Jayalalithaa about MGR: He was everything to me, sort of took over my life (Throwback)

Jayalalithaa's life was always an open book but none of the pages were written by her. A fire-brand political figure, Jayalalithaa always kept her life wrapped in a nutshell. But, it was her popularity and the love the nation had for her, which paved way for her life to turn into a charade for everyone to see. It was on Simi Garewal's chat show, Rendezvous with Simi, where she spoke about matters close to her heart and MGR.

Talking about how she was brought into the world of films by her mother when all she wanted to do was study and play, the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister had candidly said, "I tried. For three days, there was a battle royal at home. I wept, I raged, I argued. But what can one do when one is sixteen? I was just a child and I couldn't run away from home. And then Mother explained the family circumstances to me. She told me that she was not getting too many film offers. My grandfather had retired. We had to support my grandparents, my aunt and her children, and my brother hadn't completed his education. So my mother let me understand that there was no other way out really, that I had to earn and support the family."

Was there any love between her and MGR?

When Simi Garewal asked her if she ever fell-in-love with MGR, Jayalalithaa had said, "I think everyone who met him fell in love with him. He was a charismatic figure. When I was a child, I used to see his sword fights, his fencing in films. And his partner in these films was the famous villain P S Veerappa. And after seeing these films, my brother and I used to come home and we used to have these mock fights with sticks. I was always MGR and my brother was always the villain. I always used to win because I was MGR. So the hero worship started when I was a child."

'He took over my life'

Further talking about the kind of person he was, Jayalalithaa had said, "He was a very warm and caring kind of a person. And after my mother died, he replaced her in my life. He was everything to me. He was mother, father, friend, philosopher, guide. Everything. He sort of took over my life.

'Not in awe'

Talking about whether she was in awe of him or not, Jayalalithaa had said, Not in awe of him. I was never in awe of him. But I respected him a great deal. I admired his intellect. And I had a lot of sympathy because he had a hard life too.