Actor Biswajeet, who allegedly kissed Rekha without her consent while shooting for a film in 1969, has finally addressed the controversy in a recent interview. The controversy came to light after Yasser Usman’s book Rekha: The Untold Story recalled the incident from one of Rekha’s earliest films, Do Shikari, when a teenage Rekha was cast opposite the much-successful Biswajeet. It is alleged that Rekha was not informed about the kissing scene and was ‘furious’ when Biswajeet kissed her without her consent. Rekha has never addressed the issue herself.

In the new interview, when Biswajeet was asked about the same, he brushed it off, saying that the controversy shouldn’t even be discussed today as kissing scenes aren’t treated as a big deal in films nowadays. He did not address whether he sought consent from a young Rekha. “In today’s age, that controversy does not matter. Today, on-screen kissing is nothing. Today’s bedroom scenes.. I am shocked to watch them in films like Animal,” he told ANI. When asked if he met Rekha after that incident, he said that she worked with him in his film Kahte Hain Mujhko Raja in 1976.

Story continues below.
Subscribe to see fewer ads.

When Biswajeet kissed Rekha, she was ‘furious’

As per the book, Rekha was fairly young, still in her teens, when she came to Mumbai (then Bombay) to look for work opportunities in Bollywood. One of the first Hindi films she signed in 1969 was Anjana Safar, which was later renamed Do Shikari. It was on the set of this film that actor Biswajeet, director Kuljeet Pal and cinematographer Raja Nawathe decided that Biswajeet would kiss Rekha on her lips as soon as the camera started rolling. They did not seek permission from her.

Yasser Usman quoted Biswajeet saying that Rekha was “betrayed and furious” when this happened. “It was not for my enjoyment, but important for the film. Rekha felt betrayed and was furious,” he reportedly said. Kuljeet, however, said that Rekha was aware of the scene and had given her consent. The film did not release until 1979, and by then, Rekha was a major star in Hindi movies.

‘My father Biswajeet should have refused’

Biswajeet’s daughter Pallavi Chatterjee has also addressed this controversy in the past. In a chat with Vickey Lalwani, she said that the incident must have been traumatic for Rekha, especially given her young and impressionable age at the time. “She was very young then. If something like this happens to you without warning, what are you supposed to do? When you are young, and something inappropriate is happening, you often feel awkward even about speaking up. Those times were very different. If a much bigger star was doing something like that, what could you really do?” she said.

She also said that Rekha and her family were close at the time and the two of them would often play together as children. She said that because of the family connection, the incident must have been “even more traumatic” for Rekha.

Story continues below this ad

While she completely acknowledged Rekha’s discomfort, she also defended her father’s conduct and said that he worked with many female co-stars throughout his career but he had never been involved in any such controversy. “It was not right, whether it was done by my father or by anyone else. He should have either refused to do it or obtained Rekha’s consent first. She was not prepared for it, and obviously it would have been shocking for a 15- or 16-year-old girl,” she said.