Meet actress Pushpavalli Mother of Rekha who fell for married actor

Meet actress Pushpavalli
Mother of Rekha
who fell for married actor

Rekha’s mother Pushpavalli, throughout her life hit the headlines more for her personal life than her films. She got married in 1940, but after just six years, her married life turned sour and loved separately from her husband.

Before setting foot to the Mecca of Hindi films Bollywood Hema Malini, Rekha, Vyjayanthimala, Jaya Prada, and Sridevi have worked in South cinema before entering Bollywood.
Rekha is one of those few actresses, whose mother was also an actress, who fell in love with a twice-married South cinema superstar, whom she did not marry, but became the mother of his two daughters.

Rekha’s mother Pushpavalli was seen in Tamil and Telugu cinema films. She became famous by playing the character of Sita in ‘Sampoorna Ramayanam’. She played the role of Sita in a film released in 1936, for which she received Rs 300 as a fee.

Her biggest hit was the Telugu film ‘Bala Nagamma’ (1942), where she played an important supporting role. Her 1947 film ‘Miss Malini’, where she played the lead role, received critical acclaim but flopped at the box office.

A new turn came in Pushpavalli’s life when she was cast in the lead role in the film ‘Miss Malini’ with new actor Gemini Ganesan. Rekha’s mother fell in love with Gemini Ganesan and they entered into a relationship, even though both of them were married to other people.

Gemini Ganesan never gave Pushpavalli the status of being his wife, but Rekha’s mother spent her entire life as his girlfriend. Pushpavalli and Ganesan had two daughters. The elder of them is the Bollywood actress Rekha and the younger is Radha, who worked in Tamil movies before marrying and moving to the United States.

In 1991, Pushpavalli breathed her last. She had played supporting roles in most films and was seen in lead roles only in selected films, but Rekha became a big actress in the cinema world.

Pushpavalli wanted Rekha to work in films like her. Rekha was seen for the first time in the Telugu film ‘Rangula Ratnam’ when she was only 12 years old. At the age of 15, she worked in her first Bollywood film ‘Anjaana Safar’, whose name was later changed to ‘Do Shikaari’.

Like Pushpavalli, her daughter Rekha’s life was also full of turmoil. The first marriage of both of them was unsuccessful, although Rekha is a much bigger film star than her mother ever was. She is very famous, but even at the age of 69, she lives alone.

News Edit K.V.Raman