Portal:Tamils

Muthuvel Karunanidhi (3 June 1924 – 7 August 2018), also known as Kalaignar (Artist), was an Indian writer and politician who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for almost two decades over five terms between 1969 and 2011. He had the longest intermittent tenure as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu with 6,863 days in office. He was also a long-standing leader of the Dravidian movement and ten-time president of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam political party. Karunanidhi has the record of never losing an election to the Tamil Nadu Assembly, having won 13 times since his first victory in 1957. Before entering politics, he worked in the Tamil film industry as a screenwriter. He also made contributions to Tamil literature, having written stories, plays, novels, and a multiple-volume memoir. A such, he is also referred to as Mutthamizh Arignar (Tamil Scholar) for his contributions to Tamil literature. Dravida Kazhagam prominent actor Pattukkottai Alagiri conferred the title Kalaignar on him during "Thookumedi" drama. Karunanidhi died on 7 August 2018 at Kauvery Hospital in Chennai after a series of prolonged, age-related illnesses.

Karunanidhi was born in the Tamil Nadu village of Thirukkuvalai on 3 June 1924. His parents were from the Isai Vellalar community, a caste of musicians that perform at temples and other social gatherings. Growing up in a caste-ridden culture, Karunanidhi was learned about the crippling circumstances that arose from being born into a low caste. When he was 14, he formed a student movement against the imposition of Hindi as India's National Language during the Anti-Hindi agitation of 1937–40. This served as a forerunner to Karunanidhi's wider anti-Hindi demonstrations in 1965. As a high school student, Karunanidhi created the Tamil Nadu Tamil Manavar Mandram, the Dravidian movement's first student wing. He also started a news paper during his school days, which grew into the Murasoli, the DMK's official publication. Karunanidhi began participating in theatrical productions at a young age, including composing plays. Later on, he started writing for movies. As a writer, he wrote screenplays, historical novels, screenplays, biographies, poems and novels. He utilised his writing to propagate reformist ideals effectively. He wrote the script and dialogue for M. G. Ramachandran's maiden film as a hero, Rajakumari. He also composed the dialogue for Sivaji Ganesan's debut film, Parasakthi. He was critical of organised religion and superstition. He was an atheist and a self-described rationalist. (Full article...)