When Gemini Ganesan said, “In one way I think I have been the trend setter for extramarital involvements in the industry”

By Jyothi Venkatesh

(Ramaswamy Ganesan, better known as Gemini Ganesan, super star of Tamil Cinema once as well as the father of Rekha, was born on November 17, 1920, and died on March 22, 2005, at the age of 84. As a mark of tribute to the actor, we reproduce this Interview by JYOTHI VENKATESH that first Appeared 42 years ago in the now defunct film fortnightly Star & Style Dt. June 11, 1982)

Gemini Ganesh was once a huge phenomenon in Tamil Cinema and known as Kathal Mannan (King of Love). Today he has faded into oblivion. Unlike Sivaji Ganesan, his colleague in the 50’s, Gemini couldn’t survive the rat race and a decade ago was eased out by the very same industry that had built him up. Today a new generation has arrived which can only refer to Gemini as “Rekha’s old father who didn’t dare to claim her as his flesh and blood not long ago.”

When I met him for this interview, Gemini came straight from his bath at his dilapidated old bungalow in Chennai chewing a paan and clad in a spotless white dhoti. “Believe it or not, I am a simpleton who strayed into films as a hobby after being a lecturer earlier. Though people think I am stinking rich, let me tell you I’m the most unbusinesslike and undiplomatic guy as far as money and business are concerned. I did make a lot of money, I confess I lost most of it.”

These days Gemini has turned philosophical. The man with the roving eyes who had ended up marrying not one or two but four wives, now advises. “Go ahead and sleep with a thousand and one women but never make the mistake of marrying a second one. Your wife will tolerate it if you keep a mistress. She wouldn’t mind if you openly flirt with another beautiful girl because her security will not be threatened. But if you make the mistake of marrying yet another girl, you have had it.”

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Gemini continues. “Even though I’d married Savitri and Pushpavalli (Rekha’s mother), the world did not recognize them as my wives. People continued to snigger at them and call them my mistresses. I do not want to rake up the past. Let us discuss the past in a way that can provide a lesson for the future generation.”

“I realize the trials and tribulations that my wife Babjee must have undergone because of me. I was young then and living it up. Yet she stood by me through all those years when everyone else left me half way through. For me, Babjee is a living goddess. When I went to the hospital to bring Savitri’s dead body back for the funeral, Babjee offered to place lifeless Savitri’s head on her lap. She sat beside me in the backseat and helped me bring the body to the house before the funeral procession started. Tell me which other woman would volunteer to bring the dead body of her own sautan to her own house?”

Rekha, he says expressed her displeasure to him at his daughter Gigi having ventured into films. She said, “Appa, I am already suffering in this line. Why should my sister also go through the same hell?.”However I hold the view that once your children grow up, you should let them handle their personal affairs without any interference.

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People tell me that Rekha has messed up her personal life by getting involved with Amitabh. But I never discuss Rekha’s personal affair with her. Why should I?  I admire her guts for having declared to the world that she is in love with Amitabh. When I married Savitri and Pushpavalli several years ago, eyebrows were raised and it became the biggest scandal in the industry. And yet today no one is aghast when they hear about Dilip Kumar marrying Asma or Dharmendra having married Hema. So in one way I think I have been the trend setter for extramarital involvements in the industry.”

Gemini is upset that he was castigated as the villain, who abandoned Savitri when she needed him the most by severing his ties with her. “Many in and out of the industry couldn’t stand the thought of us being happily married. They tried everything they could to cause some rift between the two of us. For a long time they didn’t succeed, because we loved each other too much to succumb to the wiles of those who tried to destroy our married life. And at the fag end of her career, when she had earned enough for herself, they poisoned her mind against me and succeeded too”.

“They milked her dry and like leeches drained her of her resources and in the end left her without a paisa. She had earned in lakhs and yet when she died she did not have even a few hundreds. She burnt her fingers by taking up production. She lost nearly one and a half crores. She refused to listen to me when I advised her against taking such a rash step. She defied me and ruined her life. She believed those people who poisoned her against me and walked out of my life”.

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“I’m not a stone- hearted father, the way people make me out to be. I have left property worth 40 lakhs for my daughter through Savitri. She is happily married and settled today. I’m also looking after Satish, born to Savitri and me. He is staying with me. I’ve big plans to educate him and make him stand on his own feet. It was only other people who did not know the inside story and believed the version dished out by Savitri who are branding me the villain of the piece.”

In conclusion, Gemini says that the reason he does not have even a single film on the floors is that he cannot go around producers’ offices begging for a role. “If I’m offered a meaty character role, I’m game because I’ve always believed that characterization is the most important asset an actor can possibly have!”