![\"\u201cI](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-134364002,imgsize-868404,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/rekha-was-already-familiar-with-film-sets-long-before-she-entered-hindi-cinema.jpg\" "\\"Rekha")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nRekha is one of the most recognised names in Indian cinema. But in a 1986 interview, the actress spoke about a very different beginning to her film career. She revealed that becoming an actress was never her childhood dream. In fact, she said she was forced to work in films and did not enjoy it for the first six to seven years.Speaking about her early life to BBC India, her mother\u2019s influence and her journey from South Indian films to Bollywood, Rekha explained how she entered the industry at a young age. She also recalled arriving in Bombay alone when she was just 13 years old, despite not knowing Hindi.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Her father, Gemini Ganesan was a famous actor in South India.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n During the 1986 BBC India interview, the interviewer asked Rekha about her parents. Her father was a famous actor in South India, while her mother was also an actress. The interviewer wanted to know whether her mother had trained or encouraged her to become an actress. \u201cNo, not my mother. In fact, I never wanted to become an actress. If you ask any actor, they usually say that they have always wanted to become an actor. But in my case, it was not like that. I never wanted to become an actress. Mujhe toh maar maar ke banaya gaya (They beat me to become an actress)\u201d said Rekha.When the interviewer asked whether her parents thought she should become a big actor, Rekha clarified that it was her mother who wanted her to work in films. \u201cNot both my parents, my mother. She wanted me to work in films.\u201d<\/p>\n Rekha was already familiar with film sets long before she entered Hindi cinema. During the interview, she revealed that she had started working as a child artist in South Indian films. \u201cI was a child artist. I have been working since I was 3 years old,\u201d she said. Her early years in the industry were therefore not driven by a personal ambition to become a leading actress. She was introduced to films as a child and continued working as she grew older.The actress later explained that she did not enjoy this work. \u201cFor at least 6-7 years, I did not like what I was doing. I was forced to work in films.\u201d She added that her schedule was demanding. \u201cI used to go for shoots and double shifts. I did not like it at all.\u201d<\/p>\n Rekha also spoke about the circumstances under which she arrived in Mumbai. The interviewer asked when she had come to the city and whether she had travelled with her parents. \u201cI came to Bombay when I was 13 years old.\u201d When asked whether she had come with her parents or alone, she replied: \u201cI came alone. My mother was not well. She could not make it. I came alone.\u201dRekha explained that her entry into Hindi cinema happened after two men came to Chennai, looking for a new heroine. \u201cThere were two men. They came to Madras to look for a new heroine. Someone told me that there was a South Indian girl who spoke a little Hindi. But I did not know how to speak Hindi at all. They said, \u2018Let us see.\u2019 They came to my mother and saw me. They asked me if I knew Hindi. I said no. They asked me if I wanted to work in Hindi films. I said no.\u201dRekha recalled that she was not interested in the opportunity at the time. However, the men were ready to sign her. \u201cThey said, \u2018Let us sign you tomorrow.\u2019 I thought it was destiny that I had to come. I had to work in Hindi films.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rekha during a scene of her film “Savan Bhadon.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The interviewer asked whether Rekha\u2019s interest in acting had increased after her first film. \u201cNot at all,\u201d said Rekha. When the interviewer repeated the question, she gave the same answer. Rekha said that she continued to dislike the work for several years. She described the experience as something she had been made to do rather than something she had chosen.Rekha said that her attitude towards acting began to change around 1974-75. She connected this change to the success of her first film, Sawan Bhadon. In 1974-75. My first film, Sawan Bhadon, was a big hit. Everyone was saying, \u2018She is very good. She is an overnight star.\u2019\u201d The success of the film gave her a different experience of being an actress. She recalled how her classmates, who were still in school, watched the film. \u201cMy classmates were still in school. They would watch it and I would be very proud of myself. I did not know what I was doing.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “For the first time, I felt that I should take an interest in acting,” said the iconic actor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In the same BBC India interview, Rekha was asked whether she remembered any films that she liked. She said she had not liked any of her films during the first six or seven years of her career. \u201cI did not like any of my films for 6-7 years.\u201dHowever, she then recalled a film that changed how she looked at acting. \u201cBut after 1975, I made a film called Ghar. For the first time, I felt that I should take an interest in acting.\u201d \u201cI thought it was realistic. I thought I should take an interest in acting from that film,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Towards the end of the interview, Rekha spoke about how her feelings towards acting had changed. The actress who had once said she never wanted to become a heroine now described acting as something she genuinely enjoyed. \u201cI told you that I don’t want to be a heroine. But now I know what acting is all about.\u201d \u201cI like it. Acting is the only true thing in my life. I am enjoying it a lot.\u201d<\/div>\n Rekha was already familiar with film sets long before she entered Hindi cinema. Rekha is one of the most recognised names in Indian cinema. But in a 1986 interview, the actress spoke about a very different beginning to her film career. She revealed that becoming an actress was never her childhood dream. In fact, she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-31"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/rekha-was-already-familiar-with-film-sets-long-before-she-entered-hindi-cinema.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/rekha-was-already-familiar-with-film-sets-long-before-she-entered-hindi-cinema.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/rekha-was-already-familiar-with-film-sets-long-before-she-entered-hindi-cinema.jpg","large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/rekha-was-already-familiar-with-film-sets-long-before-she-entered-hindi-cinema.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/rekha-was-already-familiar-with-film-sets-long-before-she-entered-hindi-cinema.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/rekha-was-already-familiar-with-film-sets-long-before-she-entered-hindi-cinema.jpg","blogsy-small":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/rekha-was-already-familiar-with-film-sets-long-before-she-entered-hindi-cinema.jpg","blogsy-small-tall":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/rekha-was-already-familiar-with-film-sets-long-before-she-entered-hindi-cinema.jpg","blogsy-small-square":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/rekha-was-already-familiar-with-film-sets-long-before-she-entered-hindi-cinema.jpg","blogsy-small-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/rekha-was-already-familiar-with-film-sets-long-before-she-entered-hindi-cinema.jpg","blogsy-medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/rekha-was-already-familiar-with-film-sets-long-before-she-entered-hindi-cinema.jpg","blogsy-medium-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/rekha-was-already-familiar-with-film-sets-long-before-she-entered-hindi-cinema.jpg","blogsy-large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/rekha-was-already-familiar-with-film-sets-long-before-she-entered-hindi-cinema.jpg","blogsy-wide":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/rekha-was-already-familiar-with-film-sets-long-before-she-entered-hindi-cinema.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"admin","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"Rekha was already familiar with film sets long before she entered Hindi cinema. Rekha is one of the most recognised names in Indian cinema. But in a 1986 interview, the actress spoke about a very different beginning to her film career. She revealed that becoming an actress was never her childhood dream. In fact, she […]","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":2,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":6,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/rekha-was-already-familiar-with-film-sets-long-before-she-entered-hindi-cinema.jpg",400,225,false],"medium":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/rekha-was-already-familiar-with-film-sets-long-before-she-entered-hindi-cinema.jpg",300,169,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/rekha-was-already-familiar-with-film-sets-long-before-she-entered-hindi-cinema.jpg",150,84,false]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/author\/admin"},"magazine_blocks_comment":0,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36<\/a>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u201cI never wanted to become an actress\u201d<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
![\"Her](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/imgsize-759980,msid-134364022\/her-father-gemini-ganesan-was-a-famous-actor-in-south-india.jpg\" "\\"Her")
<\/p>\nRekha started working at the age of 3<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
At 13, she came to Bombay alone<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cDid your interest increase after the first film?\u201d<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
![\"Rekha](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/imgsize-817540,msid-134364036\/rekha-during-a-scene-of-her-film-savan-bhadon.jpg\" "\\"Rekha")
<\/p>\n\u2018Ghar\u2019 made Rekha take an interest in acting<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
![\""For](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/imgsize-634343,msid-134364038\/for-the-first-time-i-felt-that-i-should-take-an-interest-in-acting-said-the-iconic-actor.jpg\" "\\"\"For")
<\/p>\n\u201cBut now I know what acting is all about\u201d<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"