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Celluloid Princess: Evergreen star of Tamil cinema had an early start
Jayalalithaa’s impact on films was as radical as her approach to politics, breaking stereotypes and establishing a new order of women’s empowerment
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Chennai
Jayalalithaa, as a child was trained in classical music, western classical piano, and many forms of classical dance, including Bharatanatyam, Mohiniattam, Manipuri and Kathak. An accomplished dancer, she debuted at the Rasika Ranjani Sabha in Mylapore in May 1960. The Chief Guest at the Arangetram was none other than Nadigar Thilagam Sivaji Ganesan, who said she would become a big film star in the future. In her childhood, Jayalalithaa acted in the Kannada film Sri Shaila Mahathme (1961), which had Rajkumar and Krishna Kumari in lead roles. As a schoolgirl, she began acting in some plays of YG Parthasarathy along with her mother Sandhya (an actor) and her aunt.
Shankar Giri, former Indian President VV Giri’s son, saw Jaya’s performance in an English play called Tea Houses of August Moon and was quite impressed. So, he approached her mother Sandhya to cast her in an English film called The Epistle. She agreed and it lead to Jayalalithaa making her debut on celluloid. Kannada filmmaker B Panthulu cast her as the lead opposite Kalyankumar in the movie Chinnada Gombe, which became a blockbuster in 1964. Debuting as the lead actress in that film while still in school at the age of 15, she became a well-known face thereafter. She made her debut in Tamil theatre in April 1964, when she played a sales girl in the drama called Undersecretary.
Her films shot during her vacation in April–May 1964 – Chinnada Gombe and Manushulu Mamathalu – had turned out to be mega hits. By the end of 1965, she had become a favourite of producers and directors. In 1964, as financial debts began taking their toll on Sandhya, she asked her daughter Jayalalithaa to make the most of film offers coming her way. Jayalalithaa made her debut in Tamil cinema in the leading role in Vennira Aadai (1965).
Sandow MMA Chinnappa Thevar, was on the lookout for a heroine for his production after falling out with actress Savithri after the release of Vetaikkaran. He signed Jayalalithaa on in 1965. She became a regular heroine for production house Devar films. She had 11 successful releases in Tamil in 1966. In 1967 she bought her bungalow, Veda Nilayam, in Poes Gardens for around Rs 1.32 lakh. She acted alongside Dharmendra in a Hindi film called Izzat, in 1968.
TN STATE FILM AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS
- 1971 Thanga Gopuram
- 1972 Raman Thediya Seethai
- 1973 Suryagandhi
- 1974 Thirumangalyam
- 1975 Yarukkum Vetkam Illai
Chartbuster on all counts
- Jayalalithaa holds the record for having been the Tamil actress with maximum silver jubilee hits in her career - 85 hits of 92 Tamil films as female lead heroine
- She also has all 28 films in Telugu as silver jubilee hits. She was the highest paid Indian actress from 1965-1980
- She made guest appearances in 9 films and 6 of her films were dubbed into Hindi. She had 119 box office hits between 1961 and 1980, of the total 125 films she did as the main female lead
- Jayalalithaa made a brief appearance as a Chief Minister crusading for prohibition in Neen ga Nalla Irukkanum (1992)
- She acquired the reputation of being a multi-faceted actor equally comfortable in fantasy and mythological genres as well as in modern social dramas
- She and Saroja Devi have been cited as the first female superstars of Tamil Cinema
- In 1969, in the Tamil Conference held, she was given the tag of Kaviri Thandha Kalai Selvi. She has been given on-screen credit as Kalai Selvi in most of her Tamil films since 1967
Woman power personified
The heroes of her films did not object to the title of the film being conferred on the female lead played by Jayalalithaa. Adi mai Penn, Kanni Thaai, and Kannan En Kadhalan had MGR as the lead hero but the story and the title was built around the character played by Jayalalithaa. Similarly, Engerindo Vandhaal, Sumathi En Sundari, and Anbai Thedi featured Sivaji Ganesan as the lead but the title and the story was built around Jaya’s character. She did many female-centric films where the story revolved on her character, such as Vennira Adai, Yaar Nee, Ku mari Penn, Nee, Gowri Kalyan am, Magaraasi, Muthu Chippi, Thanga Gopu ram, Avalukku Ayiram Kangal, Annamitta Kai, Vandhaale Magaraasi, Suryagandhi, Thiru mangalyam, Yarukkum Vetkam Illai, and Kana van Manaivi.
Top billing with mentor MGR
She starred in 28 box-office hit films with MG Ramachandran between 1965 and 1973. The first with MGR was BR Panthalu’s Aayirathil Oruvan in 1965 and their last film together was Pattikaattu Ponnaiya in 1973. Her successful films with MGR include Kavalkaran, A dimai Penn, Engal Thangam, Kudiyirundha Koyil, Ragasiya Police 115 and Nam Naadu . Cho Ramaswamy cast her in the lead role in his directorial venture Yar rukkum Vetkam Illai.
OTHER ROMANTIC LEADS
- JAISHANKAR (TAMIL): Jaishankar was romantically paired with Jayalalithaa in eight Tamil films including Muthuchippi, Yaar Nee, Nee
- NT RAMA RAO (TELUGU): Jayalalithaa acted in 12 films as heroine opposite NTR
- AKKINENI NAGESWARA RAO (TELUGU): She had 7 films with AN Rao. She also had 6 films with R. Muthuraman as leading pair
FREQUENT DIRECTORIAL COLLABORATORS
- CV Rajendran
- Bhimsingh
- K Shankar
- R Panthulu
- P Neelakantan
- KS Gopalakrishnan
- C Tirulokchandar
- TR Ramanna
- Muktha Srinivasan
- MA Thirumugam
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