Tragic Life: A soaring career, a conditional marriage and a solitary Rakhee

Rakhee was born in Ranaghat of Nadia district in West Bengal on 15th August, 1947, just hours after the declaration of Indian Independence. Her father had a business in footwear making and the family was originally based out of the part of undivided Bengal which is now in Bangladesh. They moved to West Bengal, India during the years of partition.

At the tender age of 16, Rakhee was married off to a Bengali journalist-turned-film maker, Ajay Biswas. But her marital bliss didn't last long and she was divorced from him in less than 2 years. In 1965, our society was not very kind to women who had separated from their husbands and divorced was a grave taboo. But, the teen braved through societal prejudices and tried to establish herself in her own terms.

The hazel-eyed beauty was one in a million and had every element that was vital to rule the silver screen. In 1967, with Badhu Baran, she debuted in Bengali cinema. The following year, her next, Baghini, in which she was cast alongside heavyweights like Soumitra Chatterjee and Sandhya Roy, released.

Two regional films were enough for her to grab the attention of Mumbai filmmakers. In 1970, paired opposite Dharmendra, she made her first appearance on the screen of Hindi cinema. Jeevan Mrityu was a box office success and sealed the debutante actress's career in Bollywood.

Ever since her debut in Jeevan Mrityu, this phenomenal actress has had a terrific success-graph spanning across four decades in Hindi cinema. She has worked with every A-lister in the industry, be it Shashi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna, or Dilip Kumar. By the 80s, she started venturing into supporting roles and played Amitabh Bachchan's mother in Shakti, after romancing him in films like Kabhi Kabhie and Kasme Vaade.

Professionally, Rakhee had reached the stars or had perhaps gone beyond them also, but her personal life was just the opposite, and stayed dis-balanced throughout. After being married and divorced as a teenager, Raakhee found love in writer-poet, Gulzar, who was taken in by her charismatic beauty. The actress reciprocated his feelings and they tied the nuptial knot in 1973.

Gulzaar had laid out a condition before her, prior to the wedding: she must quit movies. She was at the prime of her career, but marriage was paramount also. Months after their marriage, she gave birth to their daughter, Meghna. But, it isn't that easy to cage an artist after all, is it? Rakhee hoped, though Gulzar disapproved of her working in movies by others, he would at least consider her for his directorials. To her dismay, Gulzar never showed any interest in featuring her in his films either.

Their marriage further deteriorated during the filming of Gulzar's movie, Aandhi. Rakhee was accompanying her husband, along with the crew, to outdoor shoot in Kashmir. One evening, after dinner, Rakhee found Gulzaar leading Suchitra Sen to her room. This got Rakhee suspicious and she confronted the director. An irked Gulzaar struck Rakhee, which left her traumatized.

Seeing how matrimony had unraveled, to refuse Yash Chopra when he asked her to play the lead in Kabhie Kabhie opposite Amitabh Bachchan was insurmountable for her, but Gulzar was not very pleased to learn that she had made light of the promise made before marriage and accepted a role in Yash Chopra's next. Gulzaar gave her an ultimatum to choose one out of the two: her career or her marriage.

Her decision was concrete; she walked out of that house to never return. The career she chalked out for herself after retiring from Gulzaar's home, was unparalleled. No woman should have to give up on such enormous success for a marriage that was balanced on a condition.

However, haunted by loneliness and repeated failed marriages, Rakhi took to drinking and soon became an addict. Though separated from Gulzar for 46 years, the couple never filed for a divorce and have raised their daughter together.

She stayed alone is a bungalow named Muktangon briefly, and later moved to a Mumbai high rise. At the age of 72, the golden girl of 70s Bollywood has distanced herself from the buzz of Mumbai, and spends her time reading, growing vegetables, and tending to animals in her Panvel farmhouse.