Rehana Anjuman Choudhary (10 March 1931 – 23 April 2013), known mononymously as Rehana, was a film actress who predominantly worked in Indian and Pakistani cinema. She was known as both "The Queen of Charm" and "The Dancing Damsel of Bombay". She worked in leading roles in films such as ''

Sagai Khakas, also known as Xakas, is a Turkic language spoken by the Khakas, who mainly live in the southwestern Siberian Republic of Khakassia, in Russia. The Khakas number 61,000, of whom 29,000 speak the Khakas language. Most Khakas speakers are bil ...

'', ''

Tadbir ''Tadbir '' () is a 1945 Indian Hindi language film. It was the fifth-highest-grossing Indian film of 1945. The film was directed by Jayant Desai under his Jayan Desai Productions banner and had music composed by Lal Mohammed, with lyrics writ ...

'', '' Hum Ek Hain'', ''

Shehnai The ''shehnai'' is a type of oboe from the Indian subcontinent. It is made of wood, with a double reed at one end and a metal or wooden flared bell at the other end. It was one of the nine instruments found in the royal court. The shehnai is sim ...

'', '' Sajan'', '' Samrat'' and '' Sargam''.

Early life

Rehana was born as Rehana Anjuman Choudhary in

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. Rehana's father was a manufacturer of

Moradabad Moradabad () is an industrial city, commissionerate, and municipal corporation in Moradabad district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is situated on the banks of the Ramganga river, at a distance of from the national capital, New Del ...

i silverware and he owned a factory in

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

. Rehana liked arts and she started learning classical dance when she was a child later she did a dance on a stage and was noticed by Shambhu Maharaj. At age five she was trained in Kathak dance by

Shambhu Maharaj Pandit Shambhu Maharaj (1910 – 4 November 1970) was a Guru of the Lucknow ''Gharana'' (school) of the Indian classical dance form, Kathak..Padma Shree Award -1958 Sangeet Natak Academic Award -1967 Early life and training Shambhu Maharaj was ...

and he was friends with Kajjanbai's so he introduced Rehana to her later he would take Rehana with him to Kajjanbai's touring company at

where he trained Rehana for rehearsals. Later Rehana did a classical dance at Kajjanbai's house at a request of a friend it made Kajjanbai impressed so she immediately took Rehana to her company and trained her in acting. Then she became a member of her troupe and would travel to different countries for performance and musical stage plays. Later when she returned to India then she signed a contract with

Entertainments National Service Association The Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) was an organisation established in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, ...

which was opened by

Basil Dean Basil Herbert Dean CBE (27 September 1888 – 22 April 1978) was an English actor, writer, producer and director in the theatre and in cinema. He founded the Liverpool Playhouse, Liverpool Repertory Company in 1911 and in the First World War, a ...

and

Leslie Henson Leslie Lincoln Henson (3 August 1891 – 2 December 1957) was an English comedian, actor, singer, producer for films and theatre, and film director. He initially worked in silent films and Edwardian musical comedy and became a popular music hal ...

and she made her debut in film ''

''.

Career

After doing dancing roles and small roles in films like the

K. L. Saigal Kundan Lal Saigal, often abbreviated as K. L. Saigal (11 April 1904 – 18 January 1947), was an Indian singer and actor who worked in Hindi cinema, which was centred in Calcutta (Kolkata) during his time, but is currently based in Bombay (Mumba ...

Suraiya Suraiya Jamal Sheikh (15 June 1929 – 31 January 2004), mononymously known as Suraiya, was an Indian actress and playback singer who worked in Hindi films. She is regarded as one of the greatest and finest actresses in the history of Indian c ...

-starrer ''

'', she got her major break in '' Hum Ek Hain'' (1946), which was incidentally

Dev Anand Dev Anand (; born Dharamdev Pishorimal Anand; 26 September 1923 – 3 December 2011) was an Indian actor, writer, director and producer known for his work in Indian cinema, Hindi cinema. He is considered as one of the greatest and most succes ...

's first film. '' Sajan'' (1947) had Rehana in the female lead, and following the success of this film, as well as ''

'' (1947), she became an "overnight star". From 1948 to 1951 was the best phase of her career as she did a variety of films paired opposite most of the top heroes of that time, like

Prem Adib Prem Adib (10 August 1917 – 25 December 1959) was an Indian actor. He was acclaimed as one of the top Bollywood actors of the 1940s, along with the likes of Pahari Sanyal, Ashok Kumar, P. C. Barua and Master Vinayak. Adib is best remembered ...

in ''Actress'' (1948), with

Raj Kapoor Raj Kapoor (; born as Shrishti Nath Kapoor; 14 December 1924 2 June 1988; also known as Ranbir Raj Kapoor) was an Indian actor, film director and producer, who worked in Hindi cinema. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influen ...

in '' Sunehre Din'' (1949) and '' Sargam'' (1950), with Dev Anand in ''Dilruba'' (1950), with

Shyam Shyam is a name of Krishna and an Indian masculine given name and surname. Notable people with this name include: ;Shyam *Shyam (actor) (1920–1951), Indian Hindi film actor *Shyam (composer) (born 1937), an Indian music composer from Kerala *Shya ...

in ''Nirdosh'' (1950) and ''Surajmukhi'' (1950), with Shekhar in ''Adaa'' (1951) and with

Premnath Premnath Malhotra, better known as Prem Nath (21 November 1926 – 3 November 1992) was an Indian actor and director, who was best known for his works in Hindi films. Nath made his debut with the film ''Ajit'' (1948), and went on to appear in ...

in ''

'' (1951). Two of her biggest hits from these were '' Sargam'' (1950) and ''

'' (1951). After 1952, her career sharply went on the decline as films like ''Rangeeli'' (1952), ''Chham Chhama Chham'' (1952), ''Hazar Raatein'' (1953) and '' Samrat'' (1954) all sank at the box office. With her career on the decline in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, Rehana migrated to

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

with the hope of continuing her career there. In Pakistan, she worked in Urdu films like ''Raat ke Rahi'', ''Wehshi'', ''Apna Praya'', ''Shalimar'', '' Aulad'' and ''Dil Ne Tujhe Man Liya''. She successfully worked in many films which revived her acting career and performed a number of character roles in films such '' Insan Badalta Hai'', ''Shabab'', ''Unchay Mahal'', ''Miss 56'' and ''

Heer Ranjha '' Ranjha'' () is a classical Punjabi folk tragedy with many historic poetic narrations; with the first one penned by Damodar Gulati in 1600s, on the preexisting oral legend; and the most famous one, ''Heer'', written by Waris Shah in 17 ...

''. In 1995 she was a judge for the

Nigar Awards The Nigar Awards () were presented in an annual award show to recognize outstanding achievement in Pakistani cinema, after having been revived in 2017 following a 15-year absence. The honors are awarded by Nigar Magazine founded in 1948. The ...

Personal life

Rehana married producer Iqbal Shehzad who she worked with in the film ''Raat Ke Rahi'' but later they divorced and then she married Sabir Ahmed, a businessman from Karachi. With him she had three children.

Death

She died in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

on 23 April 2013.

Controversies

She is regarded as Hindi cinema's first "Jhatka Queen". Her movie ''Shin Sinaki Boobla Boo'' (1952) became the first film to be banned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting because of its low moral tone, even when it was certified for unrestricted public viewing by the censor board of India. Immense public support for the actress made the information and broadcasting ministry of the central government bow down and allow the unrestricted release of the film, but the huge delay reduced its success at the box office. In 2010, Rehana's family filed a case against film producer

Ekta Kapoor Ekta Kapoor (born 7 June 1975) is an Indian television and film producer, known for her work in Hindi television and Bollywood cinema. She is the founder of Balaji Telefilms, Balaji Telefilms Limited, where she serves as joint managing directo ...

and director

Milan Luthria Milan Arjun Luthria is an Indian film director who works in Bollywood, Hindi films. He is best known as the director of Ajay Devgan ''Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai'' (2010). Personal life Milan is the biological son of Raj Khosla. He was born o ...

, at the Allahabad High Court and the legal notice says that the filmmaker has used the name 'Rehana' without their consent in the film '' Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai'' and it has maligned her image.

Filmography

Film

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rehana 1931 births 20th-century Pakistani actresses Actresses from Mumbai Indian film actresses 2013 deaths Actresses in Hindi cinema Pakistani film actresses 20th-century Indian actresses Actresses in Punjabi cinema 21st-century Pakistani actresses Actresses in Urdu cinema 21st-century Indian actresses