You must have read many stories about Rekha and her family. Rekha herself never got the love of her father. Somehow she started working at a young age and took care of her sisters and mother. But today we will talk about Rekhas stepmother who ruled the South for many years. So much so that she became the richest actress of the 60s. Who had neither lack of wealth nor fame? But she fell in love with married Gemini Ganesan who had already become a father and on the other hand was also having an affair with Rekhas mother. Let us tell you the whole story of Rekhas stepmother. Rekhas stepmothers name is Savitri who was also known as Mahanati Savitri and Nadigaiyar Thilagam. However her real name was Nishankara Savitri. People know her as Savitri Ganesan. Apart from being an actress she was also a film producer and singer. She married Gemini Ganesan in 1952 and became the mother of two children. Savitri originally worked in Tamil and Telugu films. She started her career in the 50s and by the 60s she became famous. Her stardom was such that she came to be known as the Queen of Telugu Cinema. Savitri worked in 250 films in a career spanning three decades. Her famous films include Devadasu (1953) Missamma (1955) Ardhangi (1955) Donga Ramudu (1955) Thodi Kodallu (1957) Mayabazar (1957) Mangalya Balam (1959) Aradhana (1962) Nartanasala (1963) Doctor Chakravarthy (1964) Sumangali (1965) and Devatha (1965). She became a top Tamil actress. At that time she was working a lot with stars like MGR and Shivaji Ganesan. Savitri was born on 6 December 1934 in Chiravuru village of Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. She comes from a Telugu family. When she was 6 months old she lost her father. Then her mother and brother shifted to her uncles family. It is said that Savitri got her first film through Rekhas father Gemini Ganesan. He had taken a photo of her which was published in a magazine and after seeing that she got her first film of her career. From here her film journey started and she started ruling South cinema in no time. At the same time her friendship with Ganesh also grew and she got married to him. Gemini Ganesan also had children from his first marriage. On the other hand he was also having an affair with Rekhas mother Pushpavalli. He also had children from this relationship. But he never married Rekhas mother. After these two relationships Gemini married Savitri and had two children. While Geminis career was on the decline Savitri was ruling the South. She had a luxurious bungalow and there was a line of 10 cars outside the bungalow. She was also charging a hefty fee and according to media reports she had a net worth of Rs 100 crores at that time. She used to be laden with jewellery. But handling stardom is also a great art. According to media reports Gemini made his wife addicted to alcohol. On the other hand the differences between the two started increasing. In such a situation Savitri was also not able to focus on her career and her superhit career started slipping from her hands. And from here the story of Savitris poverty started. Savitri was deeply hurt by her deteriorating relationship with Gemini. To overcome this pain she started indulging in alcohol. Soon the impact of her personal life started affecting her professional life as well. There was a time when Gemini left Savitri and started living somewhere else. At the same time the actress lost her mother and she could not bear all this pain. The situation became such that her financial condition also started deteriorating. The shock was having a bad effect on Savitri. She started falling ill. Loneliness was eating her up. There came a time when she had to remain in a coma for 19 months. Finally Savitri left this world on 26 December 1981. You will be surprised to know that a biopic has also been made on Savitri. In the year 2018 a film named Mahanati was made in which Keerthy Suresh played the lead role.