J. Jayalalithaa
Jayaram Jayalalithaa[b] (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016) was an Indian politician and actress who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for more than fourteen years over six terms between 1991 and 2016. From 1 January 1988 to 5 December 2016, she was the 5th and longest-serving general secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK),[4] a Dravidian party whose cadre revered her as their "Amma" (Mother) and "Puratchi Thalaivi" (Revolutionary leader).[5]
In this Indian name, the name Jayaram is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Jayalalithaa.
J. Jayalalithaa
- Konijeti Rosaiah
- C. Vidyasagar Rao (Additional Charge)
Did not contest
S. R. Eradha
Herself
Herself
- Herself
- M. Karunanidhi
Herself
K. R. Rajendran
Herself
P. Marapan
K. S. M. Ramachandran
V. Panneerselvam
24 February 1948
Melukote, Mysore State, Dominion of India
(present-day Karnataka, India)
5 December 2016 (aged 68)
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Cardiac arrest
Deepa Jayakumar (niece)
Veda Nilayam,
81, Poes Thottam, Teynampet, Chennai – 600086, Tamil Nadu, India
- Film actress
- classical dancer
- singer
- writer
- politician
- philanthropist
- Kalaimamani (1972)
Amma
Puratchi Thalaivi
Kalai Selvi
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]
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 bête 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 fortunes revived in the 1998 general election, as the AIADMK became a key component of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's 1998–99 government; her withdrawal of support toppled it and triggered another general election just a year later.
The AIADMK returned to power in 2001, although Jayalalithaa was personally disbarred from contesting due to the corruption cases. Within a few months of her taking oath as chief minister, in September 2001, she was disqualified from holding office and forced to cede the chair to minister O. Panneerselvam. Upon her acquittal six months later, Jayalalithaa returned as chief minister to complete her term. Noted for its ruthlessness to political opponents, many of whom were arrested in midnight raids, her government grew unpopular. Another period (2006–11) in the opposition followed, before Jayalalithaa was sworn in as chief minister for the fourth time after the AIADMK swept the 2011 assembly election.
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.
Jayalalithaa never married and had no children.[7]
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]
Early life, education and family[edit]
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]
Her paternal grandfather, Narasimhan Rengachary, was in the service of the Mysore kingdom as a surgeon and served as the court physician to Maharaja Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV of Mysore. Her maternal grandfather, Rangasamy Iyengar, moved to Mysore from Srirangam to work with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. He had one son and three daughters—Ambujavalli, Vedavalli, and Padmavalli. Vedavalli was married to Jayaram, son of Narasimhan Rengachary. The couple Jayaram-Vedvalli had two children: a son, Jayakumar, and a daughter, Jayalalitha.[15] Her mother, her relatives and later co-stars and friends referred to her as Ammu.[16]
She is of the same lineage 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]
The Poes Garden plot was bought by Jayalalithaa and her mother on 1 July 1967 at a cost of ₹ 1.32 lakh, measuring around 24,000 sq. feet (10 grounds) with a built-up area of 21,662 sq. feet.[22][23] Jayalalithaa's mother Sandhya died in November 1971 at the age of 47.[24] Jayalalithaa held the housewarming ceremony of her residence Veda Nilayam (named after her beloved mother Vedavalli alias Sandhya) on 15 May 1972, early in the morning, followed by dinner and a Veena recital by classical musician Chitti babu in the evening.[25] Her brother's wedding took place at her Veda Nilayam home in Poes Garden in 1972.[26][27] Her brother Jayakumar, his wife Vijayalakshmi and their daughter, Deepa Jayakumar, lived in Poes Garden with Jayalalithaa till 1978[28] and then moved to T.Nagar Madras at the bungalow 'Sandhya Illam' which was bought by mother of Jayalalithaa.[29] Her brother was unhappy with adoption of Sudhakaran, a relative of Sasikala, as foster son of Jayalalithaa.[30] Jayalalithaa had adopted Sasikala's nephew Sudhakaran in 1995 and disowned him in 1996.[31] Her brother died in 1995 of heart attack.[32]
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]
She was fond of dogs as her pets. But after the death of Julie, a spitz, in 1998, she could not bear the loss and discontinued keeping pet dogs at her home.[36]
Controversies[edit]
Personality cult[edit]
Followers of Jayalalithaa often worshiped her as a divine being. She stimulated a cult following, and adoring supporters often termed her "Adi Parashakti" (the eternal mighty goddess).[238] Several experts say that over the years the cult called 'Amma' has been carefully crafted. Others claim that the emotional outburst is just a spontaneous display of loyalist support. C Lakshmanan of the Madras Development Institute studies, who has studied personality cult in the politics of Tamil Nadu, said posters were installed around the state portraying Jayalalithaa as a goddess back then.[239] She was worshiped by the party cadre as "Amma" (Mother). She made sure the respect and loyalty of the functionaries of the party was there for everyone to see. The entire Cabinet would fall in line and bow in front of the helicopter in which it was flying. Members of the party, at all levels never found it difficult to prostrate before her in full view of the public.[240] Many of her worshipping followers are known to profess their loyalty through acts such as walking on hot coals or drawing her portrait with their blood.[241] S Kirubakaran who is a Journalist-turned-advocate, wrote a book on Jayalalitha titled, 'Ammavin Kathai,' said that when M.G.R. was a Chief Minister, he carefully chose MLAs and Ministers for the first time after going through their knowledge and experience. But Jayalalithaa had begun to assign those who praised her.[242] Even after her death, the AIADMK leaders continued to prostrate themselves before her burial ground.[243][244]
1999 Attempted murder case[edit]
A case of murder attempt was registered against Jayalalithaa, her close associate Sasikala, and Sasikala's nephew V Mahadevan has been recorded by the Chennai police on following a complaint by former Jayalalithaa's auditor, Rajasekaran, who alleged that he was summoned to the Poes Garden bungalow and violently assaulted by Jayalalithaa, Sasikala and Mahadevan with a stick and high-heeled shoes.[241][245] Rajasekaran also stated that he had been forced by Jayalalithaa and Sasikala to sign two letters and a promissory note in respect of ₹50 lakhs. Jayalalithaa, however, denied the charges in a statement.[246][247]
In popular culture[edit]
In Mani Ratnam's political drama Iruvar (1997), the character of Kalpana portrayed by Aishwarya Rai, was inspired by Jayalalithaa and her professional and personal relationship with M. G. Ramachandran.[335][336][337] In 2008 Dasavathaaram Movie, Uses She seeing flooding areas from helicopter. For the movie Attahasa, sources in July 2011 reported that Priyamani and Jayachitra were signed on to portray the roles of Muthulakshmi and Chief Minister Jayalalitha, respectively.[338] Priyamani denied being part of the project, adding that she was not offered the role. Faisal Saif completed work on major portions of a film titled Amma between 2014 and 2016, but was forced to shelve it following threats from members of Jayalalithaa's political party. The makers denied that the film was a biopic, but stated that actress Ragini Dwivedi portrayed a role resembling the politician.[339][340]
Since Jayalalithaa's death, several filmmakers have announced biopics on the politician, with six currently in production. In January 2017, Telugu filmmaker Dasari Narayana Rao registered the title Amma and began preparing for a biopic on the politician. The film was being planned with Anushka Shetty in the lead role, but Rao's death in May 2017 effectively ended the project, despite indications that Mohan Babu may revive it.[341][342] Producer Adithya Bharadwaj announced that his team were over a year into pre-production work for a proposed biopic of Jayalalithaa, during December 2017. Titled Thaai: Puratchi Thalaivi, he revealed that it would predominantly be a fictionalised retelling of her story with some real life footage also included. Bharadwaj suggested that he had briefly touched upon the possibility of a biopic with Jayalalithaa when she was alive, but the script had to be reworked following her death. Despite his suggestions that the film would begin production in January 2018, the project did not take off.[343][344] Soon after news emerged about Vijay's and Priyadarshini's biopics in August 2018, Adithya reconfirmed that Bharathiraja had been signed to be the director of the film. He added that the team were considering either Aishwarya Rai or Anushka Shetty for the role of Jayalalithaa, and either Kamal Haasan or Mohanlal for the role of M. G. Ramachandran.[345]
In August 2018, producer Vishnu Vardhan Induri of Vibri Media announced that he was working on a biopic of Jayalalithaa, and that A. L. Vijay would direct the project.[346] The team announced that pre-production work and research was ongoing and that the film would focus on the personal life of the politician, showing her vulnerable side. Actress Vidya Balan was initially approached by Vijay to star in the lead role, while Sai Pallavi was considered for the supporting role of V. K. Sasikala. Titled Thalaivii (2021), the film began its shoot after a long pre-production phase in November 2019 with Kangana Ranaut signed to play the lead role.[347][348][349] The Movie Thalaivii was released on 10 September 2021.[350] Within a day of Induri's announcement of making a film, director Priyadarshini announced that she had also been working for four months on the pre-production of a biopic, which would be launched in September 2018. Priyadarshini suggested that she had four scripts ready, with each focusing on different aspects of Jayalalithaa's life, and that the narration would be balanced by showing both her positive and negative sides.[351][349] Titled The Iron Lady, Nithya Menen was signed on to play the lead role, while Aishwarya Rajesh and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar were in talks for a supporting role for the character of Sasikala.[352][353][354]
On 14 December 2019, Another biopic named Queen has been released as a web-series by Gautham Vasudev Menon became the fourth such announcement of a related project in August 2018.[355] Production on the series progressed quietly throughout late 2018, with Ramya Krishnan selected to play Jayalalithaa, and Indrajith and Vamsi Krishna portraying M. G. Ramchandran and Sobhan Babu respectively.[356][357] In October 2018, Sasikala's nephew Jeyanandh Dhivakaran announced a further biopic on Jayalalithaa, which would focus more on her relationship with Sasikala and M. Natarajan. Director Linguswamy was signed on to the project, and began pre-production work by meeting close aides and politicians of Jayalalithaa.[358] In April 2019, director Jegadeswara Reddy announced that he was set to make a film titled Sasilalithaa, which would showcase the relationship between Jayalalithaa and Sasikala. A first look poster was launched, with Reddy announcing that he would enter talks with Kajol and Amala Paul to play the lead roles.[359]
In Ponniyin Selvan: I, director Mani Ratnam reportedly drew inspiration from Jayalalithaa for his depiction of the character Kundavai, portrayed by Trisha. [360]
Jayalalithaa also appeared in an episode of Rendezvous with Simi Garewal, an informal chat-show hosted by Indian actress Simi Garewal, where she talked about her personal life and acting/political career.[361]
Other interests[edit]
Leisure Interests[edit]
Jayalalithaa is also interested in reading,[375] classical music, Western music, piano, swimming, cricket, tennis, basketball, chess, athletics and horse-riding.[372][86] She admired actors such as Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Dilip Kumar and Shammi Kapoor.[376] As a school girl, she had a huge crush on former Indian skipper Nari Contractor. In an interview with Simi Garewal in the 1990s, Jayalalitha had revealed her fondness for the cricketer and she had followed his game closely during the 1960s. In Kumudam Magazine, she had written that she used to watch Test matches. When she found difficult in booking last-minute tickets for special enclosure, she decided to become the Member of Tamil Nadu Cricket Association through which she could receive tickets automatically for all Test matches and Ranji Trophy. On her request, then famous cricket commentator and the general manager of Das prakash Group of Hotels P. Ananda Rao who had influence on TNCA, represented her case on his board meeting. Hence, Jayalalithaa became the first independent and patron women member of Tamil Nadu Cricket Association in the period of 1973–74.[377]