When Rekha resumed shooting, despite her home being raided by IT officials

Veteran actress Rekha is one of those personalities who have always been very secretive when it comes to their personal life. The actress’ life has been rich with speculations, and rumours galore. Even then, there is one aspect of her life which surprisingly remains untouched. Do you know, Rekha is a thorough professional? So much so, that despite the worst of circumstances, she refused to leave the shooting and left only when it was completed? Truly, a gem of a person.

Recently, our eyes caught upon the biography of this beautiful diva titled ‘Rekha: The Untold Story’ which is written by Yasser Usman. In this biography, there was this incident which introduced us to this side of the diva. We came to know as to how the actress did not leave the shoot, even though a massive income tax raid was conducted on her house during that time. Yes! You heard that right. (Also Read: Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya and Rekha together; Yash Chopra’s revelation behind ‘Silsila’ casting coup)

It was in the mid-80s when the veteran actress was shooting for her friend and co-star Shashi Kapoor’s production venture ‘Utsav’. The film was a period drama directed by Girish Karnad and was shot at Kundapura, a small village near Mangalore. A 400-year-old house was renovated for the film and an elaborate set was constructed to recreate the ambience of the Gupta period.

The year was 1984, when the shooting of this film was going on, and this unexpected incident occurred. Yasser Usman has stated in the biography that there was a massive income tax raid conducted at Rekha’s house. Rekha’s co-star in ‘Utsav’, actor Shekhar Suman recalled about the same. As per the book, the actor says, “Anyone else would have left the shooting. However, she was Shashi Kapoor’s friend and she understood that such a big unit was stationed so far away, so it would lead to a huge loss. She kept on shooting without saying anything. Her house was in turmoil but she said let them do their job. I’ll do mine.”

Further, the biography also mentions that this particular incident was a total turnaround from the Rekha of the 1970s who used to play truant on a whim and was disinterested in her work. Indeed, time and experience had changed her.

Whatever the reason may be, but this incident surely showed Rekha’s utmost sincerity and dedication towards her craft. Hats off!

Amod Pandit

Quiet, resonant, and creative, he can be seen immersed in his own world, and puts in his heart and soul into the one passion that he has, Bollywood. His line for survival? Feel happy to be a part of it.