Sajitha, mother of former Parijatham star Rasna, says the actress kept supporting the family financially for a year even after her much-talked-about wedding to a married director.
Rasna hasn't acted in years, but Malayalam television hasn't forgotten her. The actress, who played Seema and Aruna in the mega-hit serial Parijatham, still draws attention whenever she posts something online, and now it's her mother doing the talking.
Sajitha has opened up about her relationship with Rasna, whose full name is Fathimath Rasna, after what she describes as a flood of questions about whether the two are even in touch. Her answer, in short: of course they are.
"How can we fall out with a daughter who lived her whole life for us," Sajitha said, describing Rasna as someone who kept trying to keep the family afloat even while she was busy earning a living on screen.
According to Sajitha, Rasna continued handing over money from her acting work for a full year after her wedding, and again for a year before she stepped away from acting altogether. "Before she married the man she wanted, she never once lived for herself," Sajitha said, adding that Rasna's needs are now looked after by her husband.
That marriage was never a quiet affair. Rasna wed Baiju Devaraj, the director behind Parijatham and several other serials, who was already married with two children at the time. The romance made headlines and drew plenty of criticism, not least because Rasna was still in her twenties. After the wedding, she changed both her name and her religion, converting from Islam to become Sakshi B Devaraj. Her sister, Mersheena Neenu, is now the active television face of the family.
Sajitha also spoke about being physically present for Rasna through all three of her deliveries, staying with her for a year after the first before Neenu's own serial career took off and pulled Sajitha's attention there instead. Neenu has been working in television for eight to ten years now, Sajitha said, and it's only in the last three years that she's started living life on her own terms, with travel now her main pastime.
There are reports from around the time of Parijatham that an arrest warrant was issued against Rasna, tied to friction between her mother and father, though the details of that episode remain unclear and Sajitha's remarks don't address it directly.
Rasna, now a mother of two daughters and a son, kept working for a while after Parijatham, appearing in serials like Sindoorachepp, Vrindavanam, Vadhu and Nandanam, along with small roles in films including Chocolate, Karyasthan and Vellaripravinte Changathi. These days, public appearances from her are rare, which is exactly why her mother's comments are drawing attention now.
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