‘Gattimela’ comes to an end for kannada actress Shruti

After a marriage lasting a decade with her husband kannada film director Mahendar, actress Shruti applied for divorce in a family court on Tuesday. She said, “I have filed for divorce today. There are numerous personal problems between me and my husband which led to the divorce. However, I don’t want to wash my dirty linen in public. Please reflect on what I am undergoing as a woman in such a situation.”

Sources said politics played the spoilsport between the couple. Her husband had joined the BJP during the last year’s Assembly elections. Mahendar was in fact nominated as the party candidate from Kollegal. However, he lost the elections. Kannada actress Shruti, who later joined the saffron party, was made chairperson of Karnataka State Women’s Development Corporation, while Mahendar did not enjoy any such power. This could have been one of the reasons for differences between the couple, said a source.

SEPARATE CAMPAIGN
Though both of them are BJP members and Mahendar himself was a candidate of the party in the last Assembly elections, the two did not participate together in the campaign for the Lok Sabha elections. A source said, “Shruti participated in the campaign for nearly 30 days. She travelled without him. Mahendar was not with for even a single day.” When the wedding between Shruti and Mahendar was announced, a fan produced snaps with the actress and claimed that he was married to her. Shruti and Mahendar had to get out of Bangalore in a secretive manner to get married.

LOVE MARRIAGE
It was a love marriage between kannada actress Shruti and Mahendar. Shruti was still Priyadarshini when she first met Mahendar at the Chamarajnagar railway station where the latter was collecting tickets. Both have claimed to be childhood friends. In 1990, Shruti started her career with a small role in ‘Aasegobba Meesegobba.’ The same year, Dwarkish cast her in ‘Shruti’ from which she also got her new name. She went on to act in more than 100 films in Kannada apart from Tamil and Malayalam. Meanwhile Mahendar made a mark as a director and has more than 20 films to his credit. Shruti took semi-retirement from films and married Mahendar on Jan 25, 1998. She made her comeback acting opposite her husband in ‘Gattimela’ (wedding music). The last film the couple worked together was ‘Akka Tangi’ that was released this year.