P. Jayadevi (died 4 October 2023) was an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter and actress who worked on Tamil films. Regarded as one of the first female directors in the Tamil film industry, Jayadevi was predominantly active in the 1980s and 1990s.

Career

Having begun her career as a theatre artist, Jayadevi began acting in films aged 20 and initially nursed ambitions of becoming a director. She appeared as an actress in over 20 films, before working as a producer and making over 15 films, and introducing technicians such as

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and

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through her ventures. Jayadevi first worked as a director in '' Nalam Nalamariya Aaval'' (1984), and subsequently went on to make more films throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In 2000, she worked as a writer on '' Puratchikkaaran'', a script based on the teachings of

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and his book entitled ''Kadavul''. The film's controversial theme prompted publicity prior to release, with Jayadevi's work on the film's dialogues being praised. She started making ''

Power of Women The "Power of Women" (german: Weibermacht) is a medieval and Renaissance artistic and literary topos, showing "heroic or wise men dominated by women", presenting "an admonitory and often humorous inversion of the male-dominated sexual hierarc ...

'' (2005) in 2001 but the film had a delayed release following production trouble. The film starred Hariharan and

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in the lead roles, with a reviewer from the AllIndianSite labelling the film as "below average", noting that "Jayadevi's story is initially strong", but "the last few scenes are unpardonably slow and didactic" and that the "screenplay meanders through undulating terrain". In 2010, Jayadevi began work on ''Aananda Leelai'', a film about fake godmen and their women devotees. She approached

and

Suhasini Suhasini Maniratnam (born 15 August 1961) known mononymously as Suhasini, is an Indian actress, director, producer and writer in the Tamil film industry. She has worked as an actress in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. She made her ...

to play the key roles, but the project did not develop into production. She announced her intentions of directing a film during 2018.

Personal life and death

Jayadevi was previously married to film director

. She died on 4 October 2023.விலாங்குமீன் படத்தை இயக்கிய நடிகை ஜெயதேவி காலமானார்

Partial filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jayadevi, P. 20th-century births Year of birth missing 2023 deaths 20th-century Indian people Tamil film directors Film directors from Chennai Indian women film directors Tamil screenwriters Indian women screenwriters Screenwriters from Chennai Women artists from Tamil Nadu 20th-century Indian women