Muthuvel Karunanidhi was one of the greatest political giants in the history of Tamil Nadu. Apart from politics, he is also remembered for his excellent work in screenwriting. Manthiri, Kumari, Parasakthi, Malaikkallan, Manohara are some examples of his prominent screenwriting works which completely changed Tamil cinema. Having served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu five times, he was, no doubt, a prominent figure in Tamil politics. Check out M. Karunanidhi Wiki, Wife, Family, Ethnicity, Biography, Profession, Facts, Salary, Net Worth & More
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Biography/Wiki
M. Karunanidhi was born on 3 June 1924 in Thirukuvalai, Madras Presidency, British India. Since childhood, he was very interested in art, drama, poetry and literature. Inspired by Periyar EV Ramasamy, at the age of 14, he showed his interest in politics by joining the anti-Hindi movement in 1937. At the age of 20, he worked with Jupiter Pictures as a screenwriter. He soon became a close friend of screenwriter CN Annadurai, who founded the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) in 1949 and later became the first Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in 1969. When he worked as a screenwriter, he faced heavy censorship; Two of his plays were banned in the 1950s. 
He became very popular for writing social and historical stories that supported the socialist and rational ideals of the Dravidian movement to which he was associated and his plays and poems with social messages paved his way into politics. As a high school student, he laid the foundation of the Tamil Nadu Tamil Manavar Mandram, the first student wing of the Dravidian movement. He also started a school newspaper ‘Murasoli’, which is now known as the official newspaper of DMK. Due to his intellectual personality and brilliant oratory style, he rapidly rose to prominence in Tamil politics.
Family
Karunanidhi was born to Muthuvelu and Anju. He was the only son with two sisters, Shanmugasundrath Ammal and Periyanayagam. He had three wives. He married his first wife Padmavathi Ammal in the early 1940s and had a son named MK Muthu.
Karunanidhi married his second wife, Dayalu Ammal, in 1948 and had sons; MK Alagiri (politician), MK Stalin (politician), MK Tamilarasu (producer) and a daughter, Selvi Geetha Kovilam.
He married his third wife Rajathi Ammal in the late 1960s and had a daughter named Kanimozhi (politician).
livelihood
Karunanidhi started his career as a screenwriter in 1947 with Rajakumari, but he got his breakthrough with Parasakthi in 1952. At the age of 33, he came to power in politics, entering the Tamil Nadu Assembly by winning the Kulithalai seat in the 1957 elections. He became the leader of the opposition in 1962. When the DMK came to power in 1967, he became the Minister of Public Works and in 1969, when CN Annadurai died after 20 days in office, Karunanidhi became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. first time.
Karunanidhi was elected 13 times to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly (from 1957 to 2016 elections) and once to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council (now abolished). He was the Chief Minister five times and remained the party chief for almost 50 years. Jayalalitha was his main political rival, defeating him in 1991, 2001, 2002, 2011 and 2015.
Even while being the Chief Minister, Karunanidhi wrote scripts for films. His last script was Ponnar Shankar (2011).
controversies
The Sarkaria Commission had accused Karunanidhi of being involved in corruption in the allocation of tenders for the Veeranam project, leading to the dismissal of his government by the then Prime Minister of the country, Mrs. Indira Gandhi.
In 2001, Karunanidhi was arrested along with former Chief Secretary KA Nambiar on charges of corruption in the construction of flyovers in Chennai. He and his party members were charged under several sections of the IPC. However, no concrete evidence was found against him.
Once he had made controversial remarks on Lord Ram and his existence, he had also made some comments regarding Ram Setu. His controversial remarks created an uproar in the country.
Many accused him of having links with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a militant group that sought to create an independent state for the Tamil-speaking people.
Some political observers, his party members and opponents accused him of promoting nepotism in the party.
Net Worth/Assets/House
He had movable assets worth ₹5 crore and was worth more than ₹45 crore (as of 2014).
Favourite Things
He was very interested in sports and films. His favorite cricketers were Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni. His favorite actor was MG Ramachandran.
Death
Karunanidhi died on 7 August 2018 at the Kauvery Hospital in Chennai due to chronic illness (urinary tract infection) at the age of 94. He was buried on 8 August 2018 at Marina Beach, Chennai.
Awards/Achievements
In 1971, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Annamalai University. Tamil University honored him with the Raja Rajan Award for his book Thenpandi Singam. At the 40th convocation of Madurai Kamaraj University, the then Governor and Chancellor of the university, Surjit Singh Barnala, awarded him an honorary doctorate. In June 2007, he was given the title of Friend of the Muslim Community by the Tamil Nadu Muslim Makkal Katchi.
fact
- Karunanidhi was born in a poor family. His entire family depended on a temple for their livelihood.
- While he was in school, he became very interested in drama, literature and poetry.
- When he was 14 years old, he was greatly inspired by Alagiriswami of the Justice Party and after that he decided to enter politics.
- He failed when he was in 10th class and moved to Coimbatore, where he earned his livelihood by writing scripts for professional theater groups.
- When he was 20, he started writing scripts for Tamil films.
- His skills as a speaker and writer caught the attention of Periyar and Annadurai and they appointed him as the editor of their Dravida Kazhagam party magazine.
- When Annadurai formed DMK, Karunanidhi was its member. Annadurai was his ‘political guru’.
- After his eyes were damaged in an accident in the late 1960s, he wore glasses.
- In 1969, when Annadurai died, Karunanidhi succeeded him with the help of his close friend MG Ramachandran.
- In 1972, after being denied a cabinet post, MG Ramachandran broke away from the party and formed the AIADMK.
- In 1980, he met the great boxer Muhammad Ali, who had come to India for a guest match.
- Karunanidhi was a great admirer of poet Thiruvalluvar. He built a 133 feet tall statue of Thiruvalluvar in Kanyakumari.
- He wrote the screenplay for American film director Ellis Roderick Dungan.
- In 2006, Karunanidhi became the oldest Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu when he assumed the office of Chief Minister.
- He was generally called ‘Kalaignar’ because of his love for art and literature.
- He never lost an election in his 61 years of political career.
- He was an avid dog lover. His favorite dog was “Khanna”, a Lhasa Apso-type dog.
- An official theme song, ‘Semozhiyana Tamizh Mozhiyam’, was written by Karunanidhi for the World Classical Tamil Conference 2010, tuned by AR Rahman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRITPjhraXgA
- When he died in August 2018, thousands of people gathered at Rajaji Hall. Two died and thirty were injured in the stampede.
- In March 2023, ahead of the third ODI between India and Australia, a new stand was unveiled at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, named after M. Karunanidhi.
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Categories: Biography
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