Waheeda Rehman is a veteran actress in Hindi cinema. Rehman’s career spanned over 5 decades and included roles as a second lead, a main lead, and even a mother.
Waheeda Rehman is the only actress to have played the mother of both Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan. Today, we will know how this Rehman got into films, his relationship with Guru Dutt, with whom he was engaged, and with whom he eventually got married.
Early Life of Waheeda Rehman
Waheeda Rehman was born on 3 February 1938 in Chennai in a Dakhini Muslim family. Her father, Mohammad Abdul Rahman, was an IAS officer posted in Visakhapatnam.
She started her studies at St. Joseph’s Convent school but dropped out due to physical weakness. She had a dream of becoming a doctor, but it was shattered.
She was also interested in dance and wanted to learn Bharat Natyam. Waheeda and her father approached Master Pillai, but he initially refused to teach her, citing that this dance form needs devotion to Lord Shiva.
But after a lot of pursuant Mr. Pillai agreed to teach her. Her father died in 1951 when she was still a teen.
After her father’s demise, her family suffered financial issues. She also had 3 elder sisters.
Start of Career
Waheeda Rehman began her career as a dancer in 1955, with Rojulu Maraayi and other films. Guru Dutt saw the movie shown to him by his South Indian distributor.
Guru Dutt was so impressed by her looks and screen presence that he decided to cast her in his next movie.
He asked her to come to Bombay, and after some days, her mother and Waheeda reached Guru Dutt’s office. Guru Dutt wanted her to sign the contract, but before that, Guru Dutt’s assistant, Raj Khosla, wanted Waheeda to have a screen name.
It was 1955, and actresses like Madhubala, Meena Kumari, and Nargis were ruling Hindi cinema with their screen names. Even Guru Dutt also agreed to this suggestion, but Waheeda Rehman was adamant that she would change her name.
This discussion went on for a long time, but Waheeda Rehman remained firm in her insistence. Raj Khosla was very angry with this, but Guru Dutt handled the situation and agreed on Waheeda’s condition.
Waheeda Rehman’s mother was about to sign the contract, but Waheeda Rehman again put a condition: the costume would be shown to her before shooting, and it would be OK only after her permission.
Raj Khosla was again angry about this, but Guru Dutt took it up again and accepted her condition. Raj Khosla was surprised to see that Guru Dutt, who shouts so much at others, is sitting so quietly today.
Eventually, the contract was signed, and thus Waheeda Rehman became the second lead actress of CID.
After this, most of the films in the future were either produced by Guru Dutt’s production house or starred his best friend Dev Anand. After CID, both worked in films like Pyaasa, 12 Clock, Kagaz Ke Phool, Chaudavi Ka Chand, Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam.
Waheeda Rehman and Amitabh Bachchan
She has appeared with nearly all of her era’s biggest stars, including Guru Dutt, Dev Anand, and Dilip Kumar. Amitabh Bachchan, on the other hand, is the only actor whose Waheeda became both mother and lover on screen. In the 1976 films ‘Adalat’ and ‘Kabhi Kabhi,’ Amitabh romanced Waheeda. At the same time, Waheeda played Amitabh’s mother in the films ‘Trishul’ (1978) and ‘Coolie’ (1983).
Waheeda Rehman played the role of Abhishek Bachchan’s mother in the film Om Jai Jagdish.
Waheeda Rehman and Guru Dutt
When Geeta found out about Guru and Waheeda’s relationship, she left Guru Dutt and moved to another house with her children. After that, he began drinking heavily and relied on cigarettes and sleeping pills. He felt very alone. Waheeda also left him. Guru Dutt was deeply hurt and missed his children very much.
Waheeda Rehman Filmography
Marriage
Waheeda Rehman married Sasi Rekhi (also known by his screen name Kamaljeet) in 1974. The two met in 1964 during the film Shagun, directed by Shashi Rekhi. Sashi was from a Punjabi family and started his film career in the 1950s.
Sakshi also had a lead role in this film. Since then, Shashi started loving Waheeda Rehman in his heart, but due to his shy nature, he could never say anything to Waheeda Rehman.
Meanwhile, his career was not going well, and he left the film industry and moved to Canada, where he started a restaurant.
After a long time, Waheeda Rehman received a phone call from Yash Johar. He asked if he could come to meet her. She agreed and said he could visit her at home.
The next day, Yash Johar came to her house with a friend. After looking at the man for a while, Waheeda realized he was Shashi, her former co artist.
By then, Shashi had gained weight. Waheeda jokingly asked him if he had gotten married. He replied that he had not.
They all had dinner together. Shashi spoke about his current business and his future plans. He said he wanted to open a new restaurant. After that, the meeting ended.
A few days later, Shashi called Waheeda and asked her to meet him at a coffee shop. She agreed, but she thought he might ask her to invest money in his new restaurant.
She decided that if he asked for money, she would refuse right away. She planned to say that she did not have money and had to pay a lot of income tax.
They met at the coffee shop. However, instead of asking for money, Shashi proposed marriage. Waheeda quickly gave the same reply she had prepared about not having money and paying income tax. Shashi was confused because he was asking her to marry him, not for money.
After some time, Waheeda understood her mistake. She felt a little embarrassed. She told him she would think about it and give her answer later.
They got married in April 1974. Later, they moved to their farmhouse in Bangalore. They had two children, Sohail and Kashvi. After her husband passed away in 2000, Waheeda returned to Mumbai. After coming back, she started acting again.mbai.