Jayanthi

Jayanthi is an Indian actress. She has appeared in over 500 films, including films in the Kannada,Telugu,Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi and Marathi languages. In Kannada movies, she was honored with the title Abhinaya Sharade.
Jayanthi was born in Bellary. Her maiden name before she came to films was Kamala Kumari. Her father Balasubramanyam worked as English professor at the St Joseph's College in Bangalore. Her mother was Santhanalakshmi. Jayanthi was the eldest of three siblings and had two younger brothers. Jayanthi's childhood was never smooth. Her parents separated early in life and her mother took the children and moved to Madras. Jayanthi's mother was keen on making her daughter a classical dancer and hence she joined a dance school run by Chandrakala. Her friend in dance school was the famous Tamil actress Manorama.
As a child on one occasion when Jayanthi went to the studios to see her idol N T Rama Rao, he called her and made her sit on his lap. Affectionately he had asked her whether she would agree to become his heroine and the little girl had merely blushed. One day the pair would give big hits like Jegadekaveeruni Katha, Kula Gowravam, Kondaveeti Simham and Justice Chowdhury.
Jayanthi was ridiculed most of the times as she was plump and could never dance well. During her teens she had the chance to act in a few Tamil and Telugu movies as a side artiste. On one such occasion (as Jayanthi remembered in one of her interviews) the great Telugu actress Savitri was upset with newcomer Jayanthi who could not convincingly narrate a few Tamil dialogues. She stormed out of the sets saying that the director had brought in people who hardly knew acting or the language. Jayanthi was shattered after the episode but promised herself that one day she would prove her worth. She enjoyed a good run in the Kannada Film industry and formed very good pair with the famous actor and doyen of Kannada Cinema Dr.Rajkumar, with whom she acted in more than 30 movies.
Jayanthi's life changed completely when noted Kannada director Y R Swamy spotted her during one of her dance rehearsals. He brought her to Kannada films such as Jenu Goodu. He also changed her name to Jayanthi.