Karunanidhi did more for Tamil film industry than any other CM; DMK chief 'saw cinema as medium for reform'

In Tamil Nadu, politics and cinema are intertwined, and this hand-in-hand relationship has shaped the political landscape of the state. The man who has been a guiding force in Tamil politics, as well as a writer in cinema, has been the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) patriarch, Muthuvel Karunanidhi, popularly known as Kalaignar. [caption id=“attachment_4913561” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A vendor displays portraits of DMK chief M Karunanidhi in front of the hospital where he was being treated. AFP[/caption] Karunanidhi started his career in cinema as a popular writer for Tamil films in the late 1940s, with stories on history and social reforms that propagated the Dravidian movement. His 1952 film Parasakthi, with Sivaji Ganesan in the lead, was a classic that gave a boost to the Dravidian ideology in Tami Nadu. Parasakthi espoused ideologies of the Dravidian movement with elements that criticised Brahmanism, inviting the ire of Orthodox Hindus. The film, which was initially rejected by the censor board, firmly cemented DMK’s strategy of using movies to propagate their political ideology. “Kalaignar Karunanidhi actually started the trend of dialogue-oriented movies, which dominated the early landscape of Tamil commercial films such as Mandhri Kumari, Parasakthi, Manamagal, Manohara, Malaikkallan and many others,” said G Dhananjayan, National Award-winning author, historian and Tamil film producer. “He saw cinema as a medium to spread awareness and create a social reform to bring about a change in the political situation. Of course, using cinema as a medium to propagate political ideology was started by one of DMK’s founders, Perarasu Annadurai, through films like Velaikkari, but it was definitely his colleague and friend Karunanidhi who made it popular. The Karunanidhi-MGR combine worked very well to build DMK into a political force with presence in every nook and corner of Tamil Nadu.”

If Stan Lee is known as the creative force behind Marvel superheroes such as Spider Man, Thor, Hulk and the X Men, Karunanidhi should be credited with the larger-than-life image of Tamil mass heroes.

MGR was the first actor to really become a mass hero, primarily through the scripts written by Karunanidhi. He was always projected as a virtuous do-gooder who stands with the downtrodden, loves his mother, has family values and upholds women’s rights. MGR never endorsed alcohol in any of his films, which created an aura around him. This got DMK the all-important vote bank of women. The image of a Tamil mass hero has changed with times, but the MGR formula still rules, as seen by the success of Rajinikanth and later of Vijay and Ajith. When MGR branched out with his own political party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), he kept Karunanidhi out of power for over a decade. In fact, the image Karunanidhi created for MGR was so strong that he could not make a dent in it and had to wait for the legendary actor to die before he could become chief minister again. Karunanidhi used cinema and its superstars to his advantage. He had started the trend of punchline dialogues in Tamil movies. During the campaign for the 1996 Assembly elections, Jayalalithaa’s unpopular and corrupt government was fighting the Karunanidhi-led DMK and the Tamil Maanila Congres headed by Moopanar. In a strategic move, Rajinikanth’s statement during a television interview had changed the government. He had said: “If Jayalalithaa is voted back to power, even God cannot save Tamil Nadu.” Karunanidhi then came back to power with a landslide victory, and then began to cultivate all the new top stars in the Tamil industry. All the top stars invited Karunanidhi exclusively for special screenings. He would closely monitor developments in the industry. Jayalalithaa, on the other hand, never watched movies. No star could penetrate her inner circle and always kept a distance. The DMK chief was the first to introduce the “tax-free” status for films with Tamil titles. Much later, Jayalalithaa also took a leaf out of his books and saw to it that film superstars, including Rajinikanth, gave her “due respect”. Those who fell out with her, like actors Kamal Haasan and Vijay, had to face the music when their films Vishwaroopam and Thalaivaa were banned in the state at the time of their world release. Karunanidhi had more friends in the industry than Jayalalithaa as he genuinely liked the company of actors, directors and producers. When Rajinikanth and Haasan joined politics, it was customary for them to pay a courtesy call to Karunanidhi and inform him of their decision. He has done more for the Tamil film industry than any other chief minister and will be remembered more as a friend. Click here to follow news updates on Karunanidhi's demise.