New
#11
Year 1965: I was doing my third/fourth year engineering at Chennai (then Madras). A new star was born on the Tamil Silver Screen. Those days a new face in Tamil cinema was a big event. So we all flocked to the theatre to have a look at the new star - Jayalalitha, aged 17/18 then. Oh! a teenager!
In the debut film:
She shot to fame pairing with M.G.Ramachandran, another film idol who went on to become the Chief Minister of the Tamil Nadu Province later.
A BBC Interview:
(What all I posted above has already been posted in this same thread - only thing is that I can't get it now :). It lies submerged. At that point of time, I accidentally stumbled on the above interview and was so impressed by her command in English language and expression, I posted it as I saw it and heard. After I finished my engineering in 1967, my residence in Tamil Nadu Province had come into an end when I moved over to the neighbouring Karnataka Province and was no longer under the governance or politics in Tamil Nadu and never knew anything about her except as an actress. That she could speak English so well impressed me. Why have I repeated it now?)
Today the high security Central Prison on the outskirts of the city turned a veritable fortress. A special court hearing the corruption case against the Chief Minister of the neighbouring Tamil Nadu was to pronounce the verdict.
She flew into Bangalore from Chennai in a chartered plane and reached the court by 11 AM. I was glued to the TV channels beaming their live commentary from the location. Neighbouring Tamil Nadu was tense.
14.15 p.m.: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa convicted of all charges, Special Public Prosecutor G. Bhavani Singh told The Hindu. Arguments on quantum of sentence will begin at 3 p.m, Mr. Singh said adding the prosecution will press for maximum sentence for the four accused including Jayalalithaa. Consequently, according to the Peoples Representation Act, Jayalalithaa would be disqualified as an MLA and will lose her Chief Minister position instantlly. As a pointer, the National Flag on her car was removed.
17.03 p.m.:The court sentenced all four accused to four years in prison each, with Jayalalitha also facing a 1bn rupee fine ($16m, £10m). The others have been ordered to pay a fine of about $1.6m each.
She now has the dubious distinction of a first ever sitting Chief Minister getting convicted and sent to jail.