At a glance: Jayalalithaa “ from a gorgeous 'film star' to 'Tamil Nadu CM'

New Delhi, May 26: In politics, the combination of beauty and intelligence is very rare but Jayalalithaa is a perfect combination of the two. She is beautiful as well as knowledgeable.It is said that Jayalalithaa was the first heroine to appear in skirts in Tamil films but that was just one part of her persona. The other part was that of a brilliant student who was deeply interested in studies.Despite of her obsession with films and acting in her younger days, she was always a voracious reader. It is said that she used to carry books during shooting of films and used to read then in between shots. From a gorgeous and sultry film star, she went on to become the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on sheer strength of her determination and hard work. She was confronted with many bottlenecks but she managed to overcome all the roadblocks. Jayalalithaa, was born in a Brahmin family on 24 February 1948 in Mandya district of the then Mysore State (now Karnataka). Jayalalitha lost her father when she was just 2 years old. Her mother, who was devastated by her husband's death, moved over to Bangalore, where her parents lived, along with Jayalalithaa.Jayalalithaa's mother joined Tamil film industry and started working with a new screen name ‘Sandhya'. Jayalalithaa studied at Bishop Cotton Girls' School, Bangalore and Sacred Heart Matriculation School, Chennai. Since Jayalalithaa was very good in studies, she was offered government scholarship for further studies but it seems she declined the offer as the financial position was her family was getting worse from bad and she decided to join films. Owing to poor financial condition, Jayalalithaa's mother encouraged her to work in film she was still in school. Jayalalithaa acted in an English language film, Epistle, released in 1961. The film was produced by Shankar Giri, son of former President of India Dr VV Giri.At the age of 15, she made her debut in Kannada films with ‘Chinnada Gombe' that was released in 1964. The film became a big hit.In 1965, she made debut in Tamil Cinemawith a role in' Vennira Aadai'. In 1966, she made her debut in Telugu cinema with the film ‘Manushulu Mamathalu'.But it was Gonndachari 116, a James Bond-style film, that catapulted her to fame.M G Ramachandran was her favourite co-star with whom she did 28 films. The famous pair gave some of the best ever hits that included including films like Kavalkaran, Adimai Pen, Engal Thangam, Kudiyiruntha Koil, Ragasiya Police 115 and Nam Naadu. Some of her popular movies are Vennira Aadai, Aayirathil Oruvan, Kavalkaran, Pudhiya Boomi, Iru Deivangal, Nadhiyai Thedi Vandha Kadal.In 1972, Jayalalithaa acted in Pattikada Pattanama opposite Sivaji Ganesan, which went onto win the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil in 1973. She also got Filmfare Award for Best Actress for the same film.Jayalalithaa's last film was Nadhiyai Thedi Vandha Kadal in 1980.Jayalalithaa also tried her luck in Bollywood and acted in a few ‘Hindi' films that included ‘Izzat' in which she was paired with Dharmendra. M G Ramachandran became the mentor of Jayalalithaa not only in film industry but also in her personal and political life. MGR had already joined politics and had become CM of Tamil Nadu in 1977. She started to groom Jayalalithaa in politics and made her the propaganda secretary of the party. Impressed with Jayalalithaa's fluency in English, MGR sent her to Rajya Sabha and that was the beginning of a very rewarding political career for Jayalalithaa. It is said that Jayalalithaa's meteoric rise made her enemy of many senior leaders of MGR's party and their machinations resulted in widening rift between Jayalalithaa and MGR.It is also said that In 1984, when MGR suffered a massive stroke, Jayalalithaa attempted usurp the position of chief minister. An angry MGR her from the role of deputy leader of the party.After the death of MGR in 1987, his party AIADMK split into two factions - one section supporting his widow, Janaki Ramachandran, and the other favouring Jayalalithaa.Jayalalithaa emerged as the political heir to MGR and was elected to the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly in 1989 and became the first women leader of opposition in Tamil Nadu.In 1991, she joined hands with Congress for assembly elections, in the aftermath of Rajiv gandhi's assassination and became the Chief Minister oF tanil Nadu. She lost power in 1996.She became CM once again in 2001 in 2011.It is interesting to note that In 1997, Jayalalithaa vowed not to wear any jewelry after the DMK government confiscated all her jewelry during investigation into cases relating to owning disproportionate assets.Things recovered from Jayalalithaa's house after the raid included 750 pairs of footwear, 800 kg of silver, 28kg gold, 10,500 sarees, 91 watches and 44 Air conditionersFor 14 years, Jayalalithaa did not wear any jewelry. She wore it once again in 2011 only after storming back to power. She said she was forced to wear them by her part's workers and she had to respect their sentiments.