Efforts by the DMK patriarch Muthuvel Karunanidhi to promote his grandson Udayanidhi Stalin as the next mega star of Tamil films have come a cropper
Efforts by the DMK patriarch Muthuvel Karunanidhi to promote his grandson Udayanidhi Stalin as the next mega star of Tamil films have come a cropper. Udayanidhi’s debut movie OKOK opened to luke warm response last week.
“The only saving factor of this film is comedian Santhanam. But for him, the movie would have ended up a damp squib,” said Srinivsan Jagannathan, an avid movie watcher.
According to film critics, the Karunanidhi family had some grand plans. “Karunanidhi wanted to groom Udayanidhi as the youth wing leader of the DMK. The movie was a medium through which he thought he could promote his grandson,” said Randor Guy, chronicler of Tamil films.
Udayanidhi had been confined to the role of a film producer. His banner Red Giant International is a major movie maker in TN. A section of the film industry had charged that Udayanidhi called the shots in the production, casting and releasing of movies during the Karunanidhi regime (2006-2011). Vijay, a popular star and his father SA Chandrasekhar had declared their support to the AIADMK in last year’s assembly election after they fell out with Udayanidhi.
It was Vijay’s popularity which made the K-clan field Udayanidhi as a star. “This has been Karunanidhi’s modus operandi from the beginning. In the seventies, he wanted to groom MK Muthu, his son from his first marriage, as a rival to the presiding deity of the times, MG Ramachandran. Though Muthu acted in Pillayo Pillai, Samayalkkaran, and Pookari, all of them flopped,” said Guy.
Stalin, Karunanidhi’s second son, too tried his luck in films and television. “Viewers were not kind to the two movies he acted in, Ore Ratham and Makkal Aanayittal. Even TV serials like Kurinji Malar and Surya did not help,” Guy pointed out.
Perhaps people in TN did not want the world of glitter to take away their favorite politician from them, feels Sundar Das, film critic. “Stalin’s website is resplendent with his literary and acting talents. Since Udayanidhi is all set to begin his political odyssey he too may be honing his literary and artistic talents,” he said.
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