On stage, a pic of the leading ladies of Bollywood at the grand - and I do mean GRAND - premiere of Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja held in Mumbai back in April 16, 1993.
Sridevi, then 29, Rekha, then 38, were decked to the hilt for the lavish occasion as almost the entire industry turned up. Obviously we have dozens of pics in the archive here and here.
Funnily enough, prescient Anil Kapoor, said to the press a month after, that he knew the night itself the fate of his home production, 'Superhit premiere, flop film..." . When you've been in the industry long enough, the stats don't need to be read in print, only on the faces of the industry.
The media - there was a particularly vicious Cine Blitz cover story - tried to put their foot between the friendship between Sridevi and Rekha, and tried to poison their ears - we can look back on several leading questions that tried to agitate one or the other. As time proved, the two South Indian superstars were friends from beginning to tragic end. Rekha herself anointed Sridevi her successor early on - and has consistently, year after year, praised Sridevi as an actor, star and talent. If she poked a little fun at Sri, Sridevi took it on the chin - and gave back in turn too. Nothing broke their bond.
Sridevi has been nothing but respectful to her senior - watch the Filmfare clip of Sridevi winning her Best Actress Filmfare award for Chaalbaaz - and the first person she greets after the win is Rekha.
TBH Rekha has mostly maintained her relationship with her seniors, contemporaries, successors and juniors with a lot of affection - some have taken her generosity it in the spirit intended, others, not so much.
As Rekha turns a year older today, we state again for the record, Rekha is the greatest Indian actress alive today. It's only the incompetent industry that can't come up with decent script worthy of her oceanic talent. She proves herself time and again on stage, in reality shows, on film, in magazines, in photoshoots, interviews and covers... All her critics have ceased relevance. Rekha's stardom remains undiminished.
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