Although gossip has long been a staple of Bollywood culture, the Rekha-Amitabh Bachchan-Jaya Bachchan love triangle stands out as one of the most notorious and enduring scandals in the industry’s annals. Though rumors have been rife since the mid ’70s, none of the parties involved ever explicitly confirmed such speculations.
Interestingly, Rekha and Jaya shared a close bond prior to the latter’s marriage to Amitabh. In fact, they both lived in the same building in Mumbai for quite sometime after Rekha’s relocation at 18 following her initial success. By then, Jaya was already a star and often provided young Rekha advice about career and life.
Actor Mehmood’s official biography, written by Hanif Zaveri, offered further insights into the celebrity trio’s equation. “Amitabh and Anwar (Mehmood’s brother) were close friends. Anwar told me that he had often taken Amitabh and Jaya on long drives. The two would sit in the front seat of the car along with him while Rekha would sit in the back seat, and they would talk through the journey,” the author noted in Mehmood: A Man of Many Moods,” News18 reported.
In the Umrao Jaan actor’s biography, Rekha: The Untold Story, penned by Yasser Usman (2016), a chapter titled “Didibhai” was dedicated to Jaya and chronicled their old friendship. “After the success of her first few films, Rekha bought her own flat in Bombay in 1972,” the chapter revealed, as reported by Times of India. “Leaving Hotel Ajanta, she shifted to Juhu’s Beach Apartments at the age of eighteen. In the same apartment building lived the actress Jaya Bhaduri, who had then firmly established herself as an actress par excellence. At Beach Apartments, Rekha and Jaya would often meet. Rekha affectionately called Jaya Didibhai, and frequently went over to Jaya’s flat to spend time with her. It was there that Rekha first met Jaya’s boyfriend, Amitabh Bachchan.”
“It is said that during those times Amitabh’s girlfriend Jaya was a pillar of strength to him. More successful than him, she even referred him to several producers,” the author added in the book.
The three of them appeared together in Yash Chopra’s Silsila (1981), which also marked the last time Amitabh and Rekha, one of Bollywood’s most celebrated pairs, shared the screen. The romantic drama, which tanked upon release, had created many headlines due to speculations linking its narrative to the rumoured real-life affair between its stars.
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