IN HER convent-school English, she described her life as “tempestuous”. The word was as precise as Jayaram Jayalalithaa’s stage-trained elocution. But it does not do justice to a woman who, as an actress, rivalled Elizabeth Taylor in looks and glamour and, as a politician, outshone a host of caudillos, dictators and presidents-for-life in grit, capriciousness, generosity, vindictiveness, charisma and greed.
When she died of a heart attack on December 5th at the age of 68, Ms Jayalalithaa was in her 15th year as chief minister of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. To supporters among its 78m people she was known simply as Amma, meaning “mother”. Many were beneficiaries of such schemes as Amma canteens and pharmacies, which sell subsidised meals and medicine, or of her government’s handouts of blenders, fans and other goodies, adorned with her picture.
In one of her first lead roles, in 1965, she appeared in a pink sari that grew clingy under a waterfall. That earned it an adult rating, meaning that the 17-year-old starlet could not watch it....Continue reading
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