The last week on Weekend With Ramesh 4, was more than a blast because not one but two of the greatest personalities came to the show as guests. First was the wife of the late Rebel Star, Sumalatha Ambareesh, followed by the pioneer of parallel cinema TS Nagabharana. Today we will be looking at a few rare but equally fun and interesting facts about the first guest, Sumalatha Ma’am.

Along with some never-seen-before EXCLUSIVE pics of Mrs Ambareesh on the show, here are 10 facts about her childhood that will bring a smile on your face.

Starting with her family. Did you know that the Thayige Thakka Maga actress is the fourth child born to Roopa and V Madan Mohan amongst 5 children? Yes. Her older sisters Renuka and Rohini came on the show along with her brother Rajendra Prasad and the youngest sibling Krishna Priya. Don’t they look just adorable together?

On the show, Sumalatha was shown some clippings of the special effects her father made during the 50s-70s, for both Sandalwood and Bollywood. The evergreen actress also claimed that her father was the only Indian Special Effects artist to go for training in the UK. Some of the films he contributed to are, Munimji (1955), Man Ki Aankhen (1970) and Gambler (1971). Many industry people started referring to him as the Chief Of Optics at the time.

Sumalatha spoke very fondly of her father and even mentioned that although she doesn’t have many memories of him, whatever she does remember are all strong ones, that will always remain with her. She then gave a few examples of how her father, who was a family man, would take make time out to spend time will all of them. Unfortunately, the actress lost her father at the mere age of 7.

Since there was a big age gap between Renuka, Rohini, Rajendra Prasad And Sumalatha-Krishna Priya aka Kittu, the latter two were always partners in crime. Her younger sister recollected the time when they had a small chicken farm and both she and Sumalatha considered them family after one point. So much so, that they had names allotted to each of the chicken, like Mary, Jyothi and so on. One fine day their mother decided to make ‘chicken curry’ from those backyard chicken. Despite many protests, the deed was done and Sumalatha stormed off to her room in anger. And what does she see after waking up? Kittu is nicely relishing that chicken curry which was ideally their ‘Mary’, right next to her.

Yes! Their brother Rajendra Prasad was like their bodyguard in school and would take both of them to school on the cycle. What is funny is that, as Sumalatha Ma’am recollected, since Rajendra didn’t know how to ride a bicycle properly at the time, they’ve had several falls, back and forth to school. Do you have a brother too who was overprotective of you??

Unlike most of us, who loved showing off on our birthdays at school, Sumalatha and Kittu would always decide to forego the idea of distributing sweets at school and bring everything back home. Then for days they would sit back and enjoy the sweets together. Which kind of birthday-celebrator were you? During your childhood?

Widowed at a young age of 32 and taking care of five children in the 70s wasn’t an easy feat! For Sumalatha, the hardships her mother faced, to bring all of them up in a good way and then get settled, set a good example for her own personal life. Even though she never valued it at the time, on the show the actress admitted that her mother truly was a strong-willed woman who gave all her children good futures.

On the Weekend ‘Tent’ three teachers of Sumalatha Ma’am spoke so fondly about her sending her into a nostalgic mode. Want to know a secret? Suma Ma’am was always a late comer to class but still was the top student as remembered by her Telugu, English and Mathematics teachers.

Just after Sumalatha finished 10th grade, she took part in a beauty pageant and won! She explained on the show, how these events were at the time. Apparently, there wasn’t much of a ramp and no choreography at the time. All she had to do was hold her number card in her hand to show the audience, take a walk on stage back and forth, wave to everyone and go back to your place to sit. So when she won the contest she was obliviously not paying attention too until someone nudged her and informed her of the victory.

Yes! Her first teenage crush was the legendary actor Kamal Hassan. She was such a huge fan, that a scrapbook of hers having cutouts Kamal Hassan was showed on the show. Later on, Dr Vishnuvardhan too got added in that list. Have you had a teenage crush on an actor before?

Which fact was most surprising for you?? Share your love and good wishes with Sumalatha Ma’am in the space given below.

Your favourite Kannada movies have been lined up here on ZEE5.