A still from Mahanati deleted scene. (Image courtesy: Facebook)
Highlights
- Gemini Ganesan acknowledged Rekha as his daughter years after her birth
- Rekha was Gemni Ganesan and Pushpavalli's daughter
- Savitri was Gemni Ganesan's second wife
Seen
Kaeerthy Suresh's Mahanati (biopic on actress Savitri) yet? The filmmakers released a deleted scene, which highlighted Savitri and her actor husband Gemini Ganesan's relationship with actress Pushpavalli and her daughters Rekha and Radha, whom Gemini Ganesan acknowledged as his own several years after their birth.
Mahanati, directed by Nag Ashwin, chronicles iconic actress Savitri's rise and fall from stardom, revealing her relationship with Gemini Ganesan (played by Dulquer Salmaan) and his first wife Alamelu. However, the film glossed over Gemini Ganesan and Pushpavalli's affair, which is the subject of the now viral deleted scene from
Mahanati. In the said scene, Savitri's daughter Vijaya insists that she comes to her school to tell her school-fellow Rekha that Gemini Ganesan is not her father, as she claimed. Savitri instead tells her Vijaya that Rekha's claim is not false and that theirs is a 'big family.' In the next scene, Savitri invites Pushpavalli, Rekha and Radha to their home and after an awkward interaction Gemini Ganesan can be seen playing with all his children.
Watch the deleted scene from
Mahanati here:
Gemini Ganesan was married to Alamelu (with whom he has four daughters) when began his relationship with actress Pushpavalli (mother of actress Rekha and Radha). Pushpavalli and Gemini Ganesan (then a newcomer) starred in several Telugu films. Pushpavalli and Gemini Ganesan reportedly never married because Pushpavalli was estranged but not divorced from her husband. When he was still in a relationship with Pushpavalli, Gemini Ganesan secretly married actress Savitri, his second legal wife.
In 2012, when Rekha appeared on Simi Garewal's talk show, she talked about her relationship with her 'absentee' father Gemini Ganesan and her 'Savitri
amma'. She told Simi Garewal: "We have three mothers." She also said that Pushpavalli and Savitri were "very, very close." She said: "I necer really got to meet them so it was okay because I never really got to meet my father.
Watch:
Mahanati released in May and has reportedly collected over Rs 500 crore worldwide.