The charismatic revolutionary ‘late’ leader Jayalalithaa who has been deeply mourned by the masses, could have possibly also made her mark among the top-ranking danseuse heroines in Bollywood, if she had stayed put a little longer, in Hindi movies.
Much before facing the camera in this retro Hindi movie ‘Izzat’ she already had a dozen successful Tamil released movies to her credit. So it did not come as a jolt when she returned to her Southside ‘comfort zone’. Not content with only acting as a top-ranking heroine, she later on even channelized her dulcet voice as a ‘play-back’ singer (solos and duets) for several Tamil songs which were picturised on her.Way back in 1968, with this musical super-hit movie ‘Izzat’, the trained classical danseuse Jayalalithaa endeared herself to the masses with her riveting role as the charming tribal belle ‘Jhumki’ who is shown romancing her hero Dharmendra ( in a double role). The foot-tapping rhythmic folksy song from ‘Izzat’ which goes ‘Jaagi badan mein jwaala’ sung by Lata Mangeshkar. endeared her to the masses. Yet another track ‘Ruk Ja Zaraa’ was also popular among moviegoers. In fact, the chartbuster song ‘Jaagi Badan Mein’ proved to be a box-office repeat-value, especially because of Jayalalithaa’s graceful dancing.
In his brief tribute, veteran ‘he-man’ actor Dharmendra recalled that his dedicated co-star Jayalithaa, ‘seemed rather reticent and reserved by nature, but that she did cultivate a good rapport with him whilst shooting’, RIP ‘Amma’ You were a benevolent messiah for the masses.