CHENNAI: When Venkatesh Ramakrishnan, one of the core members of the Madras Local History group invited us to orator-researcher Maruthumohan’s talk, as part of the Madras Week celebrations, he said, “The speaker is a firebrand.” While the assertion intrigued us, the theme, ‘Celluloid Kottai’, was all the more reason to attend it.
Tamil cinema, its influence on politics and vice-versa has a close-knit history. Two weeks ago, after the demise of former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, a string of conversations about how he politicised movies with Dravidian ideology, and how the two subjects became the state’s biggest obsessions was extensively recalled.
Mohan, the 63-year-old history aficionado, in his 90-minute talk took us back to the roots. “From ‘theru koothu’ and theatre, which were initially used for anti-British propaganda, we moved towards the celluloid medium, which Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin himself stated as the most powerful medium,” said Mohan, son of freedom fighter Sethuramachandran from Sivagangai. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) during the 50s became the only political party to gain benefit from the movie medium. From advocating social reform themes to later enhancing star popularity, cinema from its conventional purpose became a medium that would further the Dravidian agitprop.
“The original ‘Kottai’ became Celluloid ‘Kottai’ only post 1967,” he shared, indicating Annadurai’s time as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and MG Ramachandran, the most popular actor-turned politician ’s entry into mainstream politics in 1967, where he was first elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. “MGR made his film debut in 1936 with Sathi Leelavathi and also saw success with the release of the 1947 film Rajakumari,” he shared. But, his biggest breakthrough was the 1950 film ‘Manthiri Kumari’, which incidentally was written by Karunanidhi.
While Maruthumohan’s talk brought the audience up to speed on theatre artists who supported the Congress, the beginning of the Dravidian movement, the flair for language and “political awareness” which brought Karunanidhi multiple prospects, MGR’s entry into politics, emerging parties and political slugfest, we couldn’t ignore but notice that the heart of the talk was Chevalier Sivaji Ganesan, a man whose name is often forgotten while talking about the Dravidian movement and DMK.