Rekha & Satish Shah Movies Together List — 4 Films

The shape of the work

The 1980s belonged to Apne Apne; the 2000s to Bachke Rehna Re Baba. Rekha acted in every film; Satish Shah acted in all of them. Strictly Hindi cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Satish Shah was already a TV star by 1989, but Rekha was the bigger draw. She agreed to do 'Clerk' only after the director promised her a meaty role — she ended up playing a lawyer who defends Shah's character. The film bombed, but they stayed in touch.
• In 'Mera Pati Sirf Mera Hai' (1990), Rekha played a possessive wife and Satish Shah her henpecked husband. The comedy came from her steamrolling every scene — she deliberately dialled up her intensity so Shah could play the silent sufferer. He later said she 'gave him permission to be still on screen.'
• On the sets of 'Clerk', Rekha would often make Satish Shah rehearse scenes with her in her vanity van — something she rarely did with co-stars. Shah later joked she was 'testing if I could keep up with her speed.' They remained friendly enough that 15 years later, she agreed to a cameo in 'Bachke Rehna Re Baba' just because he asked.
• Satish Shah once said about Rekha: 'She doesn't act with you — she acts at you. You either drown or swim. I chose to swim.' He said this in a 2005 interview promoting 'Bachke Rehna Re Baba'.
• Their third and final film together, 'Bachke Rehna Re Baba' (2005), was a direct-to-video release. It's now a minor cult object among Rekha completionists — the only film where she plays a mother to a grown-up son (Satish Shah's character). No other actor has played her on-screen son more than once.