Sandhya (actress, born 1924)

She was born as Vedavalli into an Tamil Iyengar Brahmin family in Srirangam, Madras Presidency, British India. Her father, Rangasamy Iyengar, moved to Mysore from Srirangam to work with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. She had one brother and two sisters—Ambujavalli and Padmavalli. Vedavalli was married as second wife to Jayaram, son of Narasimhan Rengachary and also a Secretary in Mysore Palace and a lawyer of the Royal family of Mysore in 1935 at the age of 11, while she was studying in the sixth grade. The couple Jayaram and Vedvalli had two children: a son, Jayakumar, and a daughter, Jayalalitha.^[2] Her husband Jayaram, was a lawyer but never worked and squandered most of the family's wealth.^[3][4] Sandhya was trained in various pursuits, including reading, vocal music, veena, violin, swimming, tennis, and cross-country cycling. Following the death of her husband, Jayaram in 1950, The widowed Vedavalli returned to her father's home in Bangalore in 1950 and began working as a secretary in a company at the age of 26. Vedavalli learned shorthand and typewriting to take up a clerical position as a stenotypist in the Directorate of Agriculture under Government of Mysore to help support the family in 1950.^[5]

Her younger sister Ambujavalli had moved to Madras, working as an air hostess. She also started acting in dramas and films using the screen name Vidyavathy. On the insistence of Ambujavalli, Vedavalli, also relocated to Madras and stayed with her sister from 1952. Vedavalli worked in a commercial firm in Madras and began dabbling in acting from 1953 under the screen name Sandhya. She made her film debut in 1954 tamil movie Karkottai. Jayalalithaa remained under the care of her mother's sister Padmavalli and maternal grandparents from 1950 to 1958 in Mysore.^[3][2] She made her daughter Jayalalithaa attend Bishop Cotton Girls' School, Bangalore.^[6] She also acted in a few Kannada films. After attaining a modest level of financial stability, she moved into a reasonably comfortable rented house on Fourth Main Road in Gandhi Nagar, Adyar to grow her children. It was here that the childhood of Jayalalithaa and her brother Jayakumar was spent. Following her growing recognition in cinema, Sandhya later relocated to Sivagnanam Street in T. Nagar. Sandhya nurtured her daughter Jayalalithaa into a disciplined and accomplished individual, whom she and later co-stars and friends referred as Ammu, training her in dance from the age of three, later teaching her piano, and often taking her along to film shooting locations.^[7] During a visit to Madras, She was accompanied by her daughter Jayalalitha to a film set, where she was asked to replace an absent child actress. Sandhya initially refused but later consented, and Jayalalithaa agreed to act on the condition that she would not be compelled again.^[8] In later years, her daughter Jayalalithaa again received opportunities to act in Kannada films, through which she was introduced as a lead actress by director C. V. Sridhar in the film Vennira Aadai,leading Jayalalithaa to forgo her college ambitions after briefly attending Stella Maris College.^[9] Subsequently, her role opposite M. G. Ramachandran in Aayirathil Oruvan brought her instant fame. Within a few years, she became one of the leading actresses in South Indian cinema. Thereafter, Sandhya withdrew from acting and largely remained at home, managing her daughter’s film commitments.

In the late 1960s, when her daughter Jayalalithaa was at the peak of her fame, Sandhya developed the ambition of building a grand residence for her daughter’s future and bought a plot on 1 July 1967 at a cost of ₹ 1.32 lakh, measuring around 24,000 sq. feet (10 grounds) with a built-up area of 21,662 sq. feet in Teynampet area of Madras (now Chennai).^[10][11] The design of the house was revised multiple times to suit Jayalalithaa’s preferences before it was finally constructed in its present form. The residence, later known as the Poes Garden house, was thus built with great care and aspiration for her daughter’s future. During the "Engirundho Vandhaal" film shoot, Sandhya approached her daughter Jayalalithaa to discuss purchasing sarees for relatives in connection with their house’s ground breaking ceremony. A minor disagreement arose between them, and Jayalalithaa later expressed regret, recalling that she had uttered an inauspicious remark to her mother during the exchange.^[12]

However, Sandhya did not live to witness the housewarming ceremony of the home she had envisioned, which remained a significant personal loss in Jayalalithaa’s life. By mid-1971, the construction of the house had been completed. On 31 October 1971, Sandhya suddenly fell ill after vomiting blood and was admitted to a private hospital in Poonamallee. She died the following day, on 1 November 1971 at the age of 47, despite medical treatment.^[13][14]

The housewarming ceremony of the Poes Garden residence was held on 15 May 1972. Sandhya, who had envisioned celebrating the occasion with her daughter, had passed away by then and was present only in a photograph displayed in the house. Jayalalithaa named the residence “Veda Nilayam,” after her mother’s given name, Vedavalli (Sandhya). The event was attended by several prominent figures of Tamil Nadu, excepting M. G. Ramachandran, who had attended the ground breaking ceremony. Cho Ramaswamy, a close family friend and one of Jayalalithaa’s companions from her younger years was also not present in the ceremony. Sandhya had traditionally conducted family functions in his presence, and Jayalalithaa reportedly expected him to attend the occasion. Despite being in the city, Cho did not attend the ceremony. When asked about his absence, he later wrote a detailed letter explaining that he felt slighted for not being personally invited, expressing regret for the misunderstanding.^[15]