Second-wife was something Bollywood and Tollywood saw since the days of Kamal Amrohi and Meena Kumari and N.T. Rama Rao and Lakshmi Parvathi, respectively. Somehow, the second wife was always seen as the home-breaker, not deserving the respect or the dignity of the first wife.
But two ‘second wives’ changed this status quo in the Indian film industry: Hema Malini in Bollywood and the recently deceased Vijaya Nirmala in Tollywood. Vijaya, who passed away on June 27, was the second wife of veteran actor Krishna and stepmother to Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu.
Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh expressed his grief and offered condolence to Krishna.
Vijaya was also a successful filmmaker and a celebrity in her own right, left behind her husband, one son and two step sons. According to a source close to Mahesh Babu, the actor is deeply grieved.
Vijaya Nirmala
“The tears that flowed for her from Mahesh Babu’s family are genuine. There is a difference between being a second wife and a home-breaker. Vijayaji was too independent financially and emotionally to let anyone in Mahesh Babu’s family feel that she was an intruder. There was never any resentment towards Vijayaji from any member of the family. She never depended on her husband for her livelihood. Krishnaji has been inconsolable and Mahesh and the other members of the family just want to be around him to offer him a shoulder,” says the source.
Krishna with Chiranjeevi
According to another source close to Mahesh Babu, the superstar intends to honour Vijaya’s memory in whichever way his father deems fit. “As far as the family is concerned, it has lost a mother, not a stepmother,” the source says.
Hema Malini
Hema Malini, who commands a similar dignity in her marriage to actor Dharmendra, says it is all about maintaining one’s position as a woman and an individual. “When I got married to Dharamji, we didn’t think about the repercussions. We got married for love and only for love. But once we married, I made sure his first family did not suffer in any way. To have his children go through any kind of hardship because of me was unacceptable to me. Also, in a situation like this, a lot of credit must go to the other lady. It’s not an easy situation. But I managed to sail through because I made no demands at all. I was just happy being his wife.”
