{"id":42067,"date":"2015-07-16T01:11:22","date_gmt":"2015-07-16T05:11:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=42067"},"modified":"2017-11-17T12:56:23","modified_gmt":"2017-11-17T17:56:23","slug":"kaadhal-mannan-gemini-ganesan-romantic-actor-king-of-tamil-cinema","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=42067","title":{"rendered":"\u266b Kaadhal Mannan \u266b Gemini Ganesan, Romantic Actor King of Tamil Cinema \u2665"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By D.B.S. Jeyaraj<\/strong><\/p>\n

In writing last week about legendary film actor Tony Ranasinghe, I referred to the comment by Malani Fonseka about Tony being the greatest romantic lover in Sinhala films. The queen of Sinhala cinema who has acted in about 40 films with him said of Tony Ranasinghe “I find him the most romantic lover we’ve had in our films.”<\/p>\n

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Malani Fonseka\u2019s description of Tony Ranasinghe as most romantic lover of the Sinhala screen will certainly be endorsed by many. However, her comment about Tony struck a chord in my memory about another actor in Tamil cinema who was also regarded widely as the greatest romantic lover. In fact he was dubbed “Kaadhal Mannan,” meaning ‘King of Romantic Love’. I am of course referring to the actor Gemini Ganesan who is no more now. I have written about him earlier when he passed away 10 years ago. I shall rely upon some of these writings as this week’s ‘Spotlight’ focuses upon “Kaadhal Mannan” Gemini Ganesan.<\/p>\n

Romantic hero par excellence<\/b><\/p>\n

Gemini Ganesan has visited Sri Lanka several times and had many good friends in the island. In a career spanning more than five decades Gemini Ganesan made his mark in Tamil films as the romantic hero par excellence. Though he played a number of diverse roles he made his mark as a lover on screen. It was this which earned him the sobriquet \u201cKaadhal Mannan\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Interestingly his on-screen and off-screen persona got intertwined in this respect. While the evergreen actor Gemini crooned his way into the hearts of many lovely heroines on screen, the off-screen hero in real life had four wives plus several liaisons with attractive women. He himself admitted to his numerous affairs with other married women to an Indian magazine. When the magazine wanted more details, Gemini declined to elaborate saying, \u201cGentlemen don\u2019t tell!\u201d
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\n \u201cGemini\u201d <\/b><\/p>\n

Gemini Ganesan hailed from a Brahmin family. His father was Ramaswami and mother Gengamma. His given name at birth was Ganapathi Subramania Sarma but was generally called Ganesan. Soon he became known as Ramaswami Ganesan or R. Ganesh. In some of the earlier films in which Ramaswami Ganesan acted, the credits show him only as R.G. As his screen career blossomed, the actor became known as \u201cGemini\u201d Ganesan.<\/p>\n

The prefix \u201cGemini\u201d came into being because prior to acting Ganesan had worked as casting director at the prestigious Gemini studios in Tamil Nadu. By a coincidence his contemporary and namesake Sivaji Ganesan too got the prefix \u201cSivaji\u201d due to his acting as the Mahratta King in a drama written by former DMK Chief Minister C.N. Annadurai. Soon the Tamil film industry began distinguishing between the two Ganesans by calling one Sivaji and the other Gemini.<\/p>\n

Sivaji Ganesan, M.G. Ramachandran (MGR) and Gemini Ganesan comprised the triumvirate that dominated Tamil movies from the fifties to the seventies of the 20th century. Another actor of the time, S.S. Rajendran, strove valiantly to make this trio a quartet but failed. The top thespian trinity of that vintage in Tamil cinema were Sivaji, MGR and Gemini. They ruled the roost in \u201cKollywood\u201d as the Tamil Nadu film industry is referred to in lighter vein.<\/p>\n

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Gemini however was the odd man out among the top three. Unlike MGR and Sivaji, he had no professional experience as a stage actor. Both MGR and Sivaji had learnt the ropes as part of the Madurai Boys Company drama group. Unlike them Gemini had tertiary qualifications. He was a BSc graduate from Madras University whereas the others, having taken to the stage in childhood, learnt from the school of life.<\/p>\n

MGR and Sivaji encouraged fans associations and participated in political activity but Gemini remained aloof from politics. He even declined a Rajya Sabha MP nomination proposal by former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. While he was always cordial towards fans and friends, he never promoted \u201cRasikar Mandrangal\u201d (fan associations). This phenomenon continues to this day in Tamil Nadu and other South Indian states with proliferating fans associations dedicated to various film stars.<\/p>\n