Rekha

Rekha appeared as a child (credited as Baby Bhanurekha) in the Telugu film Intti Guttu.

After dropping out of school at age 13, she appeared in the Telugu film as a child artist in Rangula Ratnam (1966). She had no interest in acting and was basically forced to work to sustain her family financially, as her mother's salary would still not make ends meet. This was a difficult period in her life; still a teenager, adapting to her new surroundings was an uneasy process. Coming from the South, she did not speak Hindi and struggled to communicate with co-workers, and was constantly missing her mother who was critically ill. Moreover, she was required to follow a strict diet. Recalling this phase, Rekha was later quoted as saying (Reacting to it, many years later, she said, "I'm healed, I am not bitter anymore, I don't think I ever was."):

Rekha's first film as a lead was in the successful Kannada film Operation Jackpot Nalli C.I.D 999 opposite Rajkumar in 1969.

In that same year, she starred in her first Hindi film, Anjana Safar. She later claimed that she was tricked into a kissing scene with the leading actor Biswajit for the overseas market,

and the kiss made it to the Asian edition of Life magazine.

The film ran into censorship problems, and would not be released until almost a decade later in 1979 (retitled as Do Shikaari).