When Karunanidhi gave me Periyar’s ring...: Actor Sathyaraj recalls legendary Tamil politician

New Delhi, June 03: On the occassion of 98th birth anniversary of party founder M Karunanidhi a webinar organised by Chennai-based advocate J Ravindran.

Popularly known as 'Kalaignar', Muthuvel Karunanidhi was a writer and politician who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for almost two decades, between 1969 and 2011.

Karunanidhi apart from being one of the most impactful politicians of independant India has also equally contributed to the growth of Tamil cinema through his very potent pen.

In a video message on the latter's 98th birth anniversary, Sathyaraj aka Kattappa from Baahubali, one of the finest actors of Tamil Cinema recalled the moment when Karunanidhi gifted him a ring, which is 130 years old.

Sattam En Kaiyil which was released on 14 July 1978 was commercially successful and ran for 100 days. On 100th days celebration of the film, Sathyaraj as a villain in the movie, was awarded by M. Karunanidhi.

In the next movie, Palaivana Rojakkal , a 1986 Tamil-language political satire film written by M. Karunanidhi and directed by Manivannan, Sathyaraj played a dual role as father and son in the film. He was later awarded again by Karunanidhi for his role.

Karunanidhi also felicitated Sathyaraj for his portrayal of Dravidian icon Periyar on screen. At a function organised to celebrate 100 days of screening of Periyar, the CM also named presented the actor with a sapphire-studded ring, which once adorned the fingers of Periyar. Hitherto, the ring would be part of the Periyar Memorial Trust.

Karunanidhi contested 12 assembly polls and personally never lost an election. He entered the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly at the age of 33, representing Kulithalai constituency. He was Tamil Nadu Chief Minister five times between 1969-71, 71-76, 89-91, 96-01 and 2006-11.

Karunanidhi displayed his determination when his party could not make a come back to power for well over a decade between 1977-89. During that period, AIADMK founder and his friend turned rival MG Ramachandran was Chief Minister.

Karunanidhi also penned scripts for famous Tamil movies Parasakthi and Manohara dating back to 1950's and his last movie was Ponnar Shankar in 2011.