The started small, literally, as a child actor who took tentative first steps into the big world of cinema. That was just the beginning. Her over six-decade long eventful life was filled with eclectic episodes. She was a huge star in south India whose films make periodic visits to the talkies in rural Tamil Nadu even now; was a noted young member in the House of the Elders who made them sit up and take note when she spoke; and most influentially, a six-time Chief Minister who took the vast State and its millions of people on the road towards progress. J Jayalalithaa was a woman of many parts, who left a mark on all the realms she visited.
Politically aware
Jayalalithaa came to public attention when she exploded onto the silverscreen as one of the brightest young stars in the mid-60s. Her films, many of them with her mentor, matinee idol and AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran, were among the biggest hits in each of the year from 1965, a streak that finally ended when she decided to quit films rather prematurely. She was only 29 when she withdrew from the active and highly successful career in 1977.
It is said that it was her speech at Cuddalore in early 1980s that gave a glimpse of the politically aware youngster. Soon enough, she was in Delhi as a Rajya Sabha member from 1984, enthralling the veterans from across the country with sharp observations on subjects as varied as the welfare of the artists who spend their lives in the film field without making it big, to the Hindi commentary of cricket matches.
Ever stronger
After MGR’s death, she emerged as the biggest leader around whom the large majority of the party gravitated, most of them immediate, a few eventually. As the Chief Minister, she monitored the functioning of every department, tailoring welfare schemes that suited the people the best. In the three decades she spent in public life, Jayalalithaa evolved as the mother of the masses.