Search for the top actress Papitha
As I was grappling with a beat where knowledge of Tamil was essential and also getting through barriers to reach the Stars to get an interview, my cousin Renuka said that her best friend and neighbor in Vizag was a very big actress in Tamil and if I could get across to her, things would be easy. So the search for the elusive Papitha began. Nobody had heard about this actress. It was a time when there was only a handful of PRO's and managers and no well oiled PR mechanism like today. Anyway, I continued my discreet search. After a couple of months, Renuka happened to come to Chennai. She said that she wants to meet her friend Papitha. I said that I was unable to trace such actress by that name who is famous. She then called home and then came with the screen name - Gauthami.
I had already met Gauthami during one of my studio visits. My film journalists like Cinema Express Ramamurthy and PRO Selvam knew her well. Her manager was one Ramanathan ( name not sure). She was the toast of Kodambakkam. People said that she had finished her Engineering. This was a big surprise as mostly girls came with little education or no education to act in films. To top it , her parents were doctors. She came across as a person who had class and also had the ability to act. Anyway the Renuka card helped as she did put me on to her cp-stars who were top heroes. She was then staying in Rams Flat in TTKrd.
She could carry off the rustic roles with the pavada dhavani and fit perfectly into glam costumes. Like with many Stars of that era, her manager was said to be a bossy type. He was however said to be very efficient in getting film offers and also adept at getting payments, a difficult part of the job. Most Producers gave cheques that bounced. The manager I think was from Andhra and so he could tackle the Telugu industries.
Film circles said that the manager became rich enough to build a commercial complex near Chennai. Like any other heroine, she started losing out to new influx. She moved on to less paying film industries like Malayalam and did a guest in a solo song. From there she moved toTV as host of a talk show and then acted in a serial. She also shifted to Mumbai to do Hindi films. The last I saw her was at the Screen awards in Mumbai. She did a classical opening dance at the show. I was staying in same hotel where she was staying. She was having dinner with a guy. I was told that it her fiance and that he is a diamond merchant and operates from abroad.. Later I heard that she got married a settled abroad. Then after many years later, she surfaced in Chennai with a baby and soon heard she divorced the diamond merchant.
As I was staying in Alwarpet, which has Kamal Haasan's office, I used to see come and go and also at a DVD shop that had original movies from various International languages. The shop was owned by Richard, brother of Shalini ( wife of Ajith).
. However, both sides have maintained silence.
As I was grappling with a beat where knowledge of Tamil was essential and also getting through barriers to reach the Stars to get an interview, my cousin Renuka said that her best friend and neighbor in Vizag was a very big actress in Tamil and if I could get across to her, things would be easy. So the search for the elusive Papitha began. Nobody had heard about this actress. It was a time when there was only a handful of PRO's and managers and no well oiled PR mechanism like today. Anyway, I continued my discreet search. After a couple of months, Renuka happened to come to Chennai. She said that she wants to meet her friend Papitha. I said that I was unable to trace such actress by that name who is famous. She then called home and then came with the screen name - Gauthami.
I had already met Gauthami during one of my studio visits. My film journalists like Cinema Express Ramamurthy and PRO Selvam knew her well. Her manager was one Ramanathan ( name not sure). She was the toast of Kodambakkam. People said that she had finished her Engineering. This was a big surprise as mostly girls came with little education or no education to act in films. To top it , her parents were doctors. She came across as a person who had class and also had the ability to act. Anyway the Renuka card helped as she did put me on to her cp-stars who were top heroes. She was then staying in Rams Flat in TTKrd.
She could carry off the rustic roles with the pavada dhavani and fit perfectly into glam costumes. Like with many Stars of that era, her manager was said to be a bossy type. He was however said to be very efficient in getting film offers and also adept at getting payments, a difficult part of the job. Most Producers gave cheques that bounced. The manager I think was from Andhra and so he could tackle the Telugu industries.
Film circles said that the manager became rich enough to build a commercial complex near Chennai. Like any other heroine, she started losing out to new influx. She moved on to less paying film industries like Malayalam and did a guest in a solo song. From there she moved toTV as host of a talk show and then acted in a serial. She also shifted to Mumbai to do Hindi films. The last I saw her was at the Screen awards in Mumbai. She did a classical opening dance at the show. I was staying in same hotel where she was staying. She was having dinner with a guy. I was told that it her fiance and that he is a diamond merchant and operates from abroad.. Later I heard that she got married a settled abroad. Then after many years later, she surfaced in Chennai with a baby and soon heard she divorced the diamond merchant.
As I was staying in Alwarpet, which has Kamal Haasan's office, I used to see come and go and also at a DVD shop that had original movies from various International languages. The shop was owned by Richard, brother of Shalini ( wife of Ajith).
Then later I saw her name in Kamal Haasan starrers credited as
costume designer, a job that Sarika had done before . She had walked out on
Kamal by then. Later I learned that Gautami and Kamal were in a live in
relationship. It was quite surprising as I have seen them on the sets and there
was no sign of any special treatment to her. Kamal had praised Gautami and
Rupini, two actresses for maintaining silence on the secret behind the dwarf character
in Apoorva Sahordargal. She had acted in 20 movies opposite Kamal and in those
times it was common as there were fewer heroes and very little popular
heroines.
As many reasons are floated around for the
break-up, I have yet to get an authenticated answer to the issue. The theories
start from a one night stand to face off with daughter and staking claim on
legal succession. Truth lies somewhere else 
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