Drama in real life

She is like sandalwood that spreads fragrance all around; she is like a piece of camphor that fearlessly glows in the darkness of night – said Jnanpith Awardee, eminent writer Ravuri Bharadwaj describing Mahanati, great actress of South Indian film industry of the 60s and 70s, Savitri. Ravuri won the coveted literary award for his novel ‘Paakudu Raallu’.

Literally translated it means slippery stones and the book is the story of an actress who makes it big in Telugu film industry only to end her life in a tragic way. It is not just film world; life itself is a slippery stone. There are those who face the travails in life and stand still despite the slippery stone, there are others who make every effort to climb up the slippery stone and with strength of their will power, manage to reach the top and there are others who let themselves slip and fall.

Considered to be the Goddess of cinema in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, Savitri had managed to climb up the slippery stone when she was quite young, but let herself fall down and eventually succumbed to tragic death on December 26, 1981. Her story holds the intrigue and interest of a reader, not just for the way she died, but the way she had lived too.

No wonder, there have been numerous books written on her life, some like ‘Mahanati Savitri Venditera Samragni by Pallavi; ‘A Legendary Actress Mahanati Savitri’ by VR Murthy and V Soma Raju were written after her death by fans and there are others like ‘Savitri Jeevita Charitra’ by GVG written when she was alive. Thirty two years after her death, senior journalist Pasupuleti Rama Rao published a book, “Venditera Vishaada Raagaalu’ last week, where he devoted considerable number of pages for the legendary actress.

She was born in 1936 on January 4 in a remote village called Chirravuru in Guntur district. She lost her father when she was just six months old. Her mother Subhadramma took both her daughters (Savitri and her elder sister Maruti) to live with her sister Durgamba and her husband Kommareddy Venkataramaiah Chowdhury who worked as a driver in Bejawada (Vijayawada). Despite poor finances, both the kids attended school. Savitri showed great flair for dance and so Venkataramaiah enrolled her in dance classes.

She was not even 11, and she was a part of the renowned theatre groups of the time doing dance dramas all across Andhra Pradesh before acting in plays. She was the crowd puller and had acted with all the popular theatre groups including NTR’s National Art theatre, Jaggaiah troupe and several others. She had shared stage with many actors like Jamuna who in later years met her in the film world. By that time, films were making inroads. Her uncle who took care of her finances ensured she took every step needed to get closer to acting in films, just like every other stage actor in those days.

When she was just 12 she was carted off to Madras to try her luck in films. Savitri did not mind it one bit and was hoping to catch a glimpse of her favourite actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao. By then, she had left her school behind and was busy acting on stage. A quick tour of the studios in Madras confirmed that she was too young to act as a heroine in films; this is despite her uncle trying to make her look older with the help of makeup. Any failure, whatsoever, made Savitri only more determined. “Feed her well!” was only what her uncle instructed her mother and aunt before getting back to theatre.

It was in 1948, during her first visit to Madras, Savitri met her future husband. They were at Gemini Studios, where she was asked to get her pictures taken. There was a handsome man looking very well-educated, waiting to take her photographs. He was appreciative of her smile and took her pictures, wished her luck. He then filed her pictures with a note – Looks promising if given an opportunity.

It was in 1950, when she was offered a role as female lead in the film ‘Samsaaram’. Shooting commenced and the first schedule was over, yet Savitri couldn’t get a hold over herself. She was too excited to work with ANR, the hero of the film. She had to take a lot of retakes and finally it was decided to give the role to Lakshmi Kantham.

Savitri was given a small role with one dialogue as compensation. Another year passed with one odd role (she acted as a vamp in the film, ‘Roopavati’, during which time she had also danced for one song in the classic film, ‘Paatala Bhairavi’). Later, she got the opportunity to work in the prestigious Vijaya banner as second heroine in their hit film, ‘Pelli Chesi Choodu’. She was appreciated for her role and filmmakers came looking for her.

Her uncle ensured she was booked in three-four films even before the film released, in February, 1952. What followed were ‘Palleturi Pilla’, the first film which had her name in the title card as the lead actress, ‘Sankranthi’ and the all-time great – ‘Devadasu’ - the film released in 1953 and Chandraharam’, ‘Ardhandgi’, Hindi film ‘Bahut Din Hue’, a Tamil film ‘Manampol Mangalyam’ and ‘Missamma’.

There is an interesting story behind Savitri acting in the immortal role of ‘Missamma’. This was in 1954. Originally Bhanumati, who by then was also handling her own productions, was signed for the film as she would suit the haughty character and this they did despite their personal differences. One day, the producers Chakrapaani and Nagireddy and director LV Prasad were waiting at Vauhini Studios for the heroine since 7 am and there was no sight of her until 1 pm. They were furious.

And they didn’t mince words to express their displeasure and Bhanumati known for her bluntness was equally unperturbed and walked out of the set. Savitri, who was originally to act in the role of Jamuna bagged the lead role and the rest is history.

It was during the shooting of the Tamil version that people noticed the closeness between Gemini Ganesan (GG) and Savitri, a few producers complained about it too. She was signed for the film, ‘Kanyasulkam’ – the film got her critical acclaim. She was getting busy in Tamil too and learnt the language and started dubbing for herself. She was so good at it that for a long time Tamil film audience assumed that Savitri is a Tamilian. Soon it was confirmed that Savitri married GG secretly in 1952 itself.

An argument with her uncle ensued, and she walked away from him permanently. Many of her well-wishers were aghast with her decision for obvious reasons. Not many had a good impression about GG. He was already married to Alimelu and had four daughters (Revati, Kamala, Narayani and Jaya Lakshmi) and was also involved in an affair with another woman, Pushpavalli. In his own words, he met her in 1951 and the relation continued and they had two daughters (Rekha who was born in 1954 and Radha who was born in 1955), during which time he was married to Savitri.

The couple decided to go to the press about their marriage in 1956. The same year she had acted in the film, ‘Mayabazar’ – the film that has stood the test of time and continues to be the best Telugu film ever made and her acting as Mayasasirekha is considered to be one of the best performances of Telugu cinema. Her film career was going in full steam ahead with success after success marking it - ‘Appu Chesi Pappu Koodu’, ‘Mangalya Balam’, ‘Bhale Ammayilu’, ‘Thodi Kodallu’, ‘Gundamma Katha’. She had given birth to a girl, Vijaya Chamundeswari (named after the production house that gave her memorable roles), many prestigious awards were coming her way, people accepted her in every form and they did not bother if she was gaining weight.

She liked buying a lot of property and jewellery and was as gracious in helping the needy. She kept an open house, people walked in and out at their will. If anyone admired her silk saree, she would readily give it away; once Suseela (singer) had gone to her place to collect donation to help senior actors, Savitri opened her purse and gave all the money she found, without even counting (which was over Rs 15,000). She would never say no to students who came seeking help for education.

If she found young disillusioned girls who had come looking for roles in cinema, she would give them money to help them to return home safely – she was an angel in human form when it came to help people. She trusted people whole heartedly and expected the same from them. In 1965, she gave birth to a boy, Sathish. She had everything she wanted and desired.