Actor and dancer Jyothi Lakshmi dies at 63

CHENNAI: It was in Jyothi Lakshmi's death, says actor Nasser, that he truly learned how much the actress wanted to live. "She never breathed a word of her cancer to anyone in the industry. I did not know about it till she breathed her last," says Nasser, president of the Nadigar Sangam, who was among the first from the film fraternity to arrive at the actress's house in Habibullah Road on Tuesday morning.
Jyothi Lakshmi, who acted and danced in more than 300 films in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada, passed away early Tuesday morning at the age of 63. She is survived by her daughter, actress Jyothi Meena, and her sister, actress Jayamalini.
Jyothi Lakshmi, a trained dancer, who made her debut in the MG Ramchandran-starrer Periya Idathu Penn in 1963, went on to act with the biggest heroes of south Indian cinema of the 60s and 70s. The actress was to join the sets of director Adhik Ravichandran's film 'AAA' starring Simbu next month. Her last film was Kavalai Vendam, which released this year.
"The dance sequence in the MGR starrer Adimai Penn (1969) between actress and now TN CM Jayalalithaa and Jyothi Lakshmi was unforgettable and was the highlight of that movie," says director and actor Mano Bala, adding that it made her dancing so famous that distributors would beg directors to make sure she was in every movie.