Dr. J. Jayalalithaa: 10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know about Her

  1. Dr. J. Jayalalithaa (hereafter referred to as Jaya for the sake of simplicity) was born in Mandya district, Karnataka (Mysore State) – Not in Tamil Nadu. But she was born to a Tamil Iyengar family.
  2. Her name was a combination of two houses she resided in Mysore Jaya Vilas, Lalitha Vilas. The double ‘aa’ at the end of her name was added only in 2001 for numerology reasons.
  3. Jaya’s father died when she was 2. Her mother Sandhya became an actress after shifting to Madras where her younger sister lived. But her mother’s real name was Vedavalli.
  4. Jaya initially studied in Bishop Cotton Girls School in Bangalore and then in Church Park – Chennai. She was awarded the Gold State Award for coming first in 10th Std. exams in the entire state of Tamil Nadu. It is an understatement to say that she excelled in academics.
  5. Jaya had a brother, Jayakumar, who lived in Chennai until 1995 when he died in an accident.
  6. She initially acted as MGR’s daughter before acting as heroine in his movies later on.
  7. Jaya’s mother acted in the Tamil superhit movie Karnan and it was in a party related to that movie that Panthulu spotted Jayalalitha and offered to cast her as the heroine of his next Kannada film – Chinnada Gombe. That was her first film as a lead actress and she was just 15 then!
  8. Jaya was fluent in several languages including English, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, etc. Due to this, MGR selected her to be a Rajya Sabha member from his party.
  9. Jaya acted in one Hindi movie Izzat opposite Dharmendra.
  10. Jaya’s last movie as a heroine was in Telugu, not Tamil. But in 1992, while in power as a Chief Minister, she acted (as herself) in a movie on prohibition – Neenga Nalla Irukkanum. The movie was directed by Visu and was the first movie to be produced by TN Govt.

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Reference: Wikipedia article on Jayalalithaa.

15 thoughts on “Dr. J. Jayalalithaa: 10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know about Her

  1. Alok Singhal

    Though i have never been in politics, but she seemed likable by very many.

    1. Rajesh K

      Of course. That’s also because of her visible pro-poor schemes.

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  2. Jeevan

    Interesting facts esp. the reason behind her name is new for me… We really miss an extremely wonderful leadership.

    1. Rajesh K

      Yea, RIP.

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  3. SG

    Thanks for the interesting facts. I thought her real name was Komalavalli.

    She was one of the greatest. RIP.

    1. Rajesh K

      Yes, Sandhya Maami also thinks so. Need to check on the name part, Wikipedia only gives the info that I have put.

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  4. Devilish Angel

    Very bold, determined woman. She excelled in both cinema and politics though she was forced to enter in both fields.

    1. Rajesh K

      She even excelled in studies. She seems to have been concerned about her personal life, but otherwise she excelled in pretty much everything.

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  5. Sandhya Kumar

    She had crossed lots of hurdles to reach this level. It is not easy for women to excel in India, or anywhere else (Hillary!). Very intelligent, charismatic personality.

    1. Rajesh K

      I guess it was much more difficult for a woman to become a leader a few decades back. She was a true trendsetter.

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  6. Sandhya Kumar

    Jaya’s original name was Komalavalli then changed to Jayalalitha for school admission.

    1. Rajesh K

      I guess this is what I’ve heard also, but Wikipedia doesn’t mention this. Need to check..

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  7. Avada Kedavra

    I still don’t understand why people think she is great. And why is everyone mourning so much.

    1. Rajesh K

      Some of her schemes have benefited many poor people in the state. Maybe that’s why..

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  8. sm

    top 10
    nice information

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