In the 1970s, rumors swirled about a possible romance between Rekha and Amitabh Bachchan, but while Amitabh largely remained silent on the matter, Rekha has addressed it in several interviews over the years.
In 1978, Rekha had claimed to have witnessed Jaya Bachchan, Amitabh’s wife, breaking down while watching the film ‘Muqaddar Ka Sikandar‘. This film, which released in 1978, marked one of the last collaborations between Rekha and Amitabh until they reunited on-screen for Yash Chopra’s ‘Silsila’ (1981).
In an interview with Stardust magazine, Rekha mentioned that she saw the Bachchan family watching ‘Muqaddar Ka Sikandar’ from a projection room. “Once, I was looking at the whole (Bachchan) family through the projection room when they came to see the trial show of Muqaddar Ka Sikandar. Jaya was sitting in the front row and he (Amitabh) and his parents were in the row behind her. They couldn’t see her as clearly as I could. And during our love scenes, I could see tears pouring down her face,” she said.
After the trial show, about a week later, Rekha heard from many people in the industry that Amitabh wouldn’t be working with her anymore. Rekha further stated in the interview, “A week later, everybody in the industry was telling me that he had made it clear to his producers that he was not going to work with me,”
Rumors circulated that Rekha and Jaya’s friendship has been strained. However, in an interview with Simi Garewal in the 1990s, Rekha denied any rift between them. She said, “Didibhai (Jaya) is much more mature, much more together. I’ve yet to come across a woman who is so together. She’s got so much dignity, so much class. She’s got a lot of strength. I admire that woman. We had an association before the so-called rumours and the media messed up the whole image. We were living in the same building and we had a relationship. She was my Didibhai, she still is – no matter what happens nobody can take that away. Thank God she realises that too. Whenever we meet she’s very sweet – she’s not just civil, she’s just herself.”
In 1978, Rekha had claimed to have witnessed Jaya Bachchan, Amitabh’s wife, breaking down while watching the film ‘Muqaddar Ka Sikandar‘. This film, which released in 1978, marked one of the last collaborations between Rekha and Amitabh until they reunited on-screen for Yash Chopra’s ‘Silsila’ (1981).
In an interview with Stardust magazine, Rekha mentioned that she saw the Bachchan family watching ‘Muqaddar Ka Sikandar’ from a projection room. “Once, I was looking at the whole (Bachchan) family through the projection room when they came to see the trial show of Muqaddar Ka Sikandar. Jaya was sitting in the front row and he (Amitabh) and his parents were in the row behind her. They couldn’t see her as clearly as I could. And during our love scenes, I could see tears pouring down her face,” she said.
After the trial show, about a week later, Rekha heard from many people in the industry that Amitabh wouldn’t be working with her anymore. Rekha further stated in the interview, “A week later, everybody in the industry was telling me that he had made it clear to his producers that he was not going to work with me,”
Rumors circulated that Rekha and Jaya’s friendship has been strained. However, in an interview with Simi Garewal in the 1990s, Rekha denied any rift between them. She said, “Didibhai (Jaya) is much more mature, much more together. I’ve yet to come across a woman who is so together. She’s got so much dignity, so much class. She’s got a lot of strength. I admire that woman. We had an association before the so-called rumours and the media messed up the whole image. We were living in the same building and we had a relationship. She was my Didibhai, she still is – no matter what happens nobody can take that away. Thank God she realises that too. Whenever we meet she’s very sweet – she’s not just civil, she’s just herself.”
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