A still from ‘Kanchi Thalaivan’. MGR and Mu. Karunanidhi were on the same side of the fence and worked together in this film. Karunanidhi, Murasoli Maran and A. Kasilingam produced the film under Mekala Picutres.
One of the few films penned by Karunanidhi and released during the MGR regime, ‘Neethikku Thandanai’ was directed by S.A Chandrasekar. Karunanidhi wrote the script of the film from a jail cell.
A delegation from Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam with DMK president M. Karunanidhi at his Gopalapuram residence in Chennai. File The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has requested Mr. Karunanidhi to allow the telecast of the biographical series on the revered Vaishnavite philosopher Ramanuja, in Telugu. In an interview to The Hindu, Mr. Karunanidhi said he chose to write the script as the philosopher-saint was a revolutionary who broke caste barriers. “He showed through his life that the oppressed and backward communities were not those to be hated and sidelined,” Mr. Karunanidhi said.
MGR and Bhanumathi in ‘Malai Kallan’. ‘Malaikallan’ was written by the famous Tamil scholar, poet Namakkal Ramalingam Pillai. With Karunanidhi’s screenplay and dialogues, the film established M. G. Ramachandran as a box office hero.
Karunanidhi also wrote several important movies for his friend-turned political rival, M.G. Ramachandran, such as Malaikallan and Manthiri Kumari (in picture, released in 1950).
Karunanidhi wrote the story and dialogue for 'Rajakumari', the film that introduced M.G.Ramachandran as a hero
Though ‘Rajakumari’ (1947) was M. Karunanidhi’s first film as a scripwriter, it was the Sivaji Ganesan-debuted ‘Parasakthi’ (1952) that catapulted him to fame not only in Dravidian politics but also in Tamil cinema.
'Poompuhar' is an adaptation of the Tamil epic Silapathikaram. Karunanidhi's powerful dialogue and songs made it a huge box office success
A.V.M. Saravanan sounds a clapperboard to mark the launch of the Tamil movie 'Ponnar-Sankar’, starring Prashanth and Napolean. Written as a novel by himself, Karunanidhi’s ‘Ponnar Sankar’ was made into a historical film starring actor Prashanth in a dual role. The film narrates the story of the brave warrior brothers — Ponnar and Sankar — of Kongu Nadu.
Actors Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan presenting the Best Dialogue Writer Award for the movie “Uliyin Osai” to the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi during the State government’s Film Awards function in 2008 Chennai. Later Mr. Karunanidhi gave away the remuneration he received for the movie to be used for indigent artists. File
Sivaji Ganesan and Saroja Devi in ‘Iruvar Ullam’ (1963). The movie was directed by L.V. Prasad. Karunanidhi was the script writer for three of Prasad’s Tamil movies, ‘Manohara’, ‘Iruvar Ullam’ and ‘Thai illa Pillai’.
A still from ‘Manohara’ (1952), an adapation of Pammal Sambandam Mudaliar’s play with the same name. Dialogue writer M. Karunanidhi by this time had acquired star status and the long alliterative monologues had become popular all over Tamil Nadu. The film is noted for its famous dialogue ‘Poruthathu podhum, pongi ezhu Manohara’ by the hero’s (Sivaji Ganesan) mother, played by Kannamba.
Published - July 29, 2018 07:50 pm IST
