From 1991 to 2016, J Jayalalithaa served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Since 1989, she also served as the general secretary of the All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and was fondly referred to as Amma or Thalaivi by her cadre and numerous followers. Through the course of her life, Jayalalithaa was so powerful that her legislators and ministers would publicly prostrate themselves in front of her and her numerous followers showered almost cult-like devotion on her.

Before beginning her political life, Jayalalithaa starred in around 140 films and was praised for her versatility as an actress and earned the sobriquet “Queen of Tamil Cinema”.

This is the Tamil icon that actress Kangana Ranaut is portraying in her upcoming film titled Thalaivi. The actress, whose previous work like Queen and Manikarnika have been praised, is considered one of the top-billed actresses in Bollywood. Through her acting and fiery personality, Ranaut has carved a niche for herself in the extremely competitive industry and reached superstar status. However, the first look of Thalaivi was massively trolled on social media with netizens calling Ranaut’s look almost waxlike and fake.

Nevertheless, the actress has put in an immense amount of effort for the role and divulged that she had to put on six kilos and appear voluptuous, especially around the belly and thighs. In fact, the Times of India reports that Ranaut had to take mild doses of hormone pills to look different and began eating food that would naturally promote weight gain.

Furthermore, the actress took help from Jason Collins who worked with prosthetics to make her face look more like Jayalalithaa’s. The film is being directed by Vijay and is being shot simultaneously in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. It is set to come on-screen on the 26th of June next year.