Kamal Haasan is a multi-talented guy who is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter, producer, playback singer, Lyricist and politician too. He works primarily in Tamil movies. He has won numerous awards including three National Film Awards, the second-most by any Indian actor, and nineteen Filmfare Awards.
Kamal’s relationship status has made him always in limelight. He has been in a relationship with five women, actress Srividya, dancer Vani Ganapathi, Gujarati actress Sarika, actress Simran Bagga and Gautami.
In an Interview with Pinkvilla Kamal Said:
I never believed in marriage. People marry because of peer pressure but I don’t subscribe to the ‘herd mentality. I shouldn’t have married. I married for the convenience of my woman. Vani wouldn’t live in and I wasn’t strong enough to put my foot down. And the society was such that Sarika and I couldn’t book a hotel room together even after we had two daughters.
Let’s have a look at Kamal Haasan’s relationships with these five women:
1. Srividya
Kamal Haasan’s first breakthrough as a lead actor came with the 1975’s Tamil classic Apoorva Raagangal. He shared screen space in this film with Srividya, a popular South Indian actress who eventually fell in love with Kamal by the end of the making of the film. They kept their affair under curtains, and both of them did not talk much about it. It is said though that the 22-year-old Srividya was madly in love with Kamal who was two years younger than her. In spite of all positives, Kamal was not interested to tie the knot with her.
Later, Srividya married George Thomas, an assistant director in Malayalam films in the year 1976 but divorced in 1980. She passed away in 2006 after a prolonged illness and according to sources, Kamal visited Srividya when she was on her deathbed.
2. Vani Ganapathi
Around the year 1977, Kamal Haasan started seeing the popular dancer Vani Ganapathy. Nothing much is known about how they fell in such deep love, but it is said that they were introduced through a common friend. The duo got married in 1978, as Vani was not interested in a live-in relationship, whereas Kamal wanted one.
The couple had a smooth run with their wedding but then things started going downhill when Kamal started seeing Sarika. It is rumoured that one reason for the split was because Vani couldn’t conceive, and they separated after 10 years.
3. Sarika
Kamal began distancing himself from Vani, and by the early 1980s he started seeing an upcoming Gujarati actress, Sarika who was also known in Bollywood. When the news of their infamous relationship reached Vani’s ears, the couple started living separately. Due to this separation, Kamal started getting more close to Sarika and his marriage with Vani was in trouble. And all of a sudden, surprise news of Sarika’s pregnancy out of wedlock came. Sarika then gave birth to her first daughter Shruti Haasan in 1986, while Kamal was still married to Vani. This sent ripples across the industry but Kamal had no effect as he was happy in his live-in relationship with Sarika. As societal pressure started pouring in Kamal divorced his wife Vani in 1988, to formally marry Sarika. In 1991 Sarika and Kamal went on to have another daughter, Akshara Haasan.
Everything was fine between Kamal and Sarika until Sarika caught kamal flirting with Gautami, who was Sarika’s best friend. Also, Kamal’s frequent contact with Tamil actress Simran didn’t go unnoticed by Sarika, and it is said she was deeply disturbed by it. It is said that Sarika went into depression after that and even attempted suicide. Later in 2004, Kamal and Sarika got divorced ending their 16-year-long relationship. It was a quite shock for Kamal fans as their marriage was quite a serious one.
4. Simran Bagga
It was during the early 2000s, that Kamal shared the screen in a couple of films with the popular Tamil actress Simran. It is reported that Kamal and Simran became quite close while shooting for the film Pammal K. Sambandam. The duo had a huge age difference of 22 years but that didn’t stop Kamal from falling for her.
However, Kamal’s relationship with Simran was quite short and Simran moved on to marry another man.
5. Gautami
After his divorce from Sarika, Kamal went ahead and started a live-in relationship with popular Telugu actress Gautami Tadimalla. It is said that Kamal was in a relationship with Gautami while he was married to Sarika. Both Kamal and Gautami had worked in several films together in the 1980s and 1990s. Kamal and Gautami decided to move in together in 2005. The duo stated that they do not believe in the institution of marriage, and preferred to be in a live-in relationship.
Kamal and Gautami always stood with each other. While Gautami battled cancer, Kamal always stood by her side. But this relationship too ended when on November the 1st, 2016, Gautami surprised everyone with her blog post stating that she has ended her 13-year relationship with Kamal Haasan.
A paragraph of Gautami’s blog post reads:
It is heartbreaking for me to have to say today that I and Mr Haasan are no longer together. After almost 13 years together, it has been one of the most devastating decisions that I have ever had to make in my life. It is never easy for anyone in a committed relationship to realise that their paths have irreversibly diverged and that the only choices in front of them are to either compromise with their dreams for life or to accept the truth of their solitude and move ahead. It has taken me a very long time, a couple of years at the very least, to accept this heartbreaking truth and come to this decision.
The precise reason for their separation was never out, but according to people close to Kamal and Gautami, they were going through a tough time in their relationship for a long time then they decided eventually for their division.
