Potpourri of titbits about Tamil cinema

Gemini Ganesh was popularly known as ‘Kaadal mannan’. I got his friendship through his secretary Gemini Mahalingam, who was also an actor. We got closer in course of time. During our friendship spanning two decades, Ganesh had shared many of his personal and other things with me. His incredible memory and his ability to maintain absolute health had surprised me quite often.

Once, he told me, “When I was a student, I stayed at Ramakrishna Home in Mylapore. My brother Subramanian taught me good conduct. Also, he taught me the Vedas, Bhagavat Gita and Yogasanas. I am doing yoga even today, I am keeping good health because of that. I don’t know why, even after my marriage, many women fell in love with me. I ‘escaped’ from 90% of them! But after I received the title ‘Kaadal mannan’, I was pushed to a situation in which I married three more women in course of time! I can never forget those days when I studied in Christian College, Tambaram. The students called me Aswathama because I used to sing the songs of Thyagaraja bhagavathar and Aswathama. This sowed the seeds in my mind for entering the celluloid world. Success will elude everyone at the beginning, but we have to have perseverance and self-confidence. When I worked in Gemini Studios, actor Chandrababu became my friend and remained my friend till end. Chandrababu had only disappointments in his beginning days in the industry that he consumed copper sulphate one day. It was a brush near death. Camera man Thambhu and I rushed him to the Royapettah Hospital and saved him. After this incident, I encouraged him, infusing self-confidence in him. Later, he had regretted many times for his cowardly act of attempting suicide.”