Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa aspired to become a
lawyer like her father when she was in school. However, she was pushed
into the showbiz by her mother Sandhya to deal with family's financial
troubles. This reluctant actor went on to become the uncrowned queen of
Tamil cinema until she quit films for good. In spite of scaling new
heights and being the highest paid female actor in India of her time,
she seemed to still remain reluctant to fully embrace her film career
and stardom.
Just a couple of years before she kick-started
her journey in politics, Jayalalithaa had written a letter in response
to an article, which suggested that she was not getting good offers in
films. Her letter to one Piousji of Khaas Baat has surfaced online after
she passed away on Monday in Chennai. It was written on a Poes Garden
letterhead and dated June 10, 1980, the year superstar Rajinikanth's
blockbuster film Billa released.
She had made it clear that she was not struggling to stage a
comeback. "In fact, I have been turning down some excellent offers.
Perhaps you don’t know that the heroine’s role in Balaji’s ‘Billa’,
opposite Rajinikanth, was first offered to me. It was only after I
refused to do the film, that Balaji signed Sripriya for the role," she
wrote in the letter.
"Everybody knows that Balaji is one of the
foremost film producers in India today, and Rajinikanth is Tamil
screen’s superstar. If I am capable of turning down such a dazzling
offer, does that not prove conclusively that I am not in the least
struggling to stage a come-back?" she added.
Read full text of Jayalalithaa's letter.
Piousji
Date: 10th June 1980
Khaas Baat
SUNDAY
Dear Piousji,
With
reference to a news team in Khaas Baat in "SUNDAY" dated 25th May 1980,
while thanking you for the many compliments you have paid me, I feel
constrained to point out that I'm not, I repeat, not 'struggling to
stage a come-back. I am at a loss to understand how you gained this
erroneous impression.
In fact, I have been turning down
some excellent offers. Perhaps you don’t know that the heroine’s role in
Balaji’s ‘Billa’, opposite Rajinikanth, was first offered to me. It was
only after I refused to do the film, that Balaji signed Sripriya for
the role. Everybody knows that Balaji is one of the foremost film
producers in India today, and Rajinikanth is Tamil screen’s superstar.
If I am capable of turning down such a dazzling offer, does that not
prove conclusively that I am not in the least struggling to stage a
come-back?
In truth, there is no necessity for me to do
so. I am really no longer interested in a film career. By God’s grace, I
am extremely well off financially, and I can continue to live like a
queen for the rest.
This is only to tell you that my
interests now lie in a different direction altogether, and, if I am not
acting in films at present, it is certainly not due to lack of good
offers.
Wishing you all the best.
Yours sincerely
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