Acquaintances reveal that Ms. Jayalalithaa loved books so much that she had a library of her own.

To family and friends, she was only Ammu, a girl who did not talk much but loved the world of words. Educationist and Founder PSBB Schools, Mrs. YGP, recalled Ms. Jayalalithaa’s fondness for books and said she had a library of her own.

“Her mother Sandhya and her aunt Vidhya used to act in YGP’s (Y.G.Parthasarathy, actor and founder of United Amateur Artists) plays. This girl, who used to be just 3-4 years then used to come to the rehearsals with her mother and used to play with my son Mahendra (also an actor). On her 60th birthday, she came home to take my blessings and gave me a sari. She said I was like her mother. She missed her mother a lot and couldn’t bear the separation when she passed away,” recalled Mrs. YGP.

Extraordinary memory

Film writer Chitralaya Gopu recalled her prodiguous memory. He had the good fortune of explaining dialogues and sequences of her first Tamil movie Vennira Aadai to her. “I was an associate to Director Sridhar. Though I would read the dialogues only once, she would grasp quickly and repeat them. She had an extraordinary memory. She was only 16 or 17 then,” he said.

He recalled how he and Mr. Sridhar had gone to the Gymkhana swimming pool, which they frequented, and were introduced to Ms. Jayalalithaa by her family friend V. Gopalakrishnan. “Though after her first Tamil movie our interactions were limited to the time she acted in Galata Kalyanam and Sumathi Enn Sundari — my stories that were made into films — we became good friends and she remained a family friend till the end,” he said.

Punctuality

Film Producer Mukta Srinivasan, who has made over 40 films in a career spanning 70 years, said Ms. Jayalalalithaa's punctuality was something that he appreciated. “She had acted in four of my films — Bommalattam, Anbai Thedi, Suryagandhi and Cinema Paithyam — and in all these films she used to be ready with make up and costumes on the set. She also did not like melodrama much. When a director insisted on melodrama, she would show her dislike in a very mild way,” he said. Mr. Srinivasan also recalled her propensity to help needy people. “A writer of mine wanted jobs for his daughters. Though she did not directly intervene, she helped the girls,” he said.