Amitabh Bachchan refused to work with Rekha after seeing tears in Jaya Bachchan's eyes
Among the many mysteries in Bollywood, one is about what happened between veteran actors Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha. Various rumours were abuzz that the two had an affair, and some have even gone to the extent to claim that Rekha wears a sindoor and mangalsutra in honour of senior Bachchan.
While their personal life remains an open mystery, Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha, who had worked together in phenomenal films like 'Anand', 'Mr. Natwarlal', 'Silsila' and 'Muqaddar Ka Sikandar', suddenly stopped sharing screen space. One of the big reasons for that, according to past interviews with Rekha, could be Jaya Bachchan.
Rekha had spoken about her perspective - about how Jaya felt shattered seeing the chemistry between her husband Amitabh Bachchan and the young Rekha, and how that led to an insecurity and eventually, parting ways for Big B and the evergreen beauty.
Here are some excerpts from the interviews:
1. Jaya Bachchan cried during Amitabh Bachchan-Rekha's lovemaking scenes
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In an interview with Stardust in 1978, Rekha had recollected the time when she, Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bhaduri had gone to the screening of 'Muqaddar Ka Sikandar'. She said, "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 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."
2. Rekha comes to know that Amitabh Bachchan has told producers he wouldn't work with her again
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She further mentioned, "A week later (after the trial show of 'Muqaddar Ka Sikandar'), 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. Everybody else informed me about it but he didn’t say a word on the subject."
3. Amitabh Bachchan's reaction
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When Rekha directly approached Amitabh Bachchan with the question, he refused to comment. "When I tried to question him about it, he said, 'I am not going to say a word. Don’t ask me about it'," she had shared.
4. 'I will never leave Amit whatever happens': Jaya Bachchan to Rekha
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Rekha also went on to talk about her interaction with Jaya Bachchan on the topic. “Jaya did not mind the relationship as long as she thought her husband was only having a fling. It’s when she realized that he was really emotionally involved that is when it began hurting her. She called me for dinner one evening and though we spoke about everything but him, before I left that day, she made sure to tell me, ‘I will never leave Amit whatever happens’,” Rekha had exclaimed.
5. 'He did it for the family': Rekha on Amitabh Bachchan's denial of the alleged affair
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When Rekha was aksed about why would Amitabh Bachchan deny his affair with her, the actress told Filmfare on November 1984, "Why should he have not done it? He did it to protect his image, to protect his family, to protect his children. I think it is beautiful, I don’t care what the public thinks of it. Why should the public know of my love for him or his love for me? I love him, he loves me – that’s it! I don’t care what anybody thinks. If he’d reacted that way towards me in private, I would have been very disappointed. But has he ever done that? I ask you. So why should I care about what he’s said in public? I know people must be saying bechari Rekha, pagal hai us par, phir bhi dekho. Maybe I deserve that pity. Not that he has 10 rollicking affairs! Mr Bachchan is still old-fashioned. He doesn’t want to hurt anybody, so why hurt his wife?"
