14.Jayalalithaa Jayaram

J. Jayalalithaa
Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
Incumbent
Assumed office 16 May 2011
Preceded by	M. Karunanidhi
Constituency	Srirangam
In office 2 March 2002 – 12 May 2006
Preceded by	O. Panneerselvam (Acting CM)
Succeeded by	M. Karunanidhi
Constituency	Andipatti
In office 14 May 2001 – 21 September 2001
Preceded by	M. Karunanidhi
Succeeded by	O. Panneerselvam (Acting CM)
Constituency	Did not contest
In office 24 June 1991 – 12 May 1996
Preceded by	President's rule
Succeeded by	M. Karunanidhi
Constituency	Bargur
Personal details
Born	24 February 1948 (age 64) Mysore, India
Political party	AIADMK
Residence	Poes Garden, Chennai, India
Religion	Hinduism

Jayalalithaa Jayaram (born 24 February 1948, and commonly referred to as J. Jayalalitha), is the Chief Minister of the state of Tamil Nadu, India. She was a popular film star in Indian cinema before her entry into politics, having appeared in many Tamil and Telugu films, as well as several produced in Hindi and Kannada. She is the incumbent general secretary of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). She is called Amma ('Mother') and Puratchi Thalaivi ('Revolutionary Leader') by her followers.

Although there have been claims that Jayalalithaa was introduced to politics by Ramachandran, she has denied this. She was a member of the Rajya Sabha elected from Tamil Nadu during the period of 1984–89. Soon after the death of Ramachandran, Jayalalithaa proclaimed herself as his political heir.[2][3] She is the first elected female Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu

  Early life and education

Jayalalithaa was born into a Tamil Iyengar family on 24 February 1948 at Melukote, in Pandavapura taluk of Mandya district, Karnataka. In accordance with Iyengar custom[citation needed] she was given two names, thus her other name is Komalavalli. Her grandfather was in the service of the then Mysore kingdom as a surgeon, and the prefix Jaya (the victorious) was added to the names of various of her family members to reflect their association with Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar of Mysore.

Jayalalithaa’s father died at her age of two.Her mother then moved to Bangalore, where her parents lived, with Jayalalithaa. Her mother eventually began to work as an actress in Tamil cinema, based in Chennai, having taken the screen name of Sandhya.While in Bangalore, Jayalalithaa attended Bishop Cotton Girls' High School.She completed her childhood education at Sacred Heart Matriculation School (popularly known as Church Park Presentation Convent or Presentation Church Park Convent) in Chennai.She excelled at school and was offered a government scholarship to pursue further education.She appears not to have accepted the admission offered to her at Stella Maris College, Chennai.

Early career

Her mother persuaded her to work in films when Jayalalithaa was still in school, taking assurances from producers that shooting would take place only during summer vacations and that she would not miss her classes. Jayalalithaa acted in an English language film, Epistle, released in 1961. She made her debut as the lead actress in Kannada films while still in school, aged 15, in Chinnada Gombe (1964).

Jayalalithaa's debut in Tamil cinema was a role in Vennira Aadai (1965), directed by C. V. Sridhar. The following year, she made her debut in Telugu cinema with the film Manushulu Mamathalu. She was the first heroine to appear in skirts in Tamil films.

Between 1965 and 1972 she acted frequently with M. G. Ramachandran and she also worked with B. Saroja Devi in Arasa Kattalai. Her other early roles were in suspense films such as Naan and comedies such as Galatta Kalyanam.[citation needed]

Later career

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. The film also fetched her a Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Her performance in Suryakanthi and Chandradhoyam were critically acclaimed and the former won her another Filmfare Award for Best Actress in 1973. The same year she acted in the Telugu film Sri Krishna Satya and won her third Filmfare Award for Best Actress.[citation needed]

Her other films with Sivaji Ganesan include Galatta Kalyanam and Deiva Magan. Deiva Magan also holds the distinction of being the first Tamil film to be submitted by India for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.[7] She continued pairing up with younger actors such as Ravichandran and Jaishankar in a number of films such as Vairam, Baghdad Perazhagi.[citation needed]

Later Tamil films in which she acted included Kandan Karunai and she also starred in a Bollywood film. Izzat, which saw her paired with Dharmendra.Her last film was Nadhiyai Thedi Vandha Kadal which was released in 1980.

Political career

Although there have been claims that Ramachandran, who had been Chief Minister for the state since 1977, was instrumental in introducing Jayalalithaa to politics, she has denied this. In 1982, she joined the AIADMK, which had been founded by Ramachandran.Her maiden public speech Pennin Perumai (the Pride of Women) was delivered at the political conference of the AIADMK that year.In 1983, she became Propaganda Secretary for the party and was also selected as AIADMK candidate in the by-election for the Tiruchendur Assembly constituency.

Ramachandran wanted her to be a member of the Rajya Sabha because of her fluency in English.She was nominated and elected to that body as a Member of Parliament in 1984[clarification needed and retained her seat until 1989.