Jayalalithaa with her mother Sandhya.

My scanning eyes are now penetrating beyond the political frame of Ms J. Jayalalithaa as she celebrates her 65th birthday. Seldom do we come across a personality in the terspicorion galaxy of international popularity glittering with multi-faceted talent and achievements. My father, film director K. Subrahmanyam, had featured her beautiful mother Sandhya and her aunt Vidya in his films. Our families were quite close and though I am five years older than her, there were many occasions when we enjoyed playing together in the garden outside the shooting floor of Pioneer Studios in Mysore, as the shooting went on. Her elder brother also acted in a minor role but ‘Ammu’ (as we used to call her) was like a sweet little Barbie doll whom I kept company. When she had her Bharatanatya arangetram, my father presided, and I remember she was amazing.

She was a brilliant student in Church Park and her passion was education; but God willed that she had to soar high in the film field with no ordinary achievements. She learnt music and could memorise dialogues running to quite a few pages as she was having her make-up on — that, too, by listening to someone reading it to her. She would complete the shot in a single take without forgetting a word or fumbling. Such was her grasp even in her teens.

She is a voracious reader even now and has an excellent library at home. She prepares her speeches by herself on any subject and delivers them with conviction in impeccable English or Tamil. She is also well-versed in other languages like Hindi, Kannada and Telugu.

Our dance school Nrithyodaya celebrated its golden jubilee 20 years ago and diamond jubilee 10 years ago. She graced both occasions when she was in power. During the diamond jubilee, we had requested her to release my research magnum opus ‘Karanas — Common Dance Codes of India & Indonesia’ — in three volumes. She commented about the cover page carrying my photo as “stunningly divine” and asked who sponsored these costly volumes. When I said I approached none, she graciously took my permission to announce that her government would reimburse the entire cost for it was of historic importance to Tamil culture. I gratefully agreed and wondered at her unity of thought, word and quick action. The cheque for Rs 7,00,000 reached through a special messenger the very next day.

In my speech, I mentioned about the need to protect Asian culture and its age-old connectivity with India, particularly seen through the worship of Bharatamuni, the aadi-guru of performing arts. I said it has been my dream for the past two decades to build a memorial shrine for this great sage and create a pan-Asian research centre and develop it as an Asian cultural corridor. Ms Jayalalithaa — a multi-faceted artiste and rare intellectual responded on the dais and declared that she “shares this dream and will allot the land for this project”. This was also offered without my asking for it.

Jayalalithaa did not stop with the allotment of five acres near Mahabalipuram. Even after the government changed, she invited me to her residence and voluntarily gave Rs 27,00,000 for this project as her personal donation.

I am ever grateful to her for these kind gestures which were done with no axe to grind. The actual Bharatamuni memorial, which will be the pivot of this research institution, will be built with her donation with due acknowledgement. She always appreciated me as an artiste with no political interests. I am no one to comment on her political acumen.

As a childhood friend and her dear ‘Paddhukka’, I only pray to Lord Almighty to ever bless her with a long healthy life and tranquility of mind in the midst of the innumerable complex situations that she is compelled to face. May God grant her many more years of glory and grace true to her name.

source: http://www.DeccanChronicle.com / Home> News> Current Affairs / DC, February 25th, 2013