RAAKHEE GULZAR Is one of those rare "Midnight Children" who's destiny and fate is firmly interwined with that of our Nation. Born on 15th.Aug.1947 she has gone through all the turmoil and jubilations, sorrow and joy ,success and failure ash she has virtually grown up with the nation's independence and when she looks back she finds herself lonely sad and to an extent bitter.

Not many are aware that even though her career took her to the pinnacle of fame yet she had to make major sacrifices at every step on the personal front to reach there and that is what makes her so bitter and even lonely when she looks back into her past that has more loads of lonliness and misery than joys and laughter.

For most part of her career RAAKHEE GULZAR has been flooded with praise and accolades and even won prestigious awards for her lofty performances but very few would be aware that her first husband ANIL BISHWAS not only taunted her when she made her desire to act known to him and to add insult to injury he even did her screen test and rejected her from his own home production-SAMBANDH because he felt that she just did not have the potential to make it in her.

Those taunting words have kept haunting Raakhee Gulzar right through her career and she gets nightmares just imagining what if her ex-husband is actually true then where would it leave her any way...and that's what has pushed her to the extreme to prove her worth and show the world she could actually make it as she was not talentless as her first husband had predicted.

After her first rejection the next two years of her marriage were virtually hell as she lost her self esteem and believed what her husband predicted about her. It was only when she turned 20 that she bagged her first bengali film that wasn't much to write home about as it only widened the rift in her marriage. Eventually her marriage crumbled and ended in divorce when she went against her husband and signed Rajshree's Jeevan Mrityu opposite DHARMENDER and it proved to be a runaway hit. Her moving to Mumbai alone sealed the fate of her marriage with ANIL BISHWAS.

The next 5 years saw RAAKHEE shoot her way to the top of Bollywood as she signed the best of banners and worked along with the best of stars. Infact she was amonst the top 5 stars who mattered in Bollywood along with SHARMILA TAGORE, MUMTAZ, ZEENAT AMAN & REKHA. During this period she gave several mega hits that are remembered to this date for her sheer beauty and ample talent. Prominent are : Reshma Aur Shera, Sharmilee, Heera Panna, Trishul, Bemisaal, Kabhi Kabhie, Tapasya, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, Kaala Pathar, Barsaat Ki Ek Raat and several several more like Ram Lakhan or Soldier & Karan Arjun in her second innings as a mother.

If RAAKHEE lost her first husband to divorce when she rebeled and signed 'Jeevan Mrityu' then the same act was repeated hardly five years later when in 1974 she refused to stay home any longer after her mariage to Gulzar and worse she signed Kabhi Kabhie without his knowledge or his consent and that shattered Gulzar to the extent that he walked out on her and their marriage for good.

RAAKHEE assumed she would be able to pacify Gulzar back to the marriage as they had a baby daughter to bring up but Gulzar was so shattered at the breach of trust that he simply refused to give her a second chance.So while the marriage had crumbled and RAAKHEE had moved into her career, she refused to end the marriage or accept a divorce even though both of them have never lived under the same roof again...None the less she clings to the GULZAR surname because for her the seperation was never official and she would like to believe that she is still his wife..atleast on paper!!!

                                        RAAKHEE GULZAR QUOTE MARTIAL!!! 

“ I never thought I was a good actress. Even my own husband rejected me from his own film ‘Sambandh’ as he felt I was a terrible actress. That feeling remains with me even today as I go cold in front of the camera and my palms begin to sweat!!!! 

"As a child growing up in Bengal, I was oblivious to the significance of my date of birth(15^th.Aug.1947) although there were celebrations in the local government institutions and at my school,  There were no celebrations in my household!!!!"

“My father would say, ‘What did we get? First we were ruled by the goras and then by scoundrels.’ My parents still harbour some disappointment, but I try to make them happy!!!!" 

 “What choices do the people of this country have? The laws of the nation are not respected by the powers that be. We have few role models to look up to. The youth is an arrogant generation without values or feelings. We are surrounded by unrest, be it in Kashmir, the North-East, Sri Lanka or the Naxalite movement in so many parts of the country. There is absolute, uncontrollable chaos beyond the big cities 

"For the last four  years I started to feel the monotony of being on a film set and I just don't feel like stepping into  again. I just don't seem to fit in as the noise and technicality gets on my nerves!!!"

BY: THE LIP