Meet actress who worked with many superstars, now lives with snakes, dogs, cows, husband is a superstar, she is married to…
‘Mere Karan Arjun aayenge’ is one of the most popular dialogues that is still fresh in the minds of the people. This dialogue surely reminds everyone of veteran star Rakhee Gulzar who ruled hearts in the 70s. Her popularity was such that Yash Chopra wrote the 1976 blockbuster film Kabhie Kabhie after seeing her. Moreover, lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi took inspiration from Rakhee’s personality and wrote a song ‘Kabhie Kabhie Mere Dil Mein Khayal Aata Hai’. Sunil Dutt was also a big fan of Rakhee’s acting and could not take his eyes off her.
She has worked in nearly 100 films and has been honoured with 2 National Awards, 3 Filmfare Awards, and a Padma Shri. Rakhee’s life is full of ups and downs and reportedly she had to bear her husband Gulzar’s infidelity. She never accepted defeat and said, ‘I am firm on my will and self-respect, even if there is a financial crunch, but I will never do a film or work that I don’t like’.
The 77 year old veteran actress is living her life alone in the valleys and once she said, ‘Now I don’t need money, I do my work myself and am living a happy life with animals’. She is reportedly taking care of dogs, cows, snakes, and birds in her farmhouse in Panvel. She worked with superstars such as Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, and Dharmendra. She essayed the role of mother to lead heroes and heroines in films. Raakhee and Gulzar never got divorced, but have been living separately for many years.
On the work front, she made her debut with the Bengali film Badhu Bharan and her first Hindi film was Jeevan Mrityu. Her last film Dil Ka Rishta was released in 2003. However, Yash Chopra wanted to sign Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor along with Raakhee in Kabhie Kabhie. But, Amitabh Bachchan got to know that he had to romance Rakhee on screen and rejected the film. Amitabh Bachchan and Rakhee were close friends and she used to call him Lambu and Big B used to call her Didi. When Rakhee came to know about this, she explained him saying, ‘We are artists, our real life is very different from our reel life’. She was earlier married to Bengali journalist/film director Ajay Biswas in 1963 and their marriage ended in 1965. The two are parents to daughter, Meghna Gulzar and they parted ways when she was 1 year old. According to The Quint, Rakhee Gulzar’s farmhouse is named Roots, where she has 9 dogs, 32 cows, and many kinds of birds and snakes.
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