Sridevi’s niece Maheswari opens up about crushing on Ajith Kumar, recalls how he left her heartbroken: ‘Mahi, you are like my chelli’

Late actor Sridevi’s niece, actor Maheswari, recently appeared on Jagapathi Babu’s Zee5 show Jayammu Nischayammu Raa alongside Meena and Simran. During the episode, she opened up about once having a crush on Ajith Kumar while working with him for over a year, only to be left heartbroken when he regarded her as a younger sister.

‘Ajith was my biggest crush’

When Jagapathi asked if she had ever developed a crush on a co-star, Maheswari admitted that Ajith had been her biggest crush back then. She said it wasn’t just admiration but deep respect for him as a person. Since they worked together on Ullaasam and Nesam in 1997, and due to production delays, they ended up spending almost one and a half years shooting together, which only strengthened her feelings.



She recalled feeling low on the last day of shooting, worried she might not see him again. That’s when Ajith walked up to her and said warmly, “Mahi, you are like my chelli (younger sister). If you need any help, don’t hesitate to ask.” Maheswari confessed that his words left her heartbroken, as there was nothing left to hope for — “nothing had even begun to stop,” she joked, leaving Meena and Jagapathi in splits.

Ajith went on to marry actor Shalini in 2000, and the couple today are parents to a son and daughter.

Maheswari’s journeys since

Maheswari, meanwhile, began her acting career at the age of 17 with the Tamil film Karuththamma (1994) and rose to fame with the Telugu hit Gulabi (1995). Through the 1990s, she featured in several notable Telugu and Tamil films, many opposite JD Chakravarthy. Her last big-screen outing was the 2000 comedy Tirumala Tirupati Venkatesa.



In 2008, she married software engineer Jayakrishna, and the same year, she made her television debut with the Telugu show My Name is Manga Tayaru. Most recently, in 2024, she appeared on Tamil reality TV with Start Music Season 4. Meanwhile, Ajith Kumar was last seen in 'Good Bad Ugly' .