So it's time to celebrate REKHALICIOUS OCTOBER (thanks to Sujoy from One Knight Stands)- or Rekhatober as we've been calling it on Twitter! And I can't praise this lovely lady enough. She is one of the few Bollywood stars I actually had the opportunity to meet, back when she came in concert to Detroit in 1982 (she was the headliner, Anil Kapoor and Meenakshi Seshadhri were her opening acts). A photographer found out my then 7 year old sister Anjali was Rekha's biggest little fan. Anj had been performing Rekha's "Dil Cheez Kya Hai" at various community events for the past year and the photographer recognized her and took us to meet her. I tell a bit more about this story in my Sridevipalooza preview post. The highlight was definitely getting to dance the Alarippu (Bharatanatyam dance) for her, and she was so excited she jumped right up and posed in Alarippu position with us for a picture (I have no idea where this picture is today).
I was only 5 at the time, so my memory of this experience is limited, but I DO remember her being incredibly effusive, sweet and hyper. She was very excited that two little girls in paavadai-chokka (South Indian style skirt/dress) were there to see her, and seemed really eager to speak Tamil with us. I was totally charmed by her, and no matter what she does, I always feel a fondness for her based on this experience.
I'm not terribly on top of Rekha's filmography - there's definitely a huge chunk of her early movies as well as the mid-to-late 80s and 90s movies that I missed. Well, I can't totally say I MISSED them (cough cough, Madame X).
Anyway, Rekha is most certainly the queen of the Movie Mujra dances, but those aren't the only songs of hers that I love! As I was trying to think of and narrow down all my favorites, I created a YouTube playlist of MY FAVORITE REKHA SONGS - I was unable to locate a few of my favorites, like "Jaane De Gaadi Tere" from Aanchal, "Gokul Ke Galiyon" from Raaste Pyar Ke or the female version of "Mata Saraswati" from Alaap, and some movies had MULTIPLE favorites, like Khubsoorat (not included: "Sun Sun Sun Didi" and "Saare Niyam Tod Do"), Mr. Natwarlal ("Tauba Tauba"), Silsila ("Dekha Ek Khwab", "Yeh Kahan Aa Gaye Hum" and "Nila Aasmaan") and Agar Tum Na Hote ("Hum To Hai Chui Mui" and the title song). Still other movies starred Rekha but the best songs were given to other co-stars (like Faasle and Baseraa).
But I did identify 15 songs that I always think of when I think of Rekha, and here they are!
Detailed Listing of Songs:
1. Ghum Hai Kisi Ki Pyar Mein - Raampur Ka Lakshman (1972)
2. Dil Machal Raha Hai - Khalifaa (1976)
3. Tere Bina Jiya Jayen Na - Ghar (1978)
4. Kahe Manva Naache - Alaap (1977)
5. Salaam-E-Ishq - Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978)
6. Pardesiya - Mr. Natwarlal (1979)
7. O Sheronwali - Suhaag (1979)
8. Piya Bawri - Khubsoorat (1980)
9. In Aankhon Ki Masti - Umrao Jaan (1981)
10. Yeh Ladki Hai Ya Shola - Silsila (1981)
11. Dheere Dheere - Agar Tum Na Hote (1983)
12. Ankhiyon Mein - Nishaan (1983)
13. Man Kyun Behka - Utsav (1984)
14. Pyar Do Pyar Lo - Janbaaz (1986)
15. Maine Tujhe Khat Likha - Mera Pati Sirf Mera Hai (1990)
Hope you enjoy! Now that I mentioned it, I think I AM going to have to compile Rekha's Mujra dances into a mother list. Will try to do that when I return home from vacay (this is my rushed vacay post for Rekhatober!).
Have a Rekhalicious day!