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The grand old man of Tamil politics will be donning his old mantle after a long gap of eight years. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo M. Karunanidhi popularly known as "Kalaignar" will return to his first love of writing screenplay and dialogues for Tamil feature films. The film he is working on, Kalaignarin Kannamma, tells the story of a Kargil martyr who leaves behind a pregnant wife. Said the director of the film, S.S. Babha, who has directed a couple of Tamil films, "I approached Karunanidhi with the story and he instantly liked it. But at that time he was the Chief Minister and could not spare time to write the screenplay." But after 2001 when the DMK lost the elections, Babha approached the octogenarian leader again and he agreed to do the screenplay and write the dialogues. However, during the last three years he again could not manage the time to do it. Karunanidhi revolutionised Tamil screenplay with short, crisp and down-to-earth dialogues. In the 50s Tamil audiences were accustomed to long dialogues in Sankritised Tamil and endless songs. Most of the films then revolved around religious themes with the hero and heroine enacting the roles of Hindu gods and goddesses. It was at that time that Karunanidhi enthralled the audiences with a welcome change. Like a gust of fresh air, his screenplays did away with spiritual pretensions and realistically depicted the ecstasies and agonies of life. In short, he made Tamil films more realistic and because of his strong command over the language and ability to connect with the man on the street, he soon acquired a large fan following. He did away with long-winded and improbable dialogues and instead introduced a new form of dialogue delivery that also had a political message. His radical approach to Tamil films in those days not only helped him enter politics but also took his film career to unimaginable heights. Karunanidhi wrote his first screenplay for Rajakumari in 1947 followed by Abhimanyu. In 1952 he wrote the screenplay for Parashakti which not only brought out the strong dialogue writer in him but also heralded the rise of famous Tamil star Sivaji Ganesan. The film attacked the social evils prevalent in Tamil society and the piercing dialogues of the film could be heard in the alleys all over Tamil Nadu. With his witty pen Karunanidhi wrote the screenplay for another Tamil film Manohara that was a box office hit. Karunanidhi has written screenplays and dialogues for more than 30 films and storyboards of two films. The last screenplay and dialogue he wrote was for Puthiya Parashakti in 1996. The film flopped but within a few months he was sworn in as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. This time it is to be seen how he juggles his time between serving as chairman of the DMK-led Democratic Progressive Alliance, which swept the Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu and writing scripts, no doubt a daunting task for the veteran politician who is training his guns on the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa and planning to stage a comeback in the 2006 Assembly elections. Those who are superstitious say, "The year he wrote the screenplay for Puthiya Parashakti he returned to power. Who knows whether Kalaignarin Kannamma might repeat the magic for him in 2006." Is it with this hope Karunanidhi decided to take to screenplay writing again? Though an atheist like all politicians, Karunanidhi might well be superstitious. |
