Waheeda Rehman
- Birthday: 03. February 1938
- Birthplace: Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu, British India
- Awards: National Film Award for Best Actress for Reshma Aur Shera in 1971, Filmfare Best Actress Award for Guide in 1966, Filmfare Best Actress Award for Neel Kamal in 1968, Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994, Padma Shri in 1972, Padma Bhushan in 2011, Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards, Best Actress (Hindi) for Teesri Kasam in 1967, Mumbai Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012, Centenary Award for the Indian Film Personality of the Year in 2013
Biography
Waheeda Rehman (Tamil: வஹீதா ரஹ்மான்) is an Indian actress who has appeared in mainly Hindi films, as well as Tamil and Telugu films. She is noted for her contributions to different genres of films from the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s. She has received a Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality, a Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award, a National Film Award for Best Actress and two Filmfare Awards for Best Actress, throughout her career. She has been cited as the Bollywood's "most beautiful" actress by various media outlets, a title for which she has received substantial publicity.
Rehman was born in Chengalpattu, Madras Province (now Tamil Nadu), British India. She was in her teens when her father died. Her dream was to become a doctor but, due to her family circumstances and her mother illness, she abandoned her goal. In order, to help her family, she hit the silver screen with Telugu films, Jayasimha (1955), followed by Rojulu Marayi (1955) and a Tamil film Kaalam Maari Pochu (1956). It is in Vijaya-Suresh's Ram aur Shyam (a remake of Telugu movie Ramudu Bheemudu) in 1967 that she acted again under the direction of the topnotch Telugu director Tapi Chanakya who incidentally directed her movies Rojulu Maaraayi in Telugu (1955) and Kaalam Maaripochu in Tamil (1956).