The newspapers in all three languages published photographs of their arrival on the front pages. Hundreds of fans mobbed them at the airport. They were the chief guests at a cultural event named ‘Silamboli’ or ‘Tone of the Anklets’. I remember Gemini and Savitri arriving together by plane from India at the Ratmalana airport in the early sixties. Savitri in particular had a lot of female fans. The couple had many fans from all communities in the Island. Savitri and Gemini were very popular in Sri Lanka known formerly as Ceylon too. This week’s ‘Spotlight’ therefore focuses briefly on a glamorous romance that began with great sweetness but sadly soured at the end. In recent times I have been requested by many Rasikas and admirers of the Gemini-Savitri duo to write about the real life romance of these two great reel life actors. Although the couple had separated in later life, theirs was a love story that captivated film fans of an earlier era. The film has evoked much curiosity about the real life romance between Savitri and her actor husband Gemini Ganesan. The key role of actor Gemini Ganesan/Ganesh is played by Dulquer Salman the son of Malayalam Super Star Mammooty. The titular role of ‘Mahanati/Nadigaiyar Thilagam’ denoting Savitri is played by a young actress Keerthy Suresh who is of mixed parentage with a Malayalee father and Tamil mother. The actress was extremely popular with Tamil and Telugu audiences during her time and enjoyed what could be termed as a cult following at the peak of her career. Savitri ruled the roost in Telugu and Tamil filmdom for nearly 15 years in the fifties and sixties of the last century and was hailed as the finest actress of her time. Savitri who was known as Savitri Ganesh after she married Tamil romantic actor Gemini Ganesan also known as R. The bio-pic simultaneously released in Tamil as ‘Nadigaiyar Thilagham’ (Doyenne of Actresses) is about yesteryear actress K. The recent release and box-office success of the Telugu biographical movie ‘Mahanati’ (Great Actress) has created a great deal of interest in the famous South Indian actress Savitri.

Old tamil actress rajasree