Jayalakshmi, whose popular screen name was Fatafat Jayalakshmi (1 November 1958 – 21 November 1980), was an Indian actress active mainly in Tamil and Telugu films. In Malayalam movies she was known as Supriya. She acted about 66 movies in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada within a decade of her career.

Career

She made her debut in 1972 in Telugu movie Iddaru Ammayilu which has Akkineni Nageswara Rao in lead role. Same year she appeared in A. Vincent's Malayalam movie Theerthayathra with screen name Supriya, followed by Ithu Manushyano? in 1973. In 1974 she made her Tamil debut in K Balachander's film Aval Oru Thodar Kathai credited as Jayalakshmi. She became a household name with her popular dialogue ‘Fatafat’ (meaning quickly) which became her prefix. Her notable films include Aval Oru Thodar Kathai, Anthuleni Katha, Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai and Mullum Malarum. She had co-starred with top actors like Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Krishna, NTR and Chiranjeevi. In 2018, during an interview with Rajinikanth, when he was asked to pick his favorite actress he choose Fatafat Jayalakshmi and told the audience that she was a good actress though they paired in very few movies together.

Personal life

Jayalakshmi was born in 1958 to writer and assistant director Dasaratha Rami Reddy. She was married to Sukumaran the nephew of M. G. Ramachandran. She committed suicide by hanging in 1980 when she was at the peak of her career over an alleged failed romance.

Partial filmography

Telugu

Tamil

Malayalam : Credited as Supriya

Kannada