Muthuvel Karunanidhi was one of the greatest political giants in the history of Tamil Nadu. Apart from politics, he is also remembered for his superb screenwriting work. Manthiri, Kumari, Parasakthi, Malaikkallan, Manohara are some examples of his brilliant screenwriting that revolutionized Tamil cinema. The five-time chief minister of Tamil Nadu is undoubtedly a key figure in Tamil politics. Check out M. Karunanidhi wiki, wife, family, ethnicity, biography, career, facts, salary, net worth and more
Biography/Wiki
M. Karunanidhi was born on June 3, 1924, in Tirukuvalai, Madras District, British India. He was very interested in art, drama, poetry and literature from an early age. Inspired by Periyar EV Ramasamy, he showed interest in politics by joining an anti-Hindi agitation group in 1937 at the age of 14. At the age of 20, he was working as a screenwriter at Jupiter Pictures. He soon became a close friend of screenwriter CN Annadurai, who founded the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazagam) in 1949 and later became the first chief minister of Tamil Nadu in 1969. Two of his plays were banned in the 1950s. 
He was popular for writing social and historical stories that supported the socialist and rationalist ideals of the Dravidian movement to which he belonged, and his plays and poems had social messages that paved the way for his politics. As a high school student, he laid the foundation of the Tamil Nadu Tamil Manavar Mandram, the first student organization of the Dravidian movement. He also started a school newspaper “Murasoli” which is now known as the official newspaper of DMK. He quickly made a name for himself in Tamil politics due to his intellectual personality and brilliant oratory style.
family
Karunanidhi was born to Muthuvelu and Anju. He is the only son and has two sisters Shanmugasundarath Ammal and Periyanayagam. He had three wives. He married his first wife Padmavathi Ammal in the early 1940s and had a son, MK Muthu.
Karunanidhi married his second wife Dayalu Ammal in 1948 and they had two sons. MK Alagiri (politician), MK Stalin (politician), MK Tamilarasu (producer) and daughter Selvi Geetha Kovilam.
He married his third wife, Rajathi Ammal, in the late 1960s, with whom he had a daughter named Kanimozhi (politician).
Profession
Karunanidhi started his screenwriting career in 1947 with Rajakumaari but got his breakthrough in 1952 with Parasakthi. At the age of 33, he entered politics and came to power, winning the Kulithalai seat in the 1957 elections and entering the Tamil Nadu Assembly. In 1962, he became leader of the opposition. After the DMK came to power in 1967, he became the Public Works Minister. Karunanidhi became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in 1969 when CN Annadurai died after 20 days as Chief Minister and served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. first.
Karunanidhi was elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly 13 times (from 1957 to 2016 elections) and once to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council (now abolished). He served as chief minister five times and as party general secretary for about 50 years. Jayalalithaa was his main political opponent, having defeated him in 1991, 2001, 2002, 2011 and 2015.
While he was chief minister, Karunanidhi wrote the scripts for these films. His last script was Ponnar Shankar (2011).
dispute
Karunanidhi was accused by the Sakarya Commission of being involved in corruption in the allocation of tenders for the Veera South project, for which his government was sacked by the then Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi.
In 2001, Karunanidhi was arrested along with former chief secretary KA Nambiar and accused of corruption in the construction of a flyover in Chennai. He and his party members were charged under numerous sections of the Independent Criminal Procedure Code. However, no conclusive evidence was found against them.
On one occasion, he made controversial remarks about Lord Rama and his existence, and he also made some comments about Rama Sethu. His controversial remarks caused an uproar in the country.
Many accuse him of having links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a militant group that sought to create an independent state for the Tamil-speaking people.
Some political observers, his party members and opponents accuse him of promoting nepotism within the party.
Net Worth/Assets/House
He owns movable assets of Rs 5 crore and is worth over Rs 45 crore (2014).
favorite thing
He is very interested in sports and movies. His favorite cricketers are Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni. His favorite actor is MG Ramachandran.
die
Karunanidhi passed away on August 7, 2018 at the age of 94 at Kauvery Hospital in Chennai due to chronic illness (urinary tract infection). He was buried on August 8, 2018 at Marina Beach in Chennai.
Awards/Achievements
In 1971, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Annamalai University. Tamil University awarded him the Raja Rajan Award for his book “Thenpandi Singam”. At the 40th convocation of Madurai Kamaraj University, he was conferred an honorary doctorate by Surjit Singh Barnala, the then governor and chancellor of the university. In June 2007, he was awarded the title of “Friend of the Muslim Community” by the Tamil Nadu Muslim Makkal Katchi.
fact
- Karunanidhi was born into a poor family. His entire family depends on a temple for their livelihood.
- When he was in school, he was very interested in drama, literature and poetry.
- At the age of 14, he was inspired by Alagiri Swamy of the Justice Party and decided to enter politics.
- When he reached class tenth, he failed and moved to Coimbatore, where he earned a living by writing plays for professional theater companies.
- At the age of 20, he started writing scripts for Tamil films.
- His talents as an orator and writer attracted the attention of Periyar and Annadurai, who appointed him editor of the party magazine Dravidar Kazhagam.
- When Annadurai formed DMK, Karunanidhi was a member of it. Annadurai was his “political mentor”.
- In the late 1960s, he suffered an eye injury in an accident, after which he began wearing glasses.
- After Annadurai’s death in 1969, Karunanidhi succeeded him with the help of his close friend MG Ramachandran.
- In 1972, MG Ramachandran broke away from the party and formed the AIADMK after being rejected for a cabinet post.
- In 1980, he met boxing legend Muhammad Ali who came to India for a guest match.
- Karunanidhi is a big fan of poet Thiruvalluvar. He built a 133 feet tall statue of Thiruvalluvar in Comori (Kanyakumari).
- He wrote the screenplay for American film director Ellis Roderick Dungan.
- In 2006, Karunanidhi became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, becoming the oldest serving Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
- He was popularly known as “Kalaignar” due to his love for art and literature.
- In his 61 years in politics, he never lost an election.
- He is an avid dog lover. His favorite dog is “Kana”, a Lhasa Apso.
- The official theme song “Semmozhiyaana Tamizh Mozhiyaam” was composed by Karunanidhi for the World Classical Tamil Conference 2010 and was tuned by AR Rahman.
- When he died in August 2018, thousands of people gathered at Rajaji Hall. Two people died and thirty others were injured in the stampede.
- In March 2023, ahead of the third ODI between India and Australia, a new stand was inaugurated at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, named after M. Karunanidhi.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education