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Monday, August 28, 2006
Do you like the name Waheeda Rehman?
I do. I think it has a certain grace and dignity to it, like the actress herself in some of her roles. However, she reveals to Shekhar Gupta that when she entered the film industry, she was asked to change it. She says:
They said first of all it’s too lengthy and the in thing is that everybody changes their name. Like, for instance, Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Nargis, even Dilip Kumar, even men change their names. I said they are them and I am me. My mother also said I don’t like the idea of her changing her name. Then they said it is too lengthy, who’s going to call you Waheeda Rehman? I said you don’t have to call me Waheeda Rehman, you only have to call me Waheeda. on the screen it’ll come as Waheeda Rehman because Rehman is my father’s name and I am really very proud of my name which my parents gave me. So then they said, you see, it has to be very juicy and very sexy.Well, good for her to stand up to that rubbish. Had she been acting today, no doubt she would have been asked to change it to Waaheeda Rehhman or something. "It's the in thing," they would have told her. "Or rather, the iin thiing."
