A life less ordinary

Veteran Reena Roy takes you through her life and times in an exclusive chat with Farhana Farook

- Farhana Farook

Amidst a starry ensemble, young Reena Roy cast a spell on audiences with her serpentine turn in and as Nagin. Passion and poison; hers was serious sensuousness... Tere sang pyaar main being the siren call. The fact that the film spawned a series of icchadari nagin protagonists, including Sridevi's Nagina, Nigahen, Naag Shakti, and Ekta Kapoor's small-screen sequels, is only a tribute to the sharbati'-eyed Reena. Working her way resolutely along marquee queens Hema Malini, Zeenat Aman, and Rekha, piquant Reena filled the void left behind by Mumtaz. If her pout inspired lip-gloss catalogues, her dark eyes prompted a kohl revival. Decades later, her numbers were, Aa dekhein zara (Rocky), Disco station (Hathkadi), Nisha nisha (Sanam Teri Kasam), Sheesha ho ya dil ho (Aasha), serenading her razzmatazz, replaying on the airwaves and in talent hunts.

In matters of the heart, she's lived it full-throttle. A widely-reported romance with Shatrughan Sinha and a headline-grabbing marriage with Pakistani cricketer Mohsin Khan... Reena meant news. But much like her ever-smiling countenance, she remained unruffled. That Sinha, in his memoir, Anything But Khamosh: The Shatrughan Sinha Biography, has spoken about her with indisputable decorum only speaks of the respect she commands. Wrapped in the same politesse is her bond with her ex-husband, Mohsin. "It's all pehle janam ka lena dena. You're destined to achieve certain things. I want to be reborn as Reena Roy and quit at the top," she says. Read on...

RUMOURS AND TRUTH