Jayalalithaa rose to prominence as a leading film actress in the mid-1960s. Though she had begun her acting career reluctantly at her mother's behest to support the family, Jayalalithaa was a prolific actor. She appeared in 140 films between 1961 and 1980, primarily in the Tamil, Telugu and Kannada languages. Jayalalithaa received praise for her versatility as an actress and her dancing skills, earning the sobriquet "Queen of Tamil Cinema".[6]
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Among her frequent co-stars was M. G. Ramachandran. In 1982, when M. G. Ramachandran was chief minister, Jayalalithaa joined AIADMK, the party he founded. Her political rise was rapid; within a few years she became AIADMK propaganda secretary and was elected to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India's Parliament. After M.G.R.'s death in 1987, Jayalalithaa proclaimed herself as his political heir and, having fought off the faction headed by M.G.R.'s widow, V. N. Janaki Ramachandran, emerged as the sole leader of the AIADMK. Following the 1989 election, she became Leader of the Opposition to the DMK-led government led by M. Karunanidhi, her bte noire.
In 1991, Jayalalithaa became chief minister for the first time and Tamil Nadu's youngest. She earned a reputation for centralising state power among a coterie of bureaucrats; her council of ministers, whom she often shuffled around, were largely ceremonial in nature. The successful cradle-baby scheme, which enabled mothers to anonymously offer their newborns for adoption, emerged during this time. Despite an official salary of only a rupee a month, Jayalalithaa indulged in public displays of wealth, culminating in a lavish wedding for her foster son V. N. Sudhakaran (Sasikala's elder sister son) on 7 September 1995. In the 1996 election, the AIADMK was nearly wiped out at the hustings; Jayalalithaa herself lost her seat. The new Karunanidhi government filed several corruption cases against her, and she had to spend time in jail.
Her government received attention for its extensive social-welfare agenda, which included several subsidised "Amma"-branded goods such as canteens, bottled water, salt and cement. Three years into her tenure, she was convicted in a disproportionate-assets case, rendering her disqualified to hold office. She returned as chief minister after being acquitted in May 2015. In the 2016 assembly election, she became the first Tamil Nadu chief minister since M.G.R in 1984 to be voted back into office. That September, she fell severely ill and, following 75 days of hospitalisation, died on 5 December 2016 due to cardiac arrest and became the first female chief minister in India to die in office.
On 29 May 2020, her nephew, J. Deepak, and niece, Deepa Jayakumar, were declared as her legal heirs by Madras High Court.[8] Her critics in the media and the opposition accused her of fostering a personality cult and of demanding absolute loyalty from AIADMK legislators and ministers.[9]
Jayalalithaa was born on 24 February 1948 to Jayaram and Vedavalli (Sandhya) in a Tamil Brahmin Mandayam Iyengar family at Melukote, Pandavapura taluk, Mandya district, then in Mysore State (now Karnataka). She had a brother, Jayakumar.[10][11][12][13][14]
She is of the same lineage [clarification needed] of popular figures like K. T. Bhashyam (former minister of Mysore State) and Chairman of Mysore Legislative Council) and famous lawyer L. S. Raju who made significant contribution in the history of Mysore State (Now Karnataka).[17]
Jayalalithaa's father, Jayaram, was a lawyer but never worked and squandered most of the family's wealth. He died when Jayalalithaa was two years old. The widowed Vedavalli returned to her father's home in Bangalore in 1950.[9] Vedavalli learnt shorthand and typewriting to take up a clerical position to help support the family in 1950. Her younger sister Ambujavalli had moved to Madras, working as an air hostess. She also started acting in drama and films using the screen name Vidyavathy. On the insistence of Ambujavalli, Jayalalithaa's mother Vedavalli also relocated to Madras and stayed with her sister from 1952. Vedavalli worked in a commercial firm in Madras and began dabbling in acting from 1953 under the screen name Sandhya. Jayalalithaa remained under the care of her mother's sister Padmavalli and maternal grandparents from 1950 to 1958 in Mysore.[9][15] While still in Bangalore, Jayalalithaa attended Bishop Cotton Girls' School, Bangalore.[18]
After her aunt Padmavalli's marriage in 1958, Jayalalithaa moved to Madras to live with her mother. She completed her education at Sacred Heart Matriculation School (popularly known as Church Park Presentation Convent or Presentation Church Park Convent).[15][19]
She excelled at school and was offered a government scholarship to pursue further education.[18] She won Gold State Award for coming first in 10th standard in the state of Tamil Nadu. She joined Stella Maris College, Chennai; however, discontinued her studies due to pressure from her mother and became a film actress.[20][21]
She was fluent in several languages, including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, Malayalam and English.[33] She often conversed with Karnataka Chief ministers in Kannada. Basavaraj Bommai, the former irrigation minister and later chief minister of Karnataka said, "I was astonished by her Kannada slang and fluency."[34][35]
In Madras (now Chennai), Jayalalithaa was trained in Carnatic music, western classical piano[37] and various forms of classical dance, including Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Mohiniyattam, Manipuri, Kathak.[38] She learnt Bharatnatyam and dance forms under K.J.Sarasa.[39] She had also learnt Kuchipudi under Padma Bhushan Guru Dr. Vempati Chinna Satyam. She became an accomplished dancer and gave her debut dance performance at the Rasika Ranjani Sabha in Mylapore in May 1960.[40] The Chief Guest at the Arangetram was Shivaji Ganesan, who called her a "thanga silai" (golden statue) and expressed wish that Jayalalithaa becomes a film star in future.[41][42]
While a child, Jayalalithaa acted in the Kannada-language film Sri Shaila Mahathme (1961), which starred Rajkumar and Krishna Kumari.[43] She had been taken to the studio by her mother as she was shooting in the same premises for a different film. While Jayalalithaa was watching the shooting, a problem arose as the child actress playing the Goddess Parvathy in a school drama scene in the film failed to show up and the producer Neerlahalli Thalikerappa and director Aroor Pattabhi asked Sandhya if Jayalalithaa could be asked to act in the dance sequence. Sandhya agreed and Jayalalithaa was swiftly dressed up as Parvathy and the scene was shot in Sri Shaila Mahatme.[44]
She played Krishna in a three-minute dance sequence held on stage in the Hindi film Man-Mauji (1962) and danced with Kumari Naaz who played Radha. Y. G. Parthasarathy ran the drama troupe United Amateur Artistes (UAA), which staged English and Tamil plays. Soon Jayalalithaa while a schoolgirl began acting in some plays of Parthasarathy along with her mother and aunt. She acted in small roles in plays such as Tea House of the August Moon and Undersecretary between 1960 and 1964.
Shankar Giri, the son of the former Indian President V. V. Giri, saw her small role in the English play Tea Houses of August Moon and was impressed. Shankar Giri approached her mother Sandhya and told he wanted to cast her daughter in an English film called The Epistle. Sandhya reluctantly agreed with the condition that shooting should be held only during weekends or school holidays.[40]
Meanwhile, Jayalalithaa continued acting in Parthasarathy's plays. She played the leading role in plays such as Malathi, The Whole Truth, and the dance drama Kaveri Thanda Kalaiselvi between 1960 and 1966. She made her debut as the lead actress in Kannada films while still in school, age 15, in Chinnada Gombe (1964).[45] She also appeared in a dance sequence of a song named "Malligeya Hoovinantha" in the movie Amarashilpi Jakanachari (1964).[9]
Jayalalithaa's debut in Tamil cinema was the leading role in Vennira Aadai (1965), directed by C. V. Sridhar.[39] She made her debut in Telugu films as lead actress in Manushulu Mamathalu opposite Akkineni Nageswara Rao. Her last Telugu release was also opposite Akkineni Nageswara Rao in the film Nayakudu Vinayakudu, which was released in 1980.[47] She was the first heroine to appear in skirts in Tamil films.[48] She acted in one Hindi film called Izzat, with Dharmendra as her male costar in 1968.[49] She starred in 28 box-office hit films with M.G. Ramachandran between 1965 and 1973.[50] The first with M.G.R. was B.R. Panthalu's Aayirathil Oruvan in 1965 and their last film together was Pattikaattu Ponnaiya in 1973.[51]
Sandow M. M. A. Chinnappa Thevar was on the lookout for a regular heroine for his production after he had fight with the actress Savitri after the release of Vetaikkaran, and he signed Jayalalithaa on in 1965. She became a regular heroine for production house Devar films from 1966.[55]
She also made a guest appearance in Telugu film Navarthi (1966). Her films in Telugu also included two with Krishna and one each with Sobhan Babu, Jaggayya, Ramakrishna and Haranath.[56] She was given on-screen credit as Kalai Selvi in most of her Tamil films since 1967.[45]
In 1973, she acted in Sri Krishna Satya, which won her the Filmfare Award for Best Actress in Telugu.[59] Her other films with Sivaji Ganesan include Galatta Kalyanam and Deiva Magan; the latter holds the distinction of being the first Tamil film to be submitted by India for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.[60]
She was romantically paired opposite Sivakumar in Kandan Karunai and Sri Krishna Leela. Sivakumar played supporting roles in Shakti Leelai, Yarrukum Vetkam Ilali, Thirumangalyam, Annaivelakanni, Kavalkaran, Motoram Sunderapillai and Ganga Gowri.[63]
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