S. Jayalakshmi

S. Jayalakshmi Biography

S. Jayalakshmi was a singing actress of Tamil screen in the 1930s and 1940s. She played lead roles in numerous Tamil films during this period. She was born on July 24, 1920 into a musical family in Tamil Nadu in British India. Noted musician and actor S. Rajam was her elder brother and iconic vocalist Veenai S. Balachander was her younger brother. The three siblings excelled in the field of music. She has also released many music cassettes on bhajans and Carnatic music. Jayalakshmi’s granddaughter is actor Jayashree, who appeared in Tamil movies like ‘Thendraley Ennai Thodu’ and ‘Thirumathi Oru Vegumathy’.

Her full name is Sundaram Jayalakshmi, and she was born on 25 July 1920. The family had deep roots in music, and many famous musicians like Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar used to frequently visit her home during her younger days. As a film actor, she marked her debut in 1934 with the movie, Seetha Kalyanam. She played the lead role of Sita, while his real-life brother S. Rajam played her hero, Rama. It might be one of the rare occasions in Indian cinema, where siblings played lead pair for a movie on silver screen, and also very rare occasion where the film marked the onscreen debut of both. The siblings also shared screen space for Sivakavi released in 1943.

In 1933, the trio (Ramnoth, Muthuswami Iyer and A. K. Sekhar) received a letter from V. Shantaram – the legendary filmmaker of Hindi films, seeking their help for his Tamil production venture, Sita Kalyanam. Subsequently they placed an advertisement in their magazine, Sight and Sound in search of actors. Ramnoth worked as cinematographer and assistant director for this film, marking his debut. Jayalakshmi‘s whole family also travelled to Kolhapur and worked in the movie. In fact, her whole family acted in the film. Her father, Sundaram Iyer, played Dasarathar. Her brother played Rama, and younger brother S. Balachandar also played a movie in the film.

Published: July 28, 2018

Updated: July 28, 2018