When Rekha Spoke About Growing Up Without Her Father, Gemini Ganesan: 'Maybe I Blocked It Out'

Rekha, reflecting in past interviews, spoke about growing up without her father, Gemini Ganesan, sharing distant encounters, her mother’s stories, and the strength she drew from his absence.

Rekha, one of Indian cinema’s most enduring icons, turns 71 today.

Source : PTI

Rekha, one of Indian cinema’s most enduring icons, turns 71 today. With over 180 films to her credit, she remains the face of timeless grace and mystery. Yet behind the poise lies a deeply human story — that of a daughter who grew up without the love of her father, Tamil cinema legend Gemini Ganesan.

A childhood without a father

Born Bhanurekha to actors Gemini Ganesan and Pushpavalli, Rekha grew up in a home defined by absence. Her father left when she was a baby, forcing her mother to shoulder the family’s struggles alone. A shy, introverted child, she dropped out of school to help support her siblings — stepping into films not from passion, but need.

In a conversation with Simi Garewal years later, Rekha described her modest beginnings as “wonderful.” When asked about her parents’ relationship, she called it “romantic but complicated.” She revealed that she had no memories of her father being at home, yet her mother often spoke of him with unwavering affection.

“Maybe I blocked it out”

Rekha’s connection with Gemini Ganesan existed more in imagination than reality. Her first glimpse of him came outside her school, where she saw him drop off her step-siblings — a silent encounter that left her unseen.

When asked by Simi if it hurt that her father never acknowledged her, Rekha reflected, “Maybe I blocked it out.” She admitted she might have missed having a father, “but since I never experienced it, I didn’t really understand what it felt like.” To her, the idea of a father was abstract — “something she associated more with church than with her own life.”

“We felt his presence wherever we went”

Despite his absence, Rekha told her half-sister Narayani in her book, “Though he never lived with us, we “felt” his presence wherever we went, for whatever we did. My mother constantly spoke about him, his likes and dislikes. Whatever you wish to call it – love or affection – the feeling my mother had towards him was strong and positive that lasted throughout her life."

Gemini Ganesan, however, only ever admitted to having one wife. In an interview, he had said, “Savithri was not my wife. Nor were the other women in my life. I did introduce them as my wives in public, had children by them but all those were illegal relationships. I didn’t commit bigamy legally. I’ve just one wife, Bobji, the one I got married to when I was young.”

From pain to poise

The absence of a father figure might have left a void, but Rekha filled it with an inner strength that became her greatest inheritance. She often said that the only guiding presence in her childhood was God. When she entered the film industry as a teenager, struggling with rejection and ridicule, she found a mentor in filmmaker Mohan Sehgal — the closest thing she ever had to a father figure.

Her journey from a reluctant child actor to one of cinema’s most celebrated performers is now part of Bollywood folklore. But behind every graceful appearance and eloquent pause lies the story of a woman who rebuilt herself from pain, loneliness, and longing.