At 81, Actor Waheeda Rehman Turns Wildlife Photographer And Gives Us Goals!

At 81, most of us would settle for a quiet life, read books in our library, turn to garden, and maybe go on that cruise around the world but not Waheeda Rehman.

Waheeda Rehman has donned many hats over the years, her latest being a stint in wildlife photography. The noted actor recently held an exhibition for the pictures she took in her safari to wildlife reserves across India, Tanzania, Namibia and Kenya. Admittedly the actress was quick to note that she wasn’t as good as a professional.

In a recent interview to Mid-day, she revealed, “I always loved taking pictures. When I was young, I would carry a small camera with me on the sets. I recently met Himanshu Seth [curator of the show] who asked me to pursue my hobby and came up with the idea of having an exhibition. I wasn’t too keen to display my pictures as I didn’t think they are great, but my friends and family persuaded me.” She added that photography which began as a hobby has now become an addiction.

Dancer, Actor, Entrepreneur, Changemaker

This isn’t the first time that Waheeda Rehman has tried on different hats. Once she moved to Bangalore after winding up her career as an actor, she had started her line of breakfast cereals called Good Earth Foods and Farm House Cereals – breakfast foods packed with almonds, raisins, figs, dates, whole oats, wheat, corn, rice, honey and molasses.

She is also a goodwill brand ambassador for Rang De, India’s largest donation-based crowdfunding website that facilitates micro or low-cost loans to people. In a blog post, the Rang De group has stated that Rehman is very involved in the group’s efforts to provide loans. She also took a field trip with them to Nagpur. According to them, Rehman said, “I do not want to lend my name without doing anything. First, let me get involved.”

The octogenarian is a complete fitness freak and even though she has a recurring problem of spondylitis, she makes it a point not to miss out on her daily schedule of practising yoga.

Apart from that, Rehman of course had an accomplished career on the silver screen. A trained Bharatnatyam career, she stole the show in the 60s and 70s and she is still stealing hearts, with her new movie Desert Dolphins releasing in 2020. She is unstoppable and has graced beautifully in front of the public eye. Rarely has a song been more fittingly filmed than Chaudhvi ka Chand was on Waheeda-ji.

In the aforementioned interview with Midday, Rehman also revealed her bucket list. “I want to learn scuba diving,” she shares, before revealing that she is working towards it. “Prahlad Kakkar’s son runs a professional training company. I will discuss my health condition, and will try my hand at it.” Her various interests are hard to keep up with. At her age, she is an inspiration for us.

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Waheeda Rehman strikes me as someone we must all aspire to become, someone who never lets age slow her down and still lives every moment of life to the fullest. If I can do half the things that she does at 81, I would consider myself lucky. Here’s to Waheeda-ji taking on more awesome adventures!

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