Raakhee attained stardom with her first film itself; it was the Bengali flick Bandhu Baran which helped her in attaining this status. Then Bollywood leading star
Sunil Dutt
recommended her for the Hindi flick Reshma Aur Shera. But she did Sharmeelee and Jeevan Mrutya even before Reshma Aur Shera. In Sharmeelee, Raakhee shared screen space with Sashi Kapoor and their onscreen chemistry was applauded. This popular pair did 9 flicks together. Out of the 9, 5 were declared superhits.Â
Having worked in 91 films in a film career of more than 3 decades, Raakhee has four awards to her credit. Tapasya, Ram Lakhan, Daag and Shubu Muhurat are the films that fetched her awards. Her last flick was Shubu Muhurat. She acted with
Amitabh Bachchan
as the leading actress as well as mother.Â
Born in West Bengal to a Bengali family, Raakhee married very early to
Ajoy Biswas
, but they both separated. Later she married ace director Sampoorna Singh Gulzar. Their daughter
Meghna Gulzar
is also a director. One of the interesting facts about Raakhee is that she was born on August 15, 1947. Raakhee was the second highest paid actress for some time in her career. Her pairing with
Rajesh Khanna
worked wonders and all the 4 films in which they acted together were super hits. She has good rapport with
Shashi Kapoor
and Sunil Dutt.Â
Raakhee never hesitated to accept female-centric films at the zenith of her career. One such film, Tapasya, was a big box office hit. She has three hit flicks with
Dev Anand
and
Sanjeev Kumar
. The year 1971 was a milestone in her career as three of her films, including Paras, Sharmeelee and Lal Patthar were great hits.Â
Raakhee and Gulzar parted ways, but they still keep in touch. Raakhee’s eyes and prominent voice are the strengths for her.