Amma passes away: Jayalalithaa's journey as most prolific Tamil actress

The sad demise of Tamil Nadu's former chief minister J Jayalalithaa, lovingly called as Amma, last night at 11

Other than being a powerful politician and a five-time chief minister, Jayalalithaa Jayaraman, also known as Puratchi Thalaivi, was once also a prolific and versatile actress in Tamil cinema, between 1961-1980.

Born on February 24, 1948 in Mandya district in then Mysore State (now Karnataka) in a Tamil Iyengar Brahmin family, Amma stepped into showbiz in 1961 with an English film 'Epistle.'

In her two-decade long acting career, Jayalalithaa appeared in a whopping 140 films in different languages.

In the same year (1961), she debuted in a Kannada film 'Sri Shaila Mahathme,' as a child artist. A year later, she did her first Hindi flick 'Man-Mauji,' where she danced in a three-minute sequence with Kumari Naaz.

Two years later, in the year 1964, Amma finally started her journey as a lead actress with movie like 'Chinnada Gombe' in Kannada, 'Manushulu Mamathalu' in Telegu and in 1965 with Tamil film 'Vennira Aadai.'

The same year, she was awarded with 'Filmfare Award for Best Actress - Tamil' for 'Chandhrodhayam.'

In 1968, the late AIADMK chief stepped into Bollywood with Dharmendra and Tanuja-starrer 'Izzat.'

She has also rendered her voice to few songs in her Tamil movies like 'Suryakanthi' (1973), 'Vairam' (1974), 'Thirumangalyam' (1974) and others,

On the same note, Jayalalithaa was also known for her dancing skills and was referred to as the 'Queen of Tamil cinema.'

As an actress, she frequently worked with another actor-turned-politician, M. G. Ramachandran (MGR). This led to wide speculation that Jayalalithaa was introduced to politics by MGR, which she vehemently denied later.

Amma will be cremated will full state honours at Marina beach today at 4:30 pm.

Meanwhile, a seven-day state mourning has been declared from today morning to mourn the death of the beloved five-time Chief Minister and a three-day holiday has also been announced for educational institutions in Tamil Nadu. The Central Government has also declared one-day mourning today.