Jai Lalitha

Jai Lalitha
Directed by	Pon Kumaran
Story by	Udayakrishna-Siby K. Thomas
Based on	Mayamohini
Produced by	Indira Arun Kumar Manjula Shankar
Starring	Sharan Disha Pandey Aishwarya Devan
Cinematography	Karunakar
Music by	Sridhar V. Sambhram
Distributed by	Skyline Productions
Release date	27 June 2014 (2014-06-27)
Country	India
Language	Kannada

Jai Lalitha is a 2014 Indian Kannada-language comedy film directed by Pon Kumaran.^[1] It stars Sharan, Aishwarya Devan, Disha Pandey and Ravishankar Gowda in the lead roles. The film is a remake of the Malayalam film Mayamohini (2012). Jai Lalitha released on 27 June 2014.

Previously titled Smt. Jayalalitha, the film met with controversies over the name coinciding with the name of the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Jayalalithaa.^[2] Later, it was renamed as Jai Lalitha.^[3] However, the director clarified that the name has no connection with the chief minister and instead signifies the strong embodiment of the 'woman-in-disguise' character that Sharan was supposed to play.^[4]

Cast

• Sharan as Jayaraj/Jai Lalitha
• Ravishankar Gowda as Lawyer Lakshmikantha
• Disha Pandey as Disha
• Aishwarya Devan as Lalitha
• T. S. Nagabharana as Srikantaiah
• Harish Raj as Yogi
• Sayaji Shinde as Raghav
• Chandrakala Mohan as Doctor Chandrakala
• Sadhu Kokila as Doctor's husband
• Tabla Nani as Govindu
• Kuri Prathap as Prathap

Production

Pon Kumaran, who tasted success with Vishnuvardhana and Chaarulatha, planned to remake the Malayalam hit film Mayamohini in Kannada. He approached actor Sharan and narrated the story to him while on the sets of Kempegowda. Sharan was initially reluctant to appear in a female get-up. Later, he agreed upon the role and shed around 11 kilos in preparation.^[5][6] To get the external appearance right, he went through beauty treatments including facial, bleaching and threading.^[7] He stated that he lived like a woman for four months, trying to adopt feminine mannerisms by shutting himself at home and wearing his wife's clothes to practice.^[8][7]

Jai Lalitha was shot in Bangalore, Mysore and other areas of Karnataka.^[9]

Soundtrack

The audio was launched on 26 May 2014 at hotel Citadel in Bangalore. Popular music director V. Harikrishna and director Dinakar Thoogudeep were present as the chief guest.^[10] Actor Upendra and director Yogaraj Bhat have recorded their voices for the soundtrack of the film. The music is composed by Sridhar V. Sambhram consisting of six tracks and all songs are written by Lokesh Krishna.

All lyrics are written by Lokesh Krishna

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Enivaaga Naanu Kannadiga"	Vijay Prakash, Yogaraj Bhat
2.	"Dilge Dilge"	Ankit Tiwari, Supriya Lohith
3.	"Sadarame"	Shankar Mahadevan
4.	"Bedi Hachko"	Apoorva Sridhar, Sneha Ravindra
5.	"Thorisabedammi"	Upendra, Apoorva Sridhar
6.	"Kannada Savi Kannada"	Shashank Sheshagiri

Release

The film released on 27 June 2014. The distribution rights were taken up by Thoogudeepa Productions of actor Darshan and his brother Dinakar.^[11] Jai Lalitha was given a U/A certificate by the Regional Censor Board.^[9]

Critical reception

The Times of India gave 3 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Director P Kumar has selected a good subject with a focus on comedy. Even the script too deserves a pat. But as story opens up, there are too many characters and sequences that give new twists to the story. Though it is appreciable as all of them form part of the script, it is difficult to follow the sequences suddenly too many turns to the story crop up. Once the movie ends, it takes sometime for the audience to recap the narration. But director has mainatined [sic] the comedy to some extent in all sequences with dialogues and Sharan at his best".^[12] The New Indian Express wrote, "P Kumar seems to have definitely done justice to this remake of the Malayalam comedy flick Mayamohini. Sure to tickle your funny bones, Jai Lalitha is a one-time watch".^[13]

Deccan Chronicle wrote, "Though the hard work towards looking ‘like’ a woman reflects well in the posters, it does not replicate much in terms of performance and makes it a painful watch for over two hours. It is yet again a simple gimmick to draw the audience to theatres while the screenplay and other vital aspects lack substance for a decent entertainment".^[14]

References

1. "Pon Kumaran on 'Jayalalitha'". Indiaglitz. 14 May 2014.
2. "Sharan's Smt. Jai Lalitha in trouble again". Sify. 16 June 2014. Archived from the original on 17 June 2014.
3. "It is 'Jai Lalitha' Now". Indiaglitz. 24 May 2014. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014.
4. "Sharan to play Smt Jayalalitha on screen". Times Of India. 26 May 2014.
5. "Sharan Sheds 11 Kilos". Indiaglitz. 13 May 2014. Archived from the original on 12 November 2014.
6. "Jai Lalitha". The Times of India. 28 June 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
7. "'I got my Chest Waxed, Bleached My Face for the Role'". Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
8. Joy, Prathibha. "I lived like a woman for a year: Sharan". The Times of India. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
9. "Jai Lalitha gets U/A certificate". The Times of India. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
10. "Jai Lalitha Audio Released". Chitraloka. 27 May 2014. Archived from the original on 20 July 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
11. "'Jai Lalitha' Victory Expected". Indiaglitz. 23 June 2014. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014.
12. "Jai Lalitha Movie Review, Trailer, & Show timings at Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
13. "Watch it for Sharan's Timing". Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
14. "Movie Review 'Jai Lalitha': This Wo'man' turns you off!". 1 July 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2016.

External links

• Jai Lalitha at IMDb
• OneIndia information Archived 17 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine