rudely aired in a grand parade through an unauthorized biography titillatingly titled Rekha: The Untold Story. The book is said to have captured "all the minute details, the troubled relationships and the tumultuous episodes of her life", most of which were controversial, scandalous and unknown

I'm a loner. I don't network or meet people. It's tacky for a person to talk about herself.

The biographer attempted to get in touch with Rekha, but failed; the actress who was an interviewer's delight, transformed into "someone far more guarded" who was "politically correct and diplomatic" where she was once "uninhibited and vivacious". In short, Rekha had stopped giving interviews. He pulled off the biography that is full of "jaw-dropping revelations" by drawing on interviews Rekha gave in the past and talking to people who played a key role in the actress's career to put his narrative in perspective.

I was more fortunate. One of the last "exclusives" Rekha gave before declaring every journalist persona non grata was to me. Years ago. I met her at the Taj Land's End in Mumbai where she religiously worked out every evening. "Sundays included," she told me over a cup of herbal tea in the break she took between her gym routine. I was having the same. The tea was mud. But Rekha was on her second cup. I dared not complain. For whatever her age (and the Bollywood press notoriously likes to debate Rekha's actual age and her screen age), from reaching out and touching distance, the diva still looked like the proverbial million dollars. Even in baggy tracks and a sweaty tee. Perhaps it was the workout. I didn't want to spoil her mood.