Rakhee was born in a Bengali family at Ranaghat in the Nadia
district, West Bengal, in the early hours of 15 August 1947, just hours after
the declaration of independence of India. She received her early education in a
local girls' school. Her father had a flourishing shoe business in his native
village in East Bengal, modern-day Bangladesh, before the partition of India
and thereafter he settled in West Bengal.
The initial years were not at all easy for this beautiful
lady. Her talent as an actress was recognized by none other than the
producer-actor Sunil Dutt himself. It was he who casted her in his movie
"Reshma Aur Shera", but she never seemed to get much of the attention
for this film, yet! She never gave up. She kept on doing small roles in movies
like "Falak" and "Laal Pathhar" where the presence of
already established actress like Hema Malini proved to be costly for Rakhee.
Her marriage to Ajoy Biswas, a producer and journalist,
seemed to show a ray of light in her career. But when she was not selected in
the screen test for the film, which her own husband was directing, her hope
diminished.
However it was
Rajashri Films that sparked up her hope again in the film called "Jeevan
Mrityu" casting with the then rage Dharmendra. The movie was a big hit.
The song 'Jhilmil Sitaron Ka Aangan Hoga” became a household song. Rakhee
automatically became the 2nd highest paid actress in Hindi Cinema when her
first Hindi film Jeevan Mrityu became a hit.
She was paired opposite Dev Anand in 3 hit films Heera
Panna, Banarasi Babu, Lootmaar and had one flop in Joshila.
Rakhee worked with Shashi Kapoor in 10 released films and
the pair gave 6 hits - Sharmelee1971), Jaanwar Aur Insaan (1972), Kabhi Kabhie
(1976), the critically acclaimed Trishna (1978), Baseraa (1981) and Pighalta
Aasman (1985) and had 4 box-office flops - Bandhan Kuchchey Dhaagon Ka (1983),
Bandh Honth (1984, Zameen Aasmaan (1984) and Doosara Aadmi (1977).Another film
of the pair Ek Do Teen Char was shelved.
She did 2 films with Parikshit Sahani as lead hero - Tapasya
and Humkadam both of which were critically acclaimed hits.
With Sanjeev Kumar she had 3 hits - Paras, Hamare Tumhare
and Shrimaan Shrimaati.
Rakhee's favorite co-stars are Shashi Kapoor and Rajesh
Khanna and her favorite senior actors were Dev Anand, Ashok Kumar and Pran. She
regarded Rajesh Khanna as the best actor and most versatile from among the crop
of lead heroes who started working from 60's or 70's and said none of the
actors who came after him were better. The next actor she placed in terms of
versatility was Shashi Kapoor and Sanjeev Kumar, both who were seniors to
Khanna.
She regards Blackmail to be her best film though it was not
a box-office success and she regards her best films were Sharmeelee, Kabhi
Kabhie, Tapasya, Trishna, Aanchal, Humkadam, Baseraa, Shradhanjali, Dil...
Akhir Dil Hai, Pighalta Aasman, and Bengali film Paroma.
Towards the late 1980s and 1990s she played strong character
roles as the elderly mother—usually a bereaved and bitter widow whose husband
died at the hands of ruthless villains—or woman of principles in commercially
successful films such as Ram Lakhan (1989), Anari (1993), Baazigar (1993),
Khalnayak (1993), Karan Arjun (1995), Border (1997), Soldier (1998), and Ek
Rishtaa: The Bond of Love (2001).
Her last film was Shubho Mahurat in 2003, for which she won
the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress. She has since retired from
the film industry.
She was awarded the Padma Shri in 2003. She has a daughter
called Meghna (Bosky) who had directed a film named "Filhaal"
starring Sushmita Sen, Tabu, Sanjay Suri and Palaash Sen.
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