Tamil Nadu CM, AIADMK boss and former film star J Jayalithaa passed away on Monday night at age 68.
In her “long, tempestuous life”, over two successful and exhausting careers – as an actress and as a politician – nothing came to Jayalalithaa easy.
The adjectives used to describe her weren’t always the kindest. Most men feared her. Many saw her as stoic, temperamental and difficult – perhaps an appearance she had kept up on her way to the top in an inherently male-dominated world.
Way back in 1999, Jayalalithaa opened up in an interview with Simi Garewal on her popular TV show Rendezvous with Simi Garewal. The interview in many ways humanised the enigma that was ‘Amma’.
Garewal managed to make Jaya talk about her childhood – which she spent pining for her mother, who was an actress and was always away on shoots.
Jaya was said to be a good student, but at the age of 16 she was forced to turn to films to support her family. “I hated it, but I was successful,” she told Garewal matter-of-factly.