Aastha

Aastha review :

Director Basu Bhattacharya's last film featuring Rekha in one of her most controversial role ever. Aastha was offbeat in approach but achieved commercial success only for it's much discussed and debated sex scenes.

Rekha played a middle class housewife who prostitutes herself for materialist reason; its basic theme similar to the 1967 French classic 'Belle De Jour'.

Madame Rekha did some bold scenes with Navin Nishchol who played her client and with a visibly uncomfortable Om Puri playing her unaware husband. It was a difficult role to pull off and only Rekha could make it look so convincing.

After KC Bokadia's Phool Bane Angaaray (1991), Rekha had not enjoyed a satisfactory box office run with resounding flops like Madame X (1994) which didnt last in theatres beyond one show. Aastha was her first solo success after long and in the same year, she won the Filmfare award for her superlative negative role in Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi (1996).

Coming back to the film, music by Shaarang Dev blended perfectly with its mood. The pace was little lethargic but necessary to narrate a script of this kind.

In one of his later interviews, Om Puri alleged that Rekha herself directed most of the film particularly the sex scenes. If that is really true, then it is Madame Rekha who deserves all the credit for this movie. No one else!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.