[Part-I Negligence of Paternity in Rekha’s life…….]
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Rekha during her oath taking ceremony in the Rajya Sabha |
15th
may,2012 : All eyes were on the newest entrant in the Rajya Sabha, who was to
take the oath as member of parliament that day. Drapped in her trademark cream
and gold kanjeevaram, scarlet lipstick on her lips, sans any heavy jewellery or
makeup, was one of india’s most beloved actresses.When it was time for her to
take the oath, this latest member of parliament introduced herself to the world
as Rekha Ganeshan.
Yes, it was the same Rekha
who had won 2 filmfare best actress awards, a filmfare best supporting actress
and a national award for her portrayal as the suave Umrao Jaan, in the Muzaffar Ali production by the same name and who to the hindi film industry is
known as Rekha, just Rekha. Now wondering, what this certain Ganeshan has to do
with Rekha, we need to go back half a century in her life.
Rekha in the daughter of
telugu actress Pushpavalli and Gemini Ganeshan who was Ramaswamy Ganeshan by
birth. This name might sound new to you but it is not to the tamil film
industry...
Ganesan’s dream was to become a doctor. In April 1940 he went to Tiruchilapalli to see T.R. Alamelu. Alamelu’s father proposed
his daughter in marriage and promised him a medical seat after graduation.
Ganesan immediately agreed and married Alamelu in June 1940. Alamelu lost her
father and her elder sister within one month of her marriage. Ganesan's dreams
of becoming a doctor shattered. There was no choice left for him but to find a
job immediately as he was the only person to support his family.Much against
Alamelu’s wishes Ganesan went to Delhi. In Delhi
he met his uncle Narayanaswami who advised him to become a teacher. Finally,
Ganesan worked as a lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, at Madras
Christian College. Later on, he took up the job of a production executive in Gemini Studios in 1947, from where the title “Gemini” was added
to his name. He received an entry to films from the casting department of the
Studio itself. Despite being one of the most successful actors
of Tamil
cinema during his time, Gemini Ganesan's talents were
not properly exploited and were mostly confined to "boy meets girl"
romantic films.