Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha’s alleged romance made headlines from time to time. Some even went on to say that Rekha wanted Big B to divorce Jaya and marry her.
Rumour has it that the Umrao Jaan actor is secretly married to Amitabh and that is the reason she wears the ‘sindoor’ or vermilion.
However, if rumours are to be trusted, Rekha secretly married Sanjay Dutt, not Amitabh!
However, Yasser Usman, the writer of Rekha – The Untold Story, has denied reports that the actress was married to Sanjay Dutt and applies vermillion in his name.
Many publications referred writer Usman’s book as the source of the news.
He says, “This is wrong. Nothing of this sort has been mentioned in my book. People don’t read properly.”
He narrates the incident quoted in his book, “Rekha and Sanjay Dutt was working in a film together, probably Zameen Aasmaan (1984). The rumours of their affair surfaced at that time. In fact, some went on to say that they got married. These rumours became so strong that Sanjay Dutt had to deny the allegations in a magazine. It was an official denial.”
“There wasn’t any marriage. This became big only because Dutt had to deny it officially,” adds Usman.
In fact, Usman’s book has these lines: During these years a succession of names came to be associated with her: Shailendra Singh, Kamal Haasan, producer Rajeev Kumar, even Sanjay Dutt. One fine day, out of the blue, came the news of her marriage with Sanjay Dutt. An unfair rumour, because she was sincerely helping him recover from a rough patch. And the release of their film, Zameen Aasman, gained from the rumour. Sanjay Dutt had to actually issue a formal denial of their rumoured marriage.
These days when fake news has become a monstrous problem and fact-checking has taken a backseat, Yasser Usman can be termed the latest victim of click-bait journalism.
