‘She was lying there and I mustered up enough guts to lay next to her and hold her tight.’
‘And she said, “Oh my, Girish, isn’t he supposed to be nervous?”‘
‘Making light of the situation, Girish said, “No, he’s been practicing with a pillow the whole day”.’

IMAGE: Rekha in Utsav.

Shekhar Suman can’t stop gushing about his first co-star, the first woman he ever romanced on screen: Rekha.

The Patna native had arrived in Bombay a few weeks before he auditioned for the role, and couldn’t believe his luck when Producer Shashi Kapoor signed him on for Utsav.

The film went on to be an important addition to everyone’s filmography, including Rekha’s.

We continue celebrating Rekha’s 70th birthday on October 10, by looking at the beautiful chapters in her life.

Shekhar drives the narration of this one, and tells Ronjita Kulkarni/Rediff.com, “She never once said, ‘Shekhar, don’t come so close or don’t hold me here.’ I have seen heroines who have a lot of problems, you know, ‘Don’t touch me or don’t touch me there.’ But never Rekha.”

 

When I think of Utsav, I first think of its producer Shashi Kapoor, its director Girish Karnad and the fact that it was an unbelievable and an unprecedented break for a newcomer because I got the movie within 15 days of landing in Bombay.

A chance meeting got me sitting next to Shashi Kapoor and he offered me the role. I went for a screen test and the rest is history.

I still pinch myself and wonder how I got the role.

I mean, everybody was vying for that coveted role and a rank newcomer got it.

When I was cast, Amitabh Bachchan was playing villain. There was Kamal Haasan also, so it had a stellar cast.

There were a few cast changes but for me, it was a dream come true to work opposite Rekha, whom I had admired as a kid from school days.

But after the screen test, the final decision (to cast me) lay in the hands of Rekha. She had to say yes because I was a newcomer and the role was such that we had intimate scenes in the movie and she had to be comfortable.

She could have easily said no.

Shashi Kapoor also took a huge risk with me.

I first met her at the Prithvi Theatre and was like trembling like a leaf because that was the decisive moment. She took one look at me, and left.

Later, I remember teasing her and asked, so what did you think of me?

And she had looked at me and said, nice, not bad. (Laughs)

IMAGE: Shekhar Suman with Rekha in Utsav.

When I first read the script, I thought, oh my God, I have to do these scenes with her. Will I be able to do it?

I was in jitters.

Girish Karnad saw me and Girish said, “Don’t worry, things will go alright.”

He told me she’s a professional actress, so don’t hesitate to hold her. And you have to hold her tight, you have to be close to her.

He explained that I was Charu Dutt, not Shekhar Suman. And she was not Rekha, she was Vasantsena, the courtesan who falls in love with Charu Dutt.

She was lying there and I mustered up enough guts to lay next to her and hold her tight.

And she said, “Oh my, Girish, isn’t he supposed to be nervous?”

Making light of the situation, Girish said, “No, he’s been practicing with a pillow the whole day.”

That was the first day of the shoot, the first shot.

I wonder why Girish had kept an intimate scene first! Probably, it was reverse psychology… He may have thought once he’s through with this, he’ll be at ease.

IMAGE: Rekha in Utsav.

There were many intimate scenes, including a bathing sequence.

But it went so smoothly because I was working with such a professional actress.

She never once said, ‘Shekhar, don’t come so close or don’t hold me here.’ I have seen heroines who have a lot of problems, you know, ‘Don’t touch me or don’t touch me there.’

But never Rekha.

She was so cooperative, professional and understanding. It was unnerving for me and she understood that. So she was friendly. She would get into a conversation and talk about many things to put me at ease.

One thing I really admired about her was that on the first day itself, we got news that there was an income tax rate at her Bombay house. We were shooting in Kundapur, near Mangalore.

Any other person would have left the set and gone. I thought this was the end of my career before it even started. But she was a thorough professional and she said, let them do their job, I have to do my job here.

We had such wonderful scenes like the jewellery scene. It was an intricate scene and she helped me in every step.

During the shoot, I never felt that I was working with a huge superstar. She was every bit the character that she was playing.

And she was so loving and caring towards everyone else too, like Anuradha Patel. Kunal Kapoor, Neena Gupta, Shankar Nag…

I never ever saw her throwing tantrums or having special demands.

I never saw her angry.

 

IMAGE: Shekhar Suman with Rekha in Utsav.

There were stories about her metamorphosis into a beautiful woman. Her makeup was not right (earlier) so she learned all of that.

She used to go for yoga classes with Ramma Bans.

In Ghar, she came across as a very beautiful woman. Every magazine worth its salt wrote about her tremendous change. That was the first time an actress’ makeup was talked about.

I remember asking her once, can I see you do your makeup? And she said, yeah, why not?

And within five minutes, she was through!

She would help Anuradha Patel with her makeup.

 

IMAGE: Shekhar Suman with Rekha in Utsav.

I’m a huge Madhubala fan, a Meena Kumari fan, a Waheeda Rahman fan but Rekha was something else. She was the first femme fatale.

The way she danced, the way she spoke, the way she modulated her voice…

She worked very hard on herself. You can see this whole journey of Rekha right from Sawan Bhadon to Khoon Bari Maang and beyond.

You can see her journey that from an uncomfortable, not so pretty looking, little awkward kind of actress to this confident actress in Silsila, where she was opposite two of the best actors in the country, Jaya Bachchan and Amitabh Bachchan and holding on to her own. The song Rang Barse had so many nuances!

I learned a lot from her.

I used to be a stage actor. I learnt how to have controlled emotions in front of the camera, how to modulate your voice, from her.

 

IMAGE: Shekhar Suman with Rekha in Utsav.

She’s a great mimic.

Before I became an actor, I remember going for the shooting of a film called Parmatma.

Since I was from Patna, my family knew Shatrughan Sinha, and we had requested him (to let me attend the shoot). So I was allowed to stand in the crowd and watch the shooting in Hotel Horizon in Bombay.

In the film, Shatrughan Sinha was imitating Dev Anand and Rekha was imitating Zeenat Aman.

So on the sets of Utsav, I had told her that when I was in the crowd watching you, I didn’t know that three years later, I would be your hero.

I requested her to do a Zeenat for me, and she did. She did Mumtaz as well.

She would keep everybody in splits with her great sense of humour.

 

IMAGE: Rekha in Utsav.

Once, I remember she told me, You look like such a baby, you’re married?!

I said, yes, I’m a father as well.

When we were in Film City, I brought my firstborn Ayush on the set, along with my wife, Alka. We were very young, around 21-22.

Shashi Kapoor looked at Ayush and asked, who’s that?

I said, my son.

He said, are you kidding me?

He stopped the shooting.

There was a kind of stage built. He went on top and asked us to join him. Then he announced, ‘yeh dekho, yeh bachcho ne milkar bachcha paida kiya hai!‘

I remember Rekha playing with Ayush and he puked on her sari! He was just two-three months old.

I apologised profusely, but she said, never mind, never mind, and didn’t push him away. She kept holding on to him.

IMAGE: Anuradha Patel and Rekha in Utsav.

I admired Shashiji and would mimic him as a kid. I used to have a hairstyle like Shashi Kapoor.

He had a movie called Haseena Maan Jaayegi, and I used to enact his character at home and impress my cousins! I think he’s the handsomest guy ever in the film industry.

Shashiji was also playing the negative role in the film. When he finds out that my character Charu Dutt is in love with Rekha, he decides to get me arrested.

During the climax scene in Bharatpur, I remember there were some production hassles.

Shashiji was wearing a lot of ornaments, and in a fit of anger, he took them off and flung them.

A big chunk landed on my forehead and I blacked out.

He rushed to me, he said, “Beta, I hope you’re not hurt.” He told everyone, pack-up, and told me to come with him.

He was so embarrassed and apologetic. He took me to a doctor.

Then he drove me from Bharatpur to Delhi and took me out for dinner. He kept saying sorry a million times, so much that I got embarrassed!

IMAGE: “When I meet Rekha, I still tell her, I owe my entire career to you and, of course, to Shashi Kapoor. I met her recently at the premiere of Heeramandi, and when she saw my son Adhyan, and was like, Oh my God, the little baby has grown so much!,” Shekhar Suman says. Photograph: The late Pradeep Bandekar

There were no vanity vans in those days, no bodyguards, no PR, no paraphernalia.

Since it was an outdoor shoot — we were in Mangalore for a month-and-a-half — Rekha could not get food from home.

She would stand in line for food and sit with us.

We were staying in a very, very, small hotel, which was close to Kundapur. Even Ashok Mehta, the great cinematographer, was staying with us.

But that place would not have been befitting of Rekha, so she was staying in Manipal.

We were shooting in a 400-year-old house. Shashiji had renovated it a little bit, making new bathrooms, but there were no other comforts, no ACs.

I was sharing a room with Harish Patel.

In the evening, Shashiji would come knocking at everyone’s door, and ask, what would you like to have? Beer, whiskey, cognac, tequila…

A cook would follow him, and ask what we would you like to eat, crabs, prawns, fish, chicken…

I have not experienced anything like that ever. It was my most beautiful experience as an actor.