{"id":3059,"date":"2016-06-02T18:33:13","date_gmt":"2016-06-02T13:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3059"},"modified":"2016-06-02T18:33:13","modified_gmt":"2016-06-02T13:03:13","slug":"rekha-iifa-awards-kanjeevaram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=3059","title":{"rendered":"A Lifetime Achievement Award for Rekha and her Kanjeevaram"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

T<\/span><\/p><\/div>

he IIFA Awards that were screened last night, boasted of the usual suspects we\u2019ve come to expect of any unabashed celebration of Bollywood connections: <\/span>Karan Johar <\/span><\/a>referencing his past films to justify his hobby of launching star kids. Rajkummar Rao getting sidelined for the Best Actor award. Varun Dhawan mistaking the stage for the sets of <\/span>Any Body Can Dance 15<\/span><\/i>. And <\/span>Arjun Kapoor,<\/span><\/a> just showing up and doing absolutely nothing. \u00a0<\/span>\n\nBut what made last night\u2019s ceremony stand out was the fact that it boasted of a wild-card entry so spectacular that no season of <\/span>Bigg Boss<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Roadies<\/span><\/i>, and <\/span>Splitsvilla<\/span><\/i> can collectively outdo. After a gap of 20 years, <\/span>Bollywood veteran Rekha performed <\/span><\/a>on a medley of her blockbuster songs. The widely anticipated finale of the ceremony saw the ageless diva dance to \u201cPyaar Kiya Toh Darna Kya\u201d, \u201cDil Cheez Kya Hai\u201d, \u201cIn Ankhon Ki Masti\u201d, and \u201cThahre Rahiyo\u201d for 20 minutes.<\/span>\n\nShe wrapped up her performance with \u201cSalaam-E-Ishq\u201d, that also had a bevy of younger actors share the stage with her. Besides taking the audience back in time, Rekha\u2019s dance performance also resulted in a standing ovation, that was evidently laced with a generous helping of disbelief. After all, it\u2019s not everyday that a 63-year-old takes the stage with the sole intention of making you forget that she is 63 years old. If anything, her performance only added to the mysterious appeal that Rekha has been successfully brandishing for years now.<\/span>\n\nFor the last two decades, <\/span>Brand Rekha<\/span><\/a> has been about milking the \u201caura\u201d of being an \u201cageless symbol of elegance and mystique\u201d clad in heavy silks amd vermillion-streaked hair that is always jet black. Like Miss Havisham in <\/span>Great Expectations<\/span><\/i>, it\u2019s almost as if she\u2019s frozen in time, vehemently hoping to recreate it in the present. <\/span>\n\nBut last night, Rekha \u2013 who\u2019d definitely identify as kanjeevaram-sexual \u2013 ditched her trusty aide for a dazzling Manish Malhotra pink anarkali that was custom-made for her and sent social media\u2019s heart aflutter. Because let\u2019s be honest, a Bollywood award ceremony without Rekha adorning a kanjeevaram is a little like living in an Indian city without <\/span>pollution<\/span><\/a>: unforeseen and impossible. <\/span>\n\nThink about it; save for cameos, it\u2019s been over a decade since we\u2019ve seen the actress on the big screen \u2014 playing the nurturing mother in <\/span>Koi… Mil Gaya<\/span><\/i> and the nurturing grandmother in <\/span>Krrish<\/span><\/i>. Neither is Rekha grabbing headlines for her alleged relationship or engagement <\/span>\u00e0 la Ranbir Kapoor-<\/span>Alia Bhatt<\/span><\/a> and Priyanka Chopra-Nick Jonas. Nor has the actress taken to Instagram, aggressively sharing the minutiae of her daily life that gets duplicated in various tabloids. So then how exactly has Rekha managed to ensure that she isn\u2019t forgotten, especially in the age of diminishing attention spans? The answer is simple: Kanjeevaram sarees.<\/span>\n\nFor a long time, kanjeevarams were considered a strictly bridal attire which was fished out about once a year. But for the last couple of decades, Rekha and kanjeevaram sarees have become a love story that gets stronger with every award function. In the past years, Rekha has also worn the kanjeevaram to Bollywood <\/span>weddings<\/span><\/a>, cameos in films, product launches, red carpets and dinner outings ensuring that she truly lives up to the words, \u201cIf you love something, find a way to never let it go\u201d. \u00a0<\/span>\n\nAs a result, year after year, every Bollywood award function has had two constants: <\/span>Aamir Khan\u2019s <\/span><\/a>absence and Rekha\u2019s smiling kanjeevaram-clad presence. You know how it\u2019s assumed that women are unwell if they forget to wear kajal before heading out? I presume that happens to Rekha if she ever goes out wearing a normal pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Her selfless endorsement of the kanjeevaram saree is the kind of subtle, free-of-cost advertising every brand wishes it can achieve.<\/span>\n\nWhich is why, last night\u2019s IIFA Awards had such a bittersweet touch to it. Undoubtedly, Rekha deserved the applause that she got after her breathless dance performance. But there\u2019s another applause that she\u2019s been waiting for 30 years to receive: A lifetime achievement award for the longest performance given by an actor while wearing a kanjeevaram saree. IIFA 2019, we\u2019re looking at you!<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Year after year, every Bollywood award function has had two constants: Aamir Khan\u2019s absence and Rekha\u2019s smiling kanjeevaram-clad presence. That changed at the IIFA Awards this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":3060,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3114],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bollywood"],"yoast_head":"\nA Lifetime Achievement Award for Rekha and her Kanjeevaram<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Year after year, every Bollywood award function has had two constants: Aamir Khan\u2019s absence and Rekha\u2019s smiling kanjeevaram-clad presence. 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