Chennai: Even 34 years after his demise, the legacy of former Chief Minister M G Ramachandran, popularly called as ‘MGR’, the matinee idol of the masses and iconic founder-leader of the ruling AIADMK, still wields magic among the voters.
AIADMK, which is seeking a hat-trick of wins in the 6 April Assembly elections, after late leader J Jayalalithaa bucked the political trend and emulated her political-mentor MGR by leading the party to a second successive win in 2016, is banking on the legacy of MGR and the charisma of the AIADMK supremo.
In Tamil cinema several commercial heroes of 1980s like Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan (in some films), Ramarajan, Vijayakanth, Sathyaraj and heroes of today including Vijay, Ajith are adopting MGR’s pot-pouri formula (containing ingredients of heroism, romance, good samaritan image and family sentiments).
Likewise, in politics too, MGR still lives in the hearts of the voters. So, no wonder, there is a mad scramble among the present-day crop of politicians to use his name or magic whenever interacting with people, more so in the run up to the polls.
Makkal Needhi Maiyam founder Kamal Haasan said that he grew up, sitting on the lap of MGR.
If his comment set the meme creators working overtime and evoking laughter of derision from social media users, it provoked strong condemnation from the ruling AIADMK which claims, reasonably of course, ownership of the MGR legacy.
Even superstar Rajinikanth too invoked the name of MGR. At a meeting he had claimed that though he could never be MGR 2.0, he could at least provide the MGR rule, given an opportunity.
But unfortunately, the steam and limelight that he seemed to have gained in 1996 when he looking like a political dark horse and made the iconic remark, “If Jayalalithaa comes back to power, even God cannot save Tamilnadu” had since been dissipated.
Finally, he could not keep his promise of launching a party, leaving his fans out in the cold.
Now for his part, Stalin recently said MGR was his ‘Periyappa’ (father’s elder brother). Reacting to his proud statement, Minister K Sellur Raj asked why then Stalin’s father had thrown his ‘Periyappa’ out of the DMK.
The peak in the invocation of the idolised Tamilnadu leader was touched by the BJP, hardly a force to reckon with during MGR days.
In a video to promote its recent ‘Vel yatra’ (march that celebrated the glory of Tamil God Lord Muruga), the Tamilnadu BJP unit showed the image of MGR with a background lyric describing Modi as a messenger of the ‘Ponmanasemmal’
(gold-hearted stalwart, that is, MGR).
The fact that Prime Minister Modi came down to Chennai to pay floral tributes to the Dravidian leader also speaks volumes of the magic wielded by MGR. So, what’s it about MGR that has kept him still alive and kicking?
How can one decode the sphinx-like riddle of MGR? Back in 1977 it was the first in the Tamilnadu political annals that an actor, a superstar at that, fought his way to the gaddi.
The sound and fury of those days Tamilnadu was witness to were quite unparalleled.
The competition between the then 28-year-old DMK and the fledgling AIADMK, a unit of dissenters, as it were, was ferocious and fierce to the point of assuming colours of personal vendetta.
The then ruling DMK led by Karunanidhi frowned upon the ‘puratchinadigar’ (revolutionary actor) donning the changed mantle of ‘puratchithalaivar’ (revolutionary leader) so much so that it tried all tricks in the book (including imposition of wall tax for pasting cinema posters) to throw a spanner in the works when MGR was moving heaven and earth to release his blockbuster ‘Ulagam Sutrum Vaaliban’ (Globe-trotting Youth).
Explaining the phenomenon of a mere cine popularity translating into the glory of a cult figure and finally into the fame of an iconic politician, political analysts observe that “The hero’s invincibility on the screen acquires a certain authenticity and appears credible not merely because of the dream-like experience that film watching essentially is, but equally because the subaltern consciousness most often dwells in the interface between the impossible religious myth and possible history.”
Old-timers, probably now in the blues of 60 years of age and above, may remember the words what Karunanidhi said when MGR broke the myth that a cine actor can never become a ruler.
“Will it (MGR government) run for 100 days?” Karunanidhi said in a mocking tone, obliquely referring to the MGR films that used to run for over 100 days. He must have at that time fretted and fumed at falling from the throne to the chair of opposition leader, his party having nosedived from the tally of 184 seats won in 1971 to just 48 in 1977.
Even now in a touring theatre in some remote village, MGR is still singing his so-called ‘ideological’ song while fighting with villains in a duel to protect the chastity of a glamorous maiden.