When J Jayalalithaa appeared in Kishore Kumar and Sadhana’s film

The nation is mourning the death of J Jayalalithaa, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, after she passed away yesterday at a hospital in Chennai following prolonged illness and a recent heart attack. The people of Tamil Nadu remember her for her efforts to uplift the downtrodden. 

But, as we all know, her identity is not just limited to being a politician. She also had a successful film career. In fact, she had a long body of work that stretches up to more than 130 films. 

Jayalalithaa Jayaram (1948–2016): End of an aura

But not many people would remember that she had a major part in her only Hindi film, Izzat (1968), where she played Dharmendra’s love interest. The film also starred Tanuja in an important character. 

However, even fewer people would remember, or rather know that much before that she made an appearance in a film starring Kishore Kumar and Sadhana. It was director Krishnan’s Manmauji (1962). Jayalalithaa appeared in one of the songs where she played Lord Krishna. It was just athree-minutee song appearance. 

But even at that time, she was a famous theatre artist down south. A year before this, Jayalalithaa had already made her Kannada film debut in the film Shri Shaila Mahathme at the tender age of 14.

When Jayalalithaa had a crush on Shammi Kapoor, flirted on screen with Dharmendra