Chennai, June 07: One would have thought that after leading his party to a landslide victory in the general elections, M. Karunanidhi would put up his feet and take a break. But the DMK patriarch apparently has no holiday plans. Instead, he is ready with the script for a Tamil film — his third while in office.
What is surprising is that producers are still queuing up to turn his scripts into film, despite the fact that his last few films have been box office duds.
His films have failed to impress critics of late and multiplexes too don’t take them as a ‘serious’ option. So what is making filmmakers fall all over themselves to produce Karuna’s scripts?
Says Tamil director Ilavenil: “For the public, it does not matter who plays the lead role if it is a Karunanidhi film. He is the hero himself.” Dismissing criticism that the patriarch’s earlier movies were a flop, Ilavenil asks: “Why would a producer want to burn his fingers again? Karunanidhi’s films sell. So, we want to make them.”
Ilavenil, incidentally, is directing Karuna’s latest film. Titled Neeyindri Naan Illai, the movie is based on a novel Suruli Malai (Suruli Hills) the octogernarian wrote nearly 40 years ago and comes after Kannamma and Uliyin Osai (Sound of the Chisel).
“Neeyindri Naan Illai is a romantic film. The shooting will commence from July 13. The story is woven into the backdrop of tribal life. So, our locations will vary from the southern tip of the Western Ghats in Nagercoil to Darjeeling in the North,” says Ilavenil, who had also directed Uliyin Osai .
“The script is ready. Only the climax is yet to be worked out. Karunanidhi is a veteran script writer but he gives us room to make changes in his script, provided it doesn’t affect the spirit of the narrative,” Ilavenil says.
But despite Ilavenil’s passionate defence of the patriarch’s film, the fact remains that over the years, Karunanidhi’s scripts have lost their fire.
His earlier films such as Parasakthi and Manohara had created waves in the Tamil film industry. In fact, Parasakthi had even been banned by the-then Congress government for its radical anti-Brahmin views.
Those were the heydays of the Dravidian movement’s rationalist campaign and a young Karunanidhi has used the movies as a vehicle to mobilise public opinion.
But his scripts seem to have run out of steam now. Karuna’s political rivals gleefully point out that this is because the “DMK has abandoned its ideological core in favour of power”. But no one can say his passion for films has diminished.
In Ilavenil’s words: “Karunanidhi is a workaholic and a good task master. He is more dynamic that the youth of today.”
Discussion on the project was held immediately after the patriarch returned from the hospital after a spinal cord surgery early last month. “He called us and asked us to rush to his home one morning. The doctors attending on him were concerned about his frail health but the CM still had a detailed discussion with me and the producer Murugesan,” says Ilavenil, positively beaming as he talks about the octogenarian leader’s ‘sincerity’. He adds, “It was he who wanted to give Neeyindri Naan Illai a contemporary touch. The result will be a full- fledged love story.”
For popular South Indian actor Meera Jasmine, who is playing the female lead in the film, this would be the first role in her career as a tribal girl. Telugu heartthrob Udhay Kiran has been roped in to play the male lead.
As in the past, Karunanidhi is expected to donate the money he earns from the film to the welfare of impoverished film artists. The Rs 25 lakh he had received for scripting Uliyin Osai was distributed to needy yesteryear filmstars.
——Agencies