Rehana Sultan (born 19 November 1950) is an Indian actress best known for her debut role in the acclaimed 1970 film '' Dastak'' which won her the

National Film Award for Best Actress The National Film Award for Best Actress (officially known as the Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Actress) is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards of India since 1968 to an actress for the best performance in a leading role wit ...

. A graduate of

Film and Television Institute of India The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) is a film institute under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India and aided by the Central Government of India. It is situated on the premises of the erstwhile ...

(FTII),

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

, she is also known for another bold role in the film ''

Chetna ''Chetna'' () is a 1970 Bollywood drama film directed by B.R. Ishara. The film stars Shatrughan Sinha, Anil Dhawan and Rehana Sultan. The film focuses on the subject of rehabilitation of prostitutes. However, the film is more famous for its bold ...

'' (1970), which got her

typecast In film, television, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character, one or more particular roles, or characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ...

thus ending her film career, despite its promising start. She said ''"The sex in my films was not forced, but part of the narrative. Today, I feel these scenes are used for commercial reasons. All I can say is Babuda was ahead of his times.”''

Biography

Born and raised in

Allahabad Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...

in a

Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...

family, she graduated from high school in 1967, and was selected in the same year to study acting at FTII. After she graduated with a sexy role in Vishwanath Ayengar's diploma film ''Shadi Ki Pehli Salgirah'' (1967), she got her break in a feature film in

Rajinder Singh Bedi Rajinder Singh Bedi (1 September 1915 – 1984) was an Indian Urdu writer of the progressive writers' movement and a playwright, who later worked in Hindi cinema as a film director, screenwriter and dialogue writer and he is grandfather Rajat Be ...

's '' Dastak'' (1970), making her the first actress from the Institute to land a lead role in the film industry. She won the

National Film Award The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorate ...

for her role in that film. In the same year she also played the lead role in the film ''

'' which was shot in 28 days along with the shooting of ''Dastak''. That film was about the rehabilitation of prostitutes, and her role changed the portrayal of sex workers in

Hindi cinema Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

.Fallen women in Bollywood films
''

Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, t ...

'', 26 July 2004. Her sexy roles brought her success but also limited her choice of roles in future films. She had roles in ''Haar Jeet'' (1972), ''Prem Parvat'' (1973), and the famous political satire ''Kissa Kursi Ka'' (1977). In 1984, after starring in Vijay Anand's ''Hum Rahen Na Rahen'' (1984) with Shabana Azmi, she married writer-director

B. R. Ishara Babu Ram Ishara (born Roshan Lal Sharma 7 September 1934 – 25 July 2012) was an Indian film director and screenwriter best known for his films of the 1970s. He filmed 35 Bollywood films between 1964 and 1996. He was much popular for his film ' ...

, who had directed ''Chetna''. She also appeared in a Punjabi movie ''

Putt Jattan De ''Putt Jattan De'' is a 1983 Punjabi film produced by Devinder Singh Gill and Iqbal Dhillon and directed by Jagjit Gill. It starred Daljeet Kaur and Baldev Khosa with Hindi stars Shatrughan Sinha and Dharmendra making special appearances. Suri ...

'' (1981) with

Shatrughan Sinha Shatrughan Prasad Sinha (born 9 December 1945) is an Indian actor and politician. He is a Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Asansol (Lok Sabha constituency), Asansol constituency as a member of All India Trinamool Congress (TMC). Earlier he ...

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sultan, Rehana Living people Actresses from Uttar Pradesh Indian film actresses Actresses in Hindi cinema Film and Television Institute of India alumni Best Actress National Film Award winners Indian Bahá'ís 20th-century Bahá'ís 21st-century Bahá'ís 1950 births 20th-century Indian actresses