Vidya Balan, who made her Bollywood debut with 2005 Parineeta, recalled the first time she met Rekha on the sets of her first film. The actress shared how she was mesmerised by the legendary star. Sharing her experience from the set, Balan revealed that she was called by her director, Pradeep Sarkar, during the shooting of Kaisi Paheli Zindagani (featuring Rekha) which she was not even a part of. The actress recalled the time when she walked into the vanity van of Rekha, and her first thought was mesmerising.
Speaking about the same to Filmfare, Vidya Balan said, “Dada (Pradeep Sarkar) called me and said come for the shoot. The time I walked into Rekha’s van, I was not shooting for that song. My father’s favourite film also is Khoon Bhari Maang co-incidentally. And I was like, oh my god, Rekha!”
Vidya Balan shared that she was starstruck by Rekha, she said, “I remember seeing her picture in The Times of India for the first ever time. I was mesmerized. I was like, who’s this ethereal creature? I had not seen any films before that.”
She added, “I knocked on her door tentatively. Raima (Sen) and I walked in… and she met me like we’d known each other forever. She was so lovely and continues to be so lovely.”
Talking about Parineeta, the film is slated to re-release on August 29 in cinemas by PVR INOX. The musical romantic drama marked its 20th anniversary this year and on this occasion, the film will be arriving in theatres. The movie also features Saif Ali Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Dia Mirza, Raima Sen, Sabyasachi Chakraborty, Achyut Potdar and Biplab Chatterjee in key roles. The film was adapted from Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s novel of the same name.