In 1978, Rekha and Vinod Mehra shared the screen in Ghar (trans: Home). The story won the Film fare award for the best story. Written by Dinesh Thakur, this film explored the trauma of a rape victim portrayed brilliantly by Rekha. This film marked the transition of Rekha from being a B grade bimbette to an actress. She got nominated for the award for Best Actress along with Zeenat Aman for Satyam Shivam Sundaram (talk about raj Kapur’s clout!). A really maudlin performance by Nutan got her the best sctress award.
Rekha did her first film in 1966 with the Teulgu film Rangula Ratnam. Her debut in Bollywood was in 1970 with the film Sawan Bhadon opposite Navin Nishchol. You have to see that film to appreciate how it is possible to re-invent oneself as an actress. Eight years later in Ghar, Rekha the actress was born. The film has some amazing songs. The combination of lyricist Gulzar and composer RD Burman produced many gems. But I will always rate this as a film where the chemistry was unbelievable. My favorite song from Ghar has to be the classic Aapki AankhoN MeiN Kuchh Mehke Huey Se Raaz HaiN आपकी आँखों में कुछ महके हुए से ख्वाब हैं (trans: Your eyes are lined with the aroma of mysteries.). The voice of Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar. What is also interesting about this song is that it is based on Raga Kedar which is normally so typical of devotional music (remember the Kedar based classic Hamko Man Ki Shakti Dena हमको मन की शक्ति देना from Jaya Bhaduri’s debut Hindi film Guddi). There is of course another great example of using Raga Kedar to create a romantic mood in the film Ek Musafir Ek Hasina. The song was Aap Yunhi Agar Hamse Milte Rahe.
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