Bollywood Flashback: Shatru-Reena’s Love affair

When Sonakshi Sinha was launched five years back, those who were familiar with the Bollywood of the 70s questioned her striking resemblance to Reena Roy – one of the sauciest actresses from the swinging 70s who started out with a bold role as theZaroorat girl and consolidated her position with huge hits like Nagin, Kalicharan, Vishwanath, Apnapan, Aasha, Arpan and many more.

Now you may wonder what is the mystery here? Well, Reena was one time girl friend of Sonakshi’s father, Shatrughan Sinha. Which still did not explain Sonakshi’s resemblance to Reena and it could be dismissed off as just one of those quirks of nature. However, the sensational relationship of Shatrughan and Reena still remains one of the most talked about (including by the principal players) romances of Bollywood.

Reena Roy, who entered Bollywood in the early 70s, started off with a non-starter, B. R. Ishara’s Nai Duniya Naye Log with another newcomer Danny Denzongpa, but it was shelved temporarily. Undeterred, filmmaker B. R. Ishara cast both actors again in Zaroorat (1972), along with another newcomer Vijay Arora, and the racy film got Reena some attention. She was now called the “Zaroorat Girl”.

However, it wasn’t easy for her to break down the industry’s prejudices. Her background, where she came from, her lack of breeding-education, her inability to speak English made things a bit difficult for her in the industry. She struggled for the next four years in B-Grade films that had weak scripts and faltering leading men. But the bright spot during this period came with her lively performance in Jaise Ko Taisa (1973), and her rain-soaked dance to the song Ab ke Sawan with Jeetendra raising temperatures.

And one of Reena’s biggest breaks came after two years with Subhash Ghai’s Kalicharan (1975) with Shatrughan Sinha, an actor known for his villainous roles, as her leading man. Sinha was making his first mark as a hero in Kalicharan. The film defied everyone’s expectations and became a huge hit with Reena and Shatrughan becoming a popular team as they signed several films together, like Ghai’s Vishwanath (1978), a blockbuster thriller. Further, it was Reena’s appearance with Jeetendra in marital dramas like Badaltey Rishtey (1978) and Pyaasa Sawan (1982) that set her career soaring. The duo produced three of their greatest classics together – Apnapan (1977), Aasha (1980) and Arpan (1983). Her role in Apnapan as the selfish gold-digger, who abandons her husband and child and later wanting her son back, won her the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award beating out top actresses like Nutan, Asha Parekh and Rekha. After the box office success of Aashafor which she received her second Filmfare nomination as Best Actress, Reena entered the 1980s as a leading lady in demand, securing herself roles with actors like Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra, and Vinod Khanna.

So, with time, the starlet was left behind and Reena Roy had transformed into a star. Reena, apparently made it to the Number 3 position, officially. Reena Roy concentrated on her career and was providing stiff competition to actresses like Hema Malini, Rekha and Zeenat Aman. In 1982 alone, Reena had 13 releases, by far more than any of her rivals. She was now demanding equal footing with Hema, and effectively stealing the show from Rekha in emotional melodramas like Prem Tapasya (1983) and Asha Jyoti (1984). Her characters became more versatile, as did her dances. She was eventually given her due in terms of banners, films, roles and money.  It’s said that overnight Reena and her family was granted respectability and all the bigwigs of the industry opened their doors to them.

But, soon, her life took a turn. Shatru and Reena went on to doing several hit movies together and became one of the most popular on-screen jodi, and with time, the two came close to each other and fell in love. Apparently, Reena was madly in love with the actor and wanted him to commit which Shatru was not doing since he was engaged to Poonam. Reportedly, their affair had continued even after Shatru and Poonam’s marriage. ‘My relationship with Reena was intense, pious and personal. People said after my marriage that Reena’s feeling for me had changed. In fact, it grew more intense. I am grateful that she gave me her company for seven years’, said Shatru in one of his interviews those days. Reena’s ‘helpless’ family, apparently couldn’t stop her from her steady progress towards heart-break. ‘I prayed and wished that Shatru would at least marry my daughter and make her his second wife. He did not love her and had been just fooling around with her. Reena told me it was love. I told her it was a mistake,’ said Reena’s mother.  Poonam knew about their affair through press and since people started talking about it. But, Poonam, it was said, was confident that Shatrughan won’t marry Reena considering her family background. ‘The truth is that I did step aside and gave Reena a clear field, but Shatru didn’t want to marry a girl whose fidelity was in doubt. I was aware that they revived their old romance after our marriage’, Poonam was quoted saying.

But more than Shatru, it was Reena who was blamed for coming in between a husband and a wife. She was deeply hurt when people started calling her the other woman and a marriage breaker. Eventually, Shatru’s commitment fear pushed Reena to find her soul mate in another man. While she was going through one of the worst phases, Pakistani cricketer Mohsin Khan entered her life. Reena gave up her film career and tied the knot with Mohsin, in 1983, leaving Shatru and his family in peace.

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