Saturday 19 May 2012

REKHA --- A Tragic And Untold Saga…………


 [Part-I  Negligence of Paternity in Rekha’s life…….]

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.


From "Umrao Jaan" (1981)
Gemini Ganesan, at 19, was first married to Alamelu, who he fondly called as "Bopji". She is considered his first and only legal wife. He later married actresses Pushpavalli and Savitri. He is survived by seven daughters and a son. Alamelu and Ganesan have four daughters: Three of them - Revathy, Kamala and Jeya are medical doctors, the fourth Narayani is a journalist at The Times of India. Ganesan has two daughters by Pushpavalli - Bollywood actress Rekha, and Radha. The latter acted in a few Tamil films, but then opted for marriage and migration to the United States. Savithri and Ganesan have two children: a daughter Vijayasamundeeswari who is a Physiotherapist, and acted in films as a child artiste “Baby Savithri”, and Ganesan’s only son Satheesh Kumar. Ganesan's fourth and last wife, whom he married at the age of 78 was a then 36-year old Julianna. According to one report, "Juliana left her job and people, to be near her husband, who said he needed a younger wife to attend on him, as first-wife Babji too was advancing in years." He, however, publicly admitted that he was closest to his first wife, Bopji, than Pushpavalli or Savithri. The actor had noted in his autobiography Vaazhkai Padagu, ‘‘Somehow, I seemed to attract women who were in distress.’’


His hostile relationship with daughter Rekha was also a major criticism. He did not acknowledge Rekha's paternity during her childhood. Later, at the peak of her career, Rekha told a magazine interviewer that her father's neglect still rankled and that she had ignored his efforts at reconciliation. She did not even attend her father's funeral in 2005, and once when asked about their relationship in a televised interview, she paused with silence and revealed nothing.And that silence has till date not found any words and maybe, wont ever...


Next week's attraction--
Who was Rekha's husband?? Why did he suicide?? Find answers to such questions and more in Part-II [Failure in love life] of this two part series on the legendery actress Rekha, till then, HAPPY READING!!!:))

13 comments:

  1. Finally, You've made one, and I'm here :-)

    First of all, Welcome and Congratulations on your new blog. I really enjoyed reading this. Getting information in a detailed way is so much fun! Getting to know such story, hidden secrets would be so much fun. I'm really looking forward for further "awesome" posts from you. :-)

    Here are some of my first good impressions about this blog.

    * You have a really good writing style. I mean, the way you introduced the topic and carry forwarded it. It was so fluidic. All in a flow. Really nice!

    * All through the post, there was continuity, and nothing seemed out in different. It's a pleasure reading such posts!

    * Your post is highly informative. It's well researched, and it reflects you have really taken up pain to write. Giving an in-depth knowledge about anything, is always enjoyable.

    * You have included the links to certain keywords to their wikipedia articles. Really helps when someone wants to read further about it. Good! :-)

    * I really like the way, you have left a suspense at the end. Makes me wish to come back again here next week for that post.

    * You have a really nice and related artistic template.

    The "things to improve" I've already told you. :-)

    Waiting for more "great" posts from you. :-)

    Happy Blogging! :-D

    Ritvik Gautam
    http://www.casacio.blogspot.in/

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    1. Thank you so very much for such a detailed analysis of my post.I m sure with such honest comments by bloggers like you, i will improve a lot with each post.Will do my level best to meet your expectations.Once again,THANK YOU:D

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    2. ritvik, u must be a seasoned blogger, ur analysis clearly depicts that...

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    3. yes...he is...ritvik is REALLY gud.he has been blogging since 2007...plzz...keep in touch wid his blogs as well and post ur honest comments...:-)
      http://www.casacio.blogspot.in/

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    4. @Jaydip: Haha.. I still consider myself as an amateur who has to explore and learn a lot. But thank you! :-)

      @Asmita: Thank you so much, for all the beautiful words. However, I started blogging only in the month of December in 2009. :-)
      And yeah, thanks for the "free ki publicity". ;-)

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    5. @ritvik: your welcome!and yeah, sorry for that error. anyways what difference does it make whether you started in 2007 or 2009, u already sound like an expert :P and for that free ki publicity wala part, here it goes again.
      plz, do read ritvik's blog:http://www.casacio.blogspot.in/

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  2. Dear, Asmita Srivistava,first of all Congrats for the arrival to the blogging world. Now talking about the post, it is really good. The approach really seems quite professional. Even the topic chosen is quite interesting and way different.Hope to see some more sensational revealation next week... Good luck, young journo...

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    1. thank u so very much, jaydip.i'll try my level best to keep u posted with more and more of such sensational revealations in my upcoming posts. keep continuing with ur support and honest comments..:-)

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  4. Your topic is really 'hatke' and something out of the box :-)
    and BTW u r gonna take up journalism? :D (Me too)..
    I really love it, when I see people taking up something different than the typical engineering or medical field.. (No offence)

    Anyway,looking forward to more such interesting posts from you,

    All the best,
    Veda

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    1. Thank you so much, Veda. Hope to keep you posted with more such 'hatke' topics.
      Yeah, i m taking up journalism but it is not exactly that. I'll be taking up BA in journalism and communications. Yes,I share the same views as yours about people taking up untraditional career options.
      And thank you once again. Hope to meet your expectations.:-)

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