Birthday special: Rekha's Bollywood journey is anything but ordinary

Though no longer working actively in films, Rekha continues to thrill the audience by playing path breaking roles from time to time. At 59, Rekha looks fit and young and can pass off as a 30 year old woman. She has proved that hard work and self motivation can get you all that you desire in life.

At a time when plump was the normal look of Indian women and the country was oblivious of the concept of size zero, Rekha introduced women to the idea of having a good, lean figure to look beautiful.

Rekha became careful in choosing roles too. She won accolades for her acting skills in Ghar where she played the role of a traumatized wife who becomes a rape victim and in  Do Anjaane she played Amitabh Bachchan's ambitious and greedy wife.

The audience was floored when there was a swift change in her screen personality, as well as her style of acting.

In order to lose weight, she followed a nutritious diet, led a regular, disciplined life, and practiced yoga, later recording albums to promote physical fitness.

 She began paying attention to her make-up, dress sense, and worked to improve her acting technique and perfect her Hindi-language skills.

"I was called the 'Ugly Duckling' of Hindi films because of my dark complexion and South Indian features. I used to feel deeply hurt when people compared me with the leading heroines of the time and said I was no match for them. I was determined to make it big on sheer merit."She said once.

Raampur Ka Lakshman (1972), Kahani Kismat Ki (1973), and Pran Jaye Par Vachan Na Jaye (1974) were some of her successful films, but they failed to establish her as an actor. Rekha recalls that the way she was perceived during the initial phase of her career motivated her to change her appearance and improve her choice of roles. 

She was fat and dark and in her own words, an ugly duckling back then.

Her film debut as a lead happened four years later with Sawan Bhadon in 1970.  Although her films were quite successful during the initial phase of her career, her acting was not taken seriously because of her looks.

Rekha made her debut as a child actor in Telugu movie Rangula Ratnam.

What made Rekha the ultimate sex symbol and the perennial beauty of Bollywood? What makes her so stunning even at 62? Read to find out!