5 movies that showcased how M Karunanidhi's scripts intertwined entertainment with Dravidian ideology

Muthuvel Karunanidhi was only 23 when he wrote Rajakumari. Marudur Gopalan Ramachandran, who had done more than 15 movies before, became a household name after playing the swashbuckling hero for the first time. The movie launched a career more than 100 films strong, gave him a moniker 'Darling of the Masses' and a thriving, iconic political career. Karunanidhi's words made the movie a blockbuster of the time but most importantly launched a friendship and political alliance that would shape the political grounds of Tamil Nadu. (YouTube)

This 1952 movie is considered to be one of the finest works of Karunanidhi. The film has a cult status among the movie lovers but at the time it was a political commentary masterpiece. Karunanidhi used the medium to propagate the ideals of the Dravidian movement. The dialogues ripped into casteism, fuelled the pro-Tamil nation ideas, and launched the DMK's ideology. (YouTube)

Poompuhar is Karunanidhi's comment on the rigidness of the religion. The scene in the court of King of Madurai shows a commoner confronting those blinded by the powers they inherited, not given by the people. Sure it was a re-telling of Silapathikaram mythology, but the dialogues of the movie highlight the parity within society. (YouTube)

Karunanidhi wrote Niyaya Tharasu in 1989 while he was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. The story of Nyaya Tharasu revolves around the two weeks out on parole for a Naxal activist, Bharathi. Unwanted by everyone in her life, Bharathi ends up staying with a journalist who realises that her conviction was wrong and she needs to be free. But life comes a full circle when after being cleared of the allegations, she kills her best friend's husband for gang-raping his wife. (YouTube)

The 2011 movie featured colloquial dialogues. Unlike any other Karunanidhi movie. The adaptation of the novel written by Kalaignar himself was magnanimous when it came to production scale, but the story was panned showing that the age was getting better of this magnificent writer. (YouTube)