One of the most successful movie stars to ever grace the South Indian cinema and one of the prominent influential political leaders of the state of Tamil Nadu, the Thanga Tharagai Jayalalitha has left behind a rich legacy for her admirers. Today, it is Jayalalitha’s birthday anniversary and Saregama remembers her extraordinary journey of transitioning from dear Ammu to beloved Amma.
Born on 24th February 1948, Jayalalitha was nicknamed Ammu in her childhood. At the age of 2, Ammu’s father who was a lawyer died. Her mother started working in films to support the family and Ammu was thus primarily taken care of by her grandparents in Bangalore. She was brilliant in her school days in Bangalore. According to many people close to her, she earned a scholarship for her talent. At the same time, she learned to dance and took music lessons. At a younger age, she was well trained in Carnatic music, classical dance styles and acting as she was destined to become great among the pantheons of legendary artists in South India.
Initially, Jayalalitha wanted to become a lawyer like her father. However, in her teenage years itself, she joined the film industry, first in Kannada and later in Tamil. This was because she had to support her family. And thus began her career as an actress in the South Indian film industry. She started by performing in various dance sequences in movies. After a while, her debut film as a child artiste happened in the Kannada-language film Sri Shaila Mahathme 1961. Later, she made her debut as the lead actress in the Kannada film Chinnada Gombe (1964). She collaborated with many stars of the Kannada film industry such as Dr. Rajkumar, Udayakumar, Balakrishna, Narasimaharaju and Kalyan Kumar.
In the Tamil movie industry, she starred with legendary actors such as MG Ramachandran for many super hit movies and Shivaji Ganesan as well. For the next three decades, Jayalalitha was a superstar actress of her generation starring in over 140 films. Throughout the years between 1965 till the 1980s, she delivered superb performances. Some of her best movies include Aayirathil Oruvan, Kavalkaran, Adimai Penn, Engal Thangam, Kudiyirundha Koyil, Ragasiya Police 115, Nam Naadu. Jayalalitha also acted in the Hindi movie Izzat 1968, opposite Dharmendra. She was one of the highest-paid actresses as well. Besides being an actor, she sang in more than 14 movies. At the peak of her career as a star, she decided to join politics.
In her political life, she was groomed by none other than the legendary MG Ramachandran, who himself was a star first and then became the political leader. After the demise of MGR, she overcame all the odds to become the leader of the political party in Tamil Nadu. Gradually, her larger-than-life personality and aura earned her the nickname Amma. And she was indeed the beloved Amma for girls, women and even men in Tamil Nadu. In two decades after that, she served as four-time chief minister of Tamil Nadu. At the age of 68, Jayalalitha died due to prolonged illness.
On 74th Jayalalitha’s birthday anniversary, Saregama pays rich tributes to the legend. Listen to Jayalalitha songs on Saregama Carvaan.