'''Muthuvel Karunanidhi (b. 1924)'''

Tamil scenarist and DMK politician born in
Tirukkuvalai, Tanjore Dist., TN. Political activist
with the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) from the age
of 14; left school to become C.N. Annadurai’s
assistant and worked on Periyar E.V.
Ramaswamy Naicker’s paper, Kudiarasu. Led
the 1953 Kallakkudi riots in which the DMK
protested against the renaming of a railway
station after a North Indian industrialist. Elected
to the Tamil Nadu State Assembly in 1957 on a
DMK ticket. Key figure in the anti-Hindi
agitation of 1965, for which he was imprisoned.
Minister for Public Works and Transport under
Annadurai when the DMK was elected in 1967.
Chief Minister in 1969 following Annadurai’s
death; defeated by his former protégé MGR in
1977. Returned to power (1988), but was
dismissed by the Congress (I)-backed minority
government in 1990; in the 1991 election,
following Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, his
party lost every seat in the state assembly
except his own. Defeated Jayalalitha and
returned to power in 1996. Film début at the
Jupiter Studio, co-scripting A. Kasilingam’s
Abhimanyu (1948) with A.S.A. Sami. First
DMK film: Manthiri Kumari for T.R.
Sundaram (1950). Wrote Kasilingam’s
Maruthanattu Ilavarasi (1950), three films for
L.V. Prasad (Manohara, 1954; Thayilla Pillai,
1961; Iruvar Ullam, 1963) and his best-known
film, Krishnan-Panju’s Parasakthi (1952).
According to Ka. Thirunavukkarasu (1990), he
scripted 57 films, e.g. S.M. Sreeramulu Naidu’s
MGR hit Malaikallan (1954), Kasilingam’s
Sivaji Ganesan film Rangoon Radha (1956)
based on Annadurai’s novel, and P.
Neelakantan’s Poompuhar (1964) and
Poomalai (1965). Also wrote c.50 short stories
(e.g. Kuppai Thothi/Dustbin), many speeches,
commentaries on Tamil literature and a
speculative archaeology of the Tamil language
tracing it to the Sangam poets and the Indus
Valley. Columnist for the daily Murasoli and the
journal Kumkumam. Turned producer with
Mekala Pics, initially with MGR, MGR’s wife
V.N. Janaki and P.S. Veerappa (Naam, 1953);
the partnership soon broke up leaving
Karunanidhi proprietor with Murasoli Maran,
the duo later expanding into the popular SUNTV
Tamil cable channel.

[[Writer]]