The southern influx was on and how. Hema Malini’s mother Jaya Chakravarthy, remembered as the most formidable ‘Amma’ of them shadowed her daughter at the studios, till enough was enough. The dream girl ended what could have been an ongoing nightmare, by marrying the already married Dharmendra.
Hema Malini with her mother Jaya Chakravarthy.
Once in a rare while, moms from Madras could keep themselves low-key and level-headed in Bombay. The star power of Jayalalitha, who went on to scale incredible heights by becoming the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, is believed to have been chessboarded by her mother actress Vedha aka Sandhya. But when the daughter’s only Hindi film, Izzat (1968), tanked, it was bye bye Bollwyood.
Jayalalithaa with her mother, Sandhya.
Apparently, it wasn’t all about loving the family altruistically. Sridevi filed a legal case against her sister Sreelatha for the misappopriation of her savings.
Sridevi with her mother, Rajeswari Yanger.