When Biswajit, 32, defended forcibly kissing 15-year-old Rekha on set, laughed it off when told she was left in tears

IN a daylight and eld where intimacy coordinators ar slow comme il faut the norm on film sets and boundaries are respected more often than not, 'forcing' an underage actor into an intimate scene with a grown-up man would be a massive scandal, and rightly so. But alas, the 60s were different times. And due to the lack of agency most women had on Hindi film sets, many beloved stars would get away with a lot of transgressions that would get the average Joe reprimanded if not jailed. One such incident was when Biswajit, then 32, forcibly kissed his 15-year-old co-star Rekha and later laughed it off after being called out for it.Why Biswajit kissed RekhaBiswajit started his career in Bangla cinema in 1960 and moved to Bollywood in 1962. He immediately found success with hits like Bees Saal Baad, Mere Sanam, and Do Kaliyan. By the end of the decade, he was a top draw at the box office and considered a superstar in Bengal. In 1969, he signed a film titled Anjana Safar opposite Rekha. The film was meant to be Rekha's debut, but Sawan Bhadon eventually released first. The actor was just 15. Biswajit, on the other hand, was 32.While the film got stuck with the censors, a few stills from the shoot made their way to the Asian edition of Life magazine. This included a rather titillating shot of Biswajit kissing Rekha. In her autobiography, Rekha: The Untold Story, Rekha claimed that during one of the intimate scenes, Biswajit kissed her without her consent and continued to do so for 5 minutes even as she resisted. The actor added that the entire cast and crew whistled and cheered even as she was traumatised and left in tears.When Biswajit defended his actYears later, when Biswajit was asked about this incident at an event, the actor laughed off the controversy, saying the media had made a mountain out of a molehill. He said the kiss was necessary for the story, and he improvised. Biswajit maintained that he had spoken to Rekha after that and maintained cordial relations with her.Whatever happened to Anjana SafarThe film, directed by Kuljit Pal, was stuck with the Censor Board for almost ten years. It was revived in the late 1970s after Rekha became a star. It was retitled Do Shikaari and released in 1979. Even as it also starred Vinod Khanna and Amjad Khan, both of whom had also become big stars by the release, the film found few takers and was a box office disappointment. Rekha and Biswajit never worked together again after this film.