Waheeda Rehman, one of the most celebrated actresses in the history of Indian cinema, gave blockbusters in the 50s, 60s and 70s. She still turns heads with her grace, style, and beauty. She is an inspiration to millions.

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Today, we will look at her journey and see how she once wanted to become a doctor but emerged as one of the biggest stars in the country. In a career spanning over five decades, Waheeda worked in more than 90s films.

Early life:

Waheeda Rehman was born into a Tamil Deccani Muslim family in Tamil Nadu, on February 3. She was the youngest of four siblings. Her father Mohammed Abdur Rehman worked as a district commissioner. Unfortunately, he died in 1951 while she was in her early teens.

Wanted to become a doctor

Waheeda wanted to become a doctor but due to her family’s financial circumstances, she gave up on her dream. Her mother was also not well during that time. She accepted films only to help her family financially.

While talking to Twinkle Khanna about her dream, Waheeda said, “I wanted to be a doctor. In those days, especially in Muslim families, the only respectable profession was doing medicine. So, I was like let’s do medicine only. Even today I love reading medical journals and about different treatments.”

Waheeda Rehman threatened by director

Waheeda Rehman herself revealed that she was a stubborn newcomer. The actress used to keep her conditions whenever she got an offer and used to work on her conditions only. In one of the movies alongside Dev Anand, the actress refused to wear revealing clothes which made the director angry. He threatened the actress to never work with her again and told Waheeda, “This your second or third movie, and it will be your last one because you have too many conditions.” However, Dev Anand sided with Waheeda Rehman and made the director understand her point of view.

When he father thought she would go mad

In the same interview with Twinkle Khanna, Waheeda Rehman revealed that she used to make faces in front of the mirror, “My mother told me that I used to make faces. I was very expressive and made funny faces. I would stand in front of the mirror and make faces. So my father told my mother to check whether I was going mad (laughs). One day, my father asked me why I was doing this, so I told him that I want to make people laugh and I want to make people cry. That time, even I didn’t know that I wanted to act. Everything in my life, my career, my marriage, all of it happened, I didn’t plan or go after it.”

When she met Guru Dutt

Guru Dutt and Waheeda Rehman's made headlines due to their closeness. While Guru Dutt was already married to Geeta Roy Chowdhuri, and his closeness with Waheeda affected his married life. They both worked in many films together including Kaagaz Ke Phool, Chaudhvin Ka Chand.

When slapped Amitabh Bachchan

Waheeda, when appeared on The Kapil Sharma Show, revealed that she once slapped Amitabh Bachchan during a shoot. She jokingly told Amitabh that she would slap him hard when they were preparing for a role, but she was not actually thinking of doing it.

But when the shot happened, she hit him really hard. Though, she called it an error that happened.

Personal life:

In April 1974, Waheeda tied the knot with Shashi Rekhi and together had two children. They lived in Bangalore after marriage. However, on 21st November 2000, Rekhi passed away after which she came back to Bandra, Mumbai.

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