New Delhi:
Jayalalithaa Jayaraman, referred as Amma by her party members is one of the longest serving Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu.
The Tamil Nadu chief minister, who suffered a cardiac arrest on Sunday has witnessed several upheavals in her life.
However, one man who had been highly instrumental in Jayalalitha's success in politics was Marudhur Gopalan Ramachandran (MGR), the Tamil film actor, filmmaker and ex-Tamil Nadu CM.
Jayalalithaa was forced to join Tamil films at the tender age of 15 by her actress mother Sandhya. During her movie career, she came in contact with MGR and acted in dozens of successful movies with him.
Some of the movies where the pair displayed memorable roles include Mattukkara Velan, Chandrodhayam, Thedi Vanda Mappillai and Kannan En Kadhalan amongst others.
The association wasn't restricted to films alone as Jayalalitha established a close emotional relationship with MGR.
She joined All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) founded by MGR.
The maverick politician that MGR was, he was thrice elected as Tamil Nadu CM.
He helped Jayalalithaa create a political base and wanted her to be a member of Rajya Sabha due to her fluency in English.
MGR and Jayalalithaa enjoyed a close relationship fraught by insecurities.
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Sources claim that although MGR gave a lot of attention to Jayalalithaa, he also remained suspicious of her moves.
Their relationship was soured in 1970 when MGR opted for a new heroine in 1970.
An exasperated Jayalalithaa at that time entered into a close friendship with Telugu actor Shoban Babu.
The relationship however revived in 1981, and also paved the way for Jayalalithaa's induction into politics by 1982.Their relationship suffered another blow when MGR was hospitalised in US following a stroke.
In such a scenario, Jayalalithaa, a Rajya Sabha MP since 1983 approached the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and governor S.L. Khurana to appoint her as Tamil Nadu CM since she felt MGR wouldn't be able to discharge his duties.
MGR, however, ruled Tamil Nadu for four more years since his death in 1987. It was a huge blow to Jayalalithaa as her mentor had left her alone.
She was humiliated by MGR's wife Janaki Ramachandran and her associates post MGR's death and was thrown out of his mentor's funeral.
However, her never say die spirit witnessed her making a grand comeback as both AIADMK supremo and the leader of the masses.
