Nadigar Thilagam Sivaji Ganesan

Again, mine is an analysis of an amateur. Karnan is my favourite of all NT mythology/costume/historical films.

I think most of the answer is in Murali-sar's post, especially his father's comment.

Banthulu is also tasked with compressing many huge, long episodes into a three hour film. The conflicts between Pandavas and Gouravas were not elaborated to the general audience who are familiar with Mahabaratha.

As per Murali-sar's comment, audiences were conflicted with their standing. On one side, NT is playing Karnan - a good guy in a bad company. And on the other side there's Krishnan - an opposition party member. Remember, people worship Krishna. Who do you support. When Krishna is conspiring something against Thuriyothana and Karnan, do you support him?

That was a time when people has to take sides. And in Karnan, you can't. Its very complex. Karnan is both good and bad. I think people were not ready yet for that kind of role.

Manirathnam remade it into Talabathi - and audiences had no problem accepting the Karnan character (here Surya) as they are already okay with anti-heroes by then.

Yes, karnan is an anti-hero. If the film was to come a bit later, it would have done tremendous business. A testimony to that would be the later successful NT films were he played anti-heroic roles.

Plus, there were too many important characters. Too many dialogues, sometimes the symbology, analogy are too complex.

And the ending...to think that god himself was responsible for Karnan's death (alongside his mother, brothers, etc), is a bit too much. We are always used to having tragic death either by sacrifice, or the villain killing the hero. But here, the good people, the god, and the family members are claimed to have 'killed' Karnan. People are further confused.

Well, these are my reasoning. Let's see what the others say.

I think that may not be true as NT fans have grown to accept NT as a actor who challenges himself to do any role to perfection whether anti hero or not. Mahabharatham is something that indians know and maybe have it instilled in themselves so it might be abit absurd to say they could not understand the theme.

Sometimes no matter how good a performance is from a actor like NT..the story and screenplay must be equally gripping in this case where it should neither be ripping from the whole storyline of mahabharatham and neither should it be concentrating on one character role. I believe the director of Karnan somehow focussed on a single character(possibly NT's role as Karnan..experts can clarify) that did not blend with the storyline and the flow of the character's performance. NT film watchers expect quality in the presentation as well and i feel the problem might be here.

Hulkster.

Quite. Quite. You are right. I did not think of his earlier roles where he played Villains.

You are probably right about the blending of the characters and the quality of the script.

Again, Karnan was victim of a certain time phrase. Now, alongside me, there are thousands of others that look up highly on Karnan, not only from NTs performance, but also the script, the music, and the overall direction.

In fact, I like the complexity of it all. A good man in a bad world. Senjotru kadan theerka, Seeraatha Idam Seernthu, vanjattil veezhnthaayadaa. A lot to do with identity. What will happen if you are not where you should be. Where you belong. We can understand that now. Maybe then, it was too difficult.


Damn. How can I say that people can't accept NT as anti-hero? I must be sleeping. Must knock my head over the wall.

In spite of bigger budget, good story and performance, why wasn't Karnan as successful as ThiruVilayadal

1. we cannot compare Thiruvilayadal with karnan. Thiruvilyadal story gave lot of option to NT. God/fisherman/singer etc. This option made director job easy and no need to tell NT took full advantage of it plus comedy track of nagesh. Main character did by NT only and rest of them supported except Nagesh character (that also appeard in some small portion only).

2. Even though characterwise karnan is great but projecting is very difficult. If you talk about karnan, people will remember only KOODAI VALLAL. Variety which was available in Thiruvillayadal character was missing in Karnan.Even though NT gave new dimension while walking /expression etc but he got to be sidelined as per the original story. GREAT MUSICAL MOVIE. SONGS ARE COMPOSED WITH DIFFERENT STYLE.


3.You dont believe Karnan ran twenty five days in our local theatre(three shows). when got released in 70's. sameway KAPPOLITYA THAMIZAN/KATTABOMAN ran more than three weeks with house full shows.

regards
ramesh

I think the failure of karnan is - when he was in peak , the role in that movie is almost like second hero role. NTR dominated in 2nd half. More expection from the Director since he realsed this movie after 3 year with NT (bet. Kappolitia Tamizan and Karnan) Same in the case of Raja Raja Chozan also. This movie also failed at BO due to long gap between APN movie with NT.

When Karnan was remake in Telugu , NTR produced, directed and acted not one role and acted in three roles, ie, karnan, Krishna and Duriyodana. It was huge hit. Particularly Duriyodana role, he given more important than Karnan and Krishna.

for imformation : NT's 175 , 200 and 250 films were remake of Kannada movies.

here i offer only the most amateurish comment but while watching Karnan I was only side-tracked by the whole issue of his marriage and how she went back and forth and then a song in the middle of it for her ceremony. It seemed to slow the story down...in my opinion of course.

NT’s Political Career – Phase III – 1975 Oct to 1988 Jan Continuation


During the first half of 1979, though everything on surface looked
normal, political undercurrents were very much active and that came to light later. Indira Gandhi or rather Sanjay Gandhi was becoming impatient and (s)he had started spade works for the fall of Janata Government. She was not ready to wait till 1982, when the term would normally end. Moreover she could sense the winds of change in her favour thanks to Janata rule. But she had a thorn in her flesh and surprisingly it was from her own party. As I mentioned earlier, Chenna Reddy and Devaraj Urs had been ruling Andhra & Karnataka respectively and Chenna Reddy was facing lot of dissident activity in his state. Whereas Devaraj Urs was enjoying a trouble free stint in Karnataka and became close to Indira’s family. He was having free access to her and when he put up Indira in Chikmagalur and made her win from there, his stock had gone up. But as it happens to 99% of the people, it went to his head and he started behaving like the boss. No leader will tolerate a live threat to his/her throne and when there is also a Prince-in-waiting, it will not be taken lightly and whoever has that potential to grow will be cut short and Indira was no exception. (You can also equate the same with later day TN politics that’s been happening for the past 15-years. If it was Mother- Son there, here --- you can substitute). So Devaraj Urs fell from grace and things started heading for a showdown. In the month of June 1979, when Indira visited Bangalore, Urs didn’t even turn up at the airport to receive her and it culminated in the expulsion of Devaraj Urs from the party. But since he was in power, he was able to hold the legislators in his side and his Government continued. During that period of 1977-79, only one or two people were seen close to Indira. When she split Congress in 1978, YB Chavan the Leader of opposition at that time fell apart and C.M.Stephen of Kerala was made the leader of Congress (I) Parliament party. He along with Devaraj Urs was the top two leaders at that time out of which one was thrown out. Now Indira who badly wanted to come back needed somebody in power. Her choice zeroed on MGR, who was considered more loyal than the Congress (I) people.

We saw in our last post that SDS and KAK were inducted in the TN Ministry in 1978. SDS had contested and won the 1977 Parliament election from Tanjore. When he became a minister, he was made a MLC and he resigned his MP seat. In the first half of 1979, another murder shook TN. SG Murugaiyan the CPI MP from Nagapattinam was brutally murdered. Tanjai- Nagai area was always a troublesome area because of the Zamindar/Pannaiyar legacy on the one side and exploited labour on the other side. If you could check the history, many clashes had taken place in that area and the height of it was burning alive of 42 laboures in Keezha Venmani way back in 1968. This had helped comrades to entrench themselves in that area. So Murugaiyan was put down by one such coolie padai. So by elections were announced for Tanjai & Nagai Parliament seats.

Indira who was on the lookout for a safe seat showed interest in Tanjai. Congress has its presence there and with the support of ADMK, it should be easy, thus went her calculations. MGR was called to Delhi and when he met her and discussed the same, the deal was almost firmed up. Morarjee Desai the PM had got the news and when MGR called on him, he (Morarjee) had only one question to ask MGR and that was “What is your stand via vis the Central Government? Are you a Friend? Foe? Neutral?” MGR it seems was taken aback by the question and he a person who never rubbed the Centre on the wrong side decided to drop the idea of supporting Indira. But what reason will he tell?

At this juncture, even before MGR went to Delhi, this news (of supporting Indira) had come out and MuKa the ever fighter decided to have one more fling. He again talked with his “Friends” in Delhi and wanted an assurance that if he could stall Indira from becoming a MP, whether the cases against him would be withdrawn. Not sure whether he got an assurance but he broadly gave the hint that he would himself take up the cudgels against Indira if she decides to contest from Tanjai. The very talk suddenly ignited the political scenario. But this came as a blessing in disguise for MGR. He announced that in the present scenario the candidature of Indira could not be supported as he had got information that by putting himself as the opposition candidate, MuKa has planned to unleash violence and he (MGR) does not want to put the life of Indira at stake and so the decision. Indira was bitterly disappointed but didn’t openly say anything. When MGR came back from Delhi, the Press people grilled him but MGR was evasive. I remember one question that went like this.

Press: Mariyathu Nenjam; Matriyathu Yaaro?
MGR: Athai Padal Ezhuthiyaviradamthan Ketka Vendum

But MGR announced that the alliance with Congress is intact and he had agreed to allot the Tanjai seat to Congress and ADMK would contest from Nagai. In 1977, CPI was in ADMK- Congress alliance (It was with Congress all over India) and when Janata Party came to power it went to the opposite side and joined hands with CPM. After the split in communist Party in 1964, this was the first time the two parties worked together in All-India Level. So CPI joined DMK alliance. So in Tanjai it was Congress vs. DMK and in Nagai it was ADMK vs. CPI. Campaigning stared and MGR full fledgedly plunged into the campaign. To the surprise of many people Indira came for campaign but avoided joint campaign with MGR. NT also took an active part in the electioneering. (Later when alliance changed in the subsequent election, NT’s speech in this campaign “ Avar oru Ilai.Naan oru Ilai” was made fun of). The campaigning was hot and the results threw up a mixed bag for both the fronts. While Singaravadivelan of Congress won from Tanjai, it was Murugaiyan (another by the same name) of CPI who romped home at Nagai. For both the major Dravidian parties, it was a peculiar situation. DMK and ADMK both lost the seats they contested but their alliance partners won. This was during June.

Having been again denied entry into Parliament, Indira and Sanjay decided to have a go at the Janata. We already saw that it was a conglomerate of heterogeneous parties and their one point agenda was removal of Indira. So afterwards its cohesiveness suffered. There were many voices speaking, some sane and some not so. In the ministry there were moderates like Madhu Dhandavate, HM Patel on the one hand and there were mavericks like Raj Narayanan, Charan Singh on the other hand. There were people like George Fernandez, a militant trade union leader (who spearheaded the Railway strike in 1974) who found the transformation to a minister difficult (though it must be said his recent innings as a Defence Minister, though it had some dark shades, was better than the first stint)
Vajpayee as External Affairs Minister had done a good job and he was the first Minister to go to China after the 1962 war that paved the way for resumption of ties between India and China. The relations improved with Pakistan also, which saw the resumption of cricketing ties between the two sub continental neighbours after a gap of 17 years, when India toured Pakistan in 1978 October. LK Advani as I & B Minister did a good thing of giving freedom to DD/AIR from the clutches of Government (It is another matter they still continue to be pro-Govt). But the bottom line is they failed to work as a team. Morarjee’s opt repeated advise of asking people to drink their own urine (he said that it is of medicinal value) drew flak and ridicule from all quarters. In this scenario, Sanjay ably supported by some big business houses started pumping money and slowly MPs were falling in to the trap. Again the MPs needed reason and they decided to take the issue of dual membership. What is this? The present day BJP started its political career in the name JanSangh and they again owed their roots to RSS. When JanSangh became Janata, the members had not disowned the RSS membership and this came as handy to Charan Singh and Party. What started as a war of words soon snow balled into a major crisis and all of a sudden the fate of Government was at stake. The former JanSangh people refused to resign from RSS stating that it had nothing to do with the Janata. Morarjee knew that the over ambitious Charan Singh (who once openly had stated that his life time ambition is to become the PM) was behind all these things and it was also clear that Congress (I) had instigated this. He refused to dismiss Vajpayee and Advani from his ministry. Though he was putting up a brave face, he knew he was fast loosing ground. He decided to seek the support of other political parties. MGR went to Delhi and his companion in that journey was Cho. They had a lengthy discussion and when MGR met Morarjee, he pledged his support to Morarjee. The support of ADMK that had 19 MPs at that time was a shot in the arm for Morarjee. But his joy was short lived as Communist Parties refused to support Morarjee and this prompted more MPs to join the Charan Singh group. Morarjee now seeing the writing on the wall resigned. The President Sanjeeva Reddy called upon the Leader of opposition Y.B.Chavan, as it is customary, to explore the possibility of forming a Government but Chavan had no support from any quarters. At this juncture Charan Singh staked his claim for the formation of an alternative Government and he said that Congress (I) is supporting him. At that point of time since the above-mentioned underground activities had not come to the fore, this support had come as a coup. Again another coup occurred. MGR who had only in the previous week supported Morarjee now did a Somer Sault and said ADMK will be supporting Charan Singh and also added that ADMK will be joining the ministry. It was a bolt from the blue and that also became a part of History because it was for the first time that a non Congress MP from TN became a Central Minister. (One digression here. During that period, I happened to watch MGR’s Naan Anaiyittal movie in a theatre and during the song sequence of “Pirantha Idam Thedi “, when the line “ Un Thiruvadi Thamarai Thodangiya Pathayil Desam Nanmai Peruga” the fans went into a rapture, they equating the song lines with the political scenario in Delhi I have written this in MGR’s thread also. Digression ends).
So, Charan Singh achieved his lifetime ambition, when he was sworn in as PM. At this point of time France (I am not sure whether it is France or Britain) had sent an unmanned space ship to the orbit for scientific observation. Unfortunately the space ship named Sky Lab got detached from the mother component and it was fast zooming down. There was widespread fear that it will harm human population. Scientists were trying to redirect its direction so that no harm is done. They were also trying to control its speed and Sky lab was the talk of the world. The Janata Party, which also got detached from its mother component, collapsed earlier than Sky Lab, which eventually fell in Pacific Ocean? (TRR, the editor of Makkal Kural and a staunch supporter of Indira wrote this example)

But MGR’s decision, which was widely welcomed by his party, also caused heartburns in ADMK camp because MGR chose Sathiyavani Muthu and Bala Pazhanoor as the ministers. Sathiyavani Muthu was a minister in MuKa’s cabinet till it was dismissed and then changed sides. The same applied for Bala Pazhanoor. Another thing was no Lok Sabha MP from TN was given a chance (S.Muthu-Rajya Sabha & BP was Pondicherry MP). Maya Thevar, who had put the name of ADMK in the political map of TN and India, when he won the Dindigul by election in 1973, had again won in 1977 also and he was heart broken when MGR overlooked him. He resigned from ADMK and joined DMK.

The President had asked Charan Singh to get a vote of confidence from the Parliament and the Lok Sabha was scheduled to meet in the third week of August for seeking a vote of trust. But events preceding the start of session were not moving smoothly and it was rumoured that Charan Singh who had earlier agreed to Indira’s condition had second thoughts, which was in regard to the pending cases against Indira. Indira who now held the aces threatened to withdraw support and when it became clear that she will not play game, Charan Singh resigned. Thus for the first and last time, a Central Government and a PM fell without even facing the Parliament once.

Morarjee had resigned as Janata Party Parliament leader and even after the resignation of Charan Singh, he refused to take up leadership. With that the political life of Morarjee came to an end. In his place Babu Jagajeevan Ram was elected as leader of Janata Parliament Party and he staked his claim for forming a ministry. But now the ball was in the court of Sanjeeva Reddy and he declined to entertain Babu’s request and the Parliament was dissolved. President’s act received a mixed reaction. While some felt that it was the best option available under the circumstances because of the splits and the rampant horse-trading that was taking place, others felt that he should have given a chance to Babu Jagajeevan Ram and they alleged the President, once a sworn enemy of Indira had now played into her hands. Another act of President that was critisiced was his allowing the defeated ministry to continue as caretaker ministry. The political observers argued since the ministry is a lame duck ministry in constitutional terms (a ministry lacking majority support but still in power) it should not be allowed to continue for long. But it did continue up to January 1980, thus by creating a dubious record for Charan Singh as the longest served caretaker PM. Political Parties caught up in hectic activities again had to firm up alliances and strategies for the ensuing poll but they got a breather.

Let us also take a breather and look at NT’s films that were released in the meantime.

1. Imayam – 21.07.1979. The combo of NT- Mukta Srinivasan- AS Pragasam who gave the successful Andaman Kadhali a year before, joined again in this movie. This time Nepal was the location and Srividya did the heroine role for the first time with NT. Jaiganesh and Meera also had a major role. MSV came with lovely songs. Gangai-Yamunai, Imayam Kanden, Kannile Kudiyirukkum were all hits. All said and done, Imayam did not do well at the BO. Another sad irony about this movie is look at its releasing date. We or for that matter no one would have imagined that this date 22 years later will snatch away our beloved NT from our midst once for all.

2. Naan Vaazha Vaipen – 10.08.1979. A film that made media do overtime. The combo of NT- Rajini which didn’t strike a chord in Justice Gopinath, their first venture together, this time hit the bull’s eye. This movie a remake of Hindi Majboor had NT playing Amithabh’s role and Rajini playing Pran’s role. KR Vijaya produced the film under her Ashoka banner. The media always on the lookout for hot news tried to give an impression that because of Rajini the movie became hit. What they didn’t realize was the screenplay provided any actor worth the salt to sparkle and Rajini (of course taking nothing away from him) simply did what Pran did in the original. Another point they failed to remember was NT at that point of time was in the highest plane of commercial success after his Trisoolam and Rajini was in the midst of health problems that threatened his career. It would not have been difficult for NT to change the role or curtail Rajini’s scenes. But the ever gentleman he was and one who was never afraid of competition was magnanimous to the core and his role of helping Rajini was acknowledged by Rajini himself later. This 100 day movie had music by IR and all those Super hit songs are known to everyone and are still heard.

Before proceeding further on the political developments, let us look in to some decisions of MGR that paved a way for a sea change later. First was enforcement of Prohibition. MGR made this very strict. The police were given sweeping powers. Anybody found drunk was dealt with severely. You need not be drunk! If someone was found in possession of a liquor bottle, he would be sentenced to 6 months imprisonment. One digression here. Makkal Kalaignar Jai Sankar who was doing well as a hero was roped in to do Hero role in films like Vandikaran Magan, Nenjukku Neethi & Adu Pambe all scripted by MuKa. This had created a rift between MGR and Jai. It was rumoured that Jai was arrested under the Prohibition act and kept in a Police station one night. Though MGR was at the helm, because of the extraordinary rapport that Jai had with media, the same was not published. This was widely rumoured, though not substantiated. Digression ends. Second was regarding Reservation. At that time the reservation quota in TN was 31% for Backward and 18% for SC/ST. MGR came with an amendment. He put a GO, which stated that parents of BC people who are applying for reservation should not have a monthly income of more than Rs 9000/- to be eligible. In other words, he fixed economic criterion for claiming reservation. The persons who get admission under the reservation quota enjoy another benefit. Their academic fees are subsidised; they pay less than the normal. On this point the GO further said for a student, to enjoy this benefit continuously, should put in 90% attendance in academic institutions failing which their subsidy will be cut and they will be made to pay normal fees. As expected DMK started agitating but MGR stood firm.

When the Central Government fell, all activities now shifted to state. During the crisis that engulfed Centre, ADMK was active while DMK was reduced as a spectator because it had no representation in the Lok Sabha. The only DMK member AVP Asai Thambi had passed away in Andaman in April 1979 and so DMK had no role to play. After the fall of Central Government the Janata Party or in particular one individual had an idea rather a great one, which if it happened would have simply changed the course of TN political History. The individual was Biju Patnaik, the former CM of Orissa. (One small info. Biju Patnaik having demitted the office of CM in 1963 based on the K Plan had again captured power in 1989, after a gap of 26 years which is an Indian record). He came to Chennai and met MuKa. After some time he called on MGR. On 13th of September 1979,the media was invited to Chepauk guesthouse and there Biju proudly announced that the DMK and ADMK were going to merge. It was a bombshell. Both MGR and MuKa said that their respective Seyarkuzhus and Podhukuzhus would discuss and ratify the merger. When pressed for more details both of them refused to divulge and asked people to wait. There was this photo of MGR and MuKa sitting in a sofa side by side and a beaming Biju balancing himself on the hand rest that was flashed across all medias. Public were bewildered and cadres responded cautiously though on Sep 15th, Annadurai birthday was celebrated jointly in some places. Biju left Chennai.

Nothing of substance came out in the following days though rumour mills were doing overtime. Suddenly MuKa left for Delhi and surprisingly he went and met Indira Gandhi. When he came out of the meeting, MuKa announced that DMK had struck an alliance with Congress. Accordingly DMK would contest 16 seats, Congress 23 seats and Muslim League 1. Everyone was caught unawares. When asked about merger, MuKa said that proposal is off and this alliance with Congress stands. Many people could not believe this because of the fact that Indira had dismissed DMK Government and DMK had indulged in Black Flag demonstration, which had seen violence and cases, registered against DMK. Indira came to Chennai on Sep 30th for participating in a public meeting organized by DMK to celebrate Annadurai’s birthday. Here Indira lashed against Janata & MGR. Now it was clear that Indira had not taken the Tanjai by election issue lightly and also she was cut up with MGR for offering support to Morarjee. It was in this meeting MuKa coined the famous quote

Nehru Magalae Varuga;
Nilayana Aatchi Tharuga.

When Indira was about to finish her speech, somebody pointed out to her that the next day (Oct 1st) happened to be NT’s birthday and she wished him. NT seated on the front row thanked her and this act of Indira was widely cheered by fans.

There was one section in Congress that could not reconcile itself to the alliance and this was headed by Nedumaran. Nedumaran having borne the brute of the violence during Black Flag demonstration openly revolted against this and Kannadasan fully supported him. It was expected because Kannadasan was the Poet Laureate (Arasavai Kavignar and Swarnamuki was the Arasavai Narthagi of TN) and he who was a bitter critic of MGR till 1977 was now his most ardent supporter. Posters appeared on behalf of Nedumaran supporters (Kolaigara Tee Mu Ka-vudan kootu; Uyir katha Nedumaranukku Vettu; Thaye ithu enna Nyayam?) as he was expelled and Nedumaran launched Tamilnadu Kamaraj Congress. He announced that his party would support ADMK. Another glaring irony here was Nedumaran who started his political life as a DMK man was now stoutly opposing DMK. Again at a later stage he made common cause with DMK and still continue to be in the good books of MuKa. Though some sections were aghast with the alliance one group that was extremely happy with the alliance was NT Fan clubs. The fans who had stuck with NT right through and fans who left Congress to join Janata and later made a comeback had one thing in common and that was opposition to MGR. He and his party were anathema to NT fans because such was the intensity of rivalry that it had made deep inroads into their minds and they could never bring themselves to support MGR. In fact a fan club Karnan Ganesan Rasigar Mandram organized NT’s birthday celebrations in Chennai and MuKa was the chief guest accompanied by NT. In this meeting NT said that DMK is his Pirantha Veedu and Congress is his Pukuntha Veedu and now both are joining for an alliance. The speakers at this meeting expressed their desire and requested NT and MuKa to do a film again. MuKa said that an announcement would come soon. NT fans started to do the election work in right earnest.

MGR now had only Janata Party to fall upon and an alliance was struck. He had also the communist parties CPI & CPM for company. (ADMK-24, Janata-10, CPI-3, CPM-3). Though Nedumaran and Kumari Ananthan had pledged their support to ADMK, they were not allotted any seats. With battle lines drawn another unexpected development took place. Narayanaswamy Naidu of Uzhavar Uzhaipalar Katchi who hailed from Coimbatore had a strong presence there came out against ADMK with all guns blazing. He was able to rope in the farming community under him. He pledged his support to Congress front and did a whirlwind tour of TN. NT after 1971 had also undertaken a full fledged tour and Indira had toured TN twice for campaigning.

Before going into the final phase of electioneering let us quickly finish the movies of NT.

1. Pattakathi Bhairavan – 19.10.1979. (Deepavali). A remake from Telugu Gada Gadalu Rudhraiya, this film produced and directed by VB Rajendra Prasad (who did ETRaja & Uthaman) had Jayasudha as heroine and another pair was Jaiganesh and Sridevi. IR was the Music director and songs were great. NT did dual roles but a typical Telugu masala storyline was not well received here.

2. Vetrikku Oruvan - 08.12.1979. The second movie in SpM- Panchu- IR combination with NT again was not to the liking of fans and public and only the election results that came in favour of Congress a month later helped it to sustain for a while.


DMK as a poll issue took up the case of purchase of Ships from Baltica Corporation for TN Government’s Poompuhar Shipping Corporation and alleged large-scale corruption. This issue had already been raised in the assembly and MGR had denied any wrong doings because the purchase had not at all taken place. But it still did not dither DMK from making this as a poll issue (MuKa described this as Jamukalathil Vadikatiya Oozhal). It looked like a sort of a settling of scores as for as accusations were concerned

The final phase of electioneering was aggressive. MGR wanted to prove that he could win with any alliance. Infact he had publically announced that PaaRaa who was again contesting from Central Madras would win and his victory would be a personal victory for him (Thanipatta Vetri). Dr. Kalanidhi contested against PaaRaa. In the same manner ADMK functionary Mayilai Kabali (who later became a MLA of Mylapore defeating Nanjil Manoharan) had said that if Sulochana Sampath the ADMK candidate pitted against R.Venkataraman, lost the election, he (Kabali) would hang himself. But all said and done, the people of TN had decided. They had always voted for Congress in a Parliament Election (except say 1967) and even during the height of Emergency they stood behind Indira (Ofcourse Emergency had not affected TN) and now after seeing Janata rule, they overwhelmingly voted in favour of Congress. The Congress-DMK alliance won 38 out of 40 seats leaving just 2 to ADMK. Only Gobichettipalayam and Sivakasi returned ADMK candidates and that too by a small margin. ADMK or for that matter MGR had not faced a debacle like this in his career.

Indira not wanting to take any chances had contested from two seats. Her old constituency Raebareli in UP and Medak from Andhra. She romped home successfully from both and her son Sanjay won from Amethi. Congress got around 355 seats and Indira was sworn in as PM on 14th January 1980. RV and RVS were the two MPs who were inducted as ministers in her cabinet. DMK was very happy, as it had won 16 out of 16 seats it had contested. (MuKa in his customary varthai jalam said in a victory meeting Pathnarum Petravan Vanthirukiren). NT fans were ecstatic, as their archrival had been floored.

Action shifted to Delhi. Now it was widely expected that Indira as a tit for tat would dismiss all Janata Ministries in the States they ruled just as Janata had done to Congress ruled states in 1977. Bhajan Lal the Janata CM of Haryana created a History of sorts when he joined Congress enmasse with all his MLAs. So a signal had gone out and the axing was on the cards. MuKa now went to Delhi, camped there for a while argued his case with Indira through Sanjay and finally succeeded in his attempt to include TN also in the list of dismissals. So on 17th February 1980,TN along with another 8 states was brought under President’s rule. MGR’s ministry was dismissed and assembly dissolved.

MuKa came back on 18th morning from Delhi and was cheered by his cadres. From the Congress side one person was there to receive and garland him. Any guess? He was none other than Tindivanam Ramamoorthy who during this election (2006) had opposed Congress alliance with DMK. MuKa very confidently predicted a victory for the Congress-DMK alliance in the ensuing poll but how History proved him wrong!

Well! Let us stop for a while and proceed afterwards.

Regards

பழைய ஆனந்த விகடன் ஒன்றில் ராமகிருஷ்ணன் சிவாஜியின் ஆவேச நடிப்பினை தன் தேசாந்திரியில் குறிப்பிட்டுள்ளார்.கலைஞர்களும் எழுத்தாளர்களும் ஒற்றுமையாக நல்ல முறையில் செயல்பட்டால் கலை ஓங்கும் தானே!(இரண்டு வாரங்களுக்கு முந்தையது)

Murali sar,

Forgive me for jumping to conclusion (you haven't concluded this phase yet), but at this point NT seemed to be increasingly detached when it comes to politics. Is it true? Or maybe I should wait for you to conclude? Sorry.

Dear Prabhu Ram,

We were talking about Dharan Mandrayar and I mentioned about his latest film on Varanasi widows. The name of the movie is White Rainbow and the same is getting released this Friday (7th July) in Sathyam Complex. Probably you must have seen the ad in The Hindu.

Dear Abkhlabhi,

Nice pick of 15 films though everyone may not agree with it. Then regarding the Kannda remakes, NT's 175th was Avandhan Manidhan. Was it a remake? I don't think so. In the same manner Naam Iruvar was NT's 250th movie. Again was it a remake? Here I am not very sure. Please clarify.

Regards