Jayalalithaa’s mother Sandhya had become an actress much against her parents wishes. But, though she made a few appearances as a child actor, Jayalalithaa was sure she did not want to follow her mother’s footsteps and join the film industry.

In 1960, when Tamil star Shivaji Ganesan came to watch a 12-year-old Jayalalithaa’s arangetram (debut on-stage performance by a dance student) in Chennai, he reportedly complimented Jayalalithaa’s performance and said that she would blossom into a very popular film star, a prophecy that anyone who knew the young girl would find hard to believe.