AIADMK Wants "Non Factual" Thalaivi Scenes On MGR, Jayalalithaa Deleted

The opposition party All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in Tamil Nadu today objected to certain references about party stalwarts -- the late Mr MG Ramachandran and Ms J Jayalalithaa -- in the latter's multi-lingual biopic 'Thalaivi', and wanted the scenes deleted.

Senior AIADMK leader and former minister, Mr D Jayakumar, who watched the film directed by AL Vijay at a cinema theatre, said such references were not factual and insisted that barring them the movie was a well-made one with a lot of effort put in and that it will receive good response both from party supporters as well as the general public.

For instance, one scene showed Ramachandran, fondly addressed as MGR, as seeking a minister post in the first Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government and being denied by the late M Karunanidhi, Mr Jayakumar said, and asserted the yesteryear matinee idol-turned-politician was never after such posts.

Ramachandran was then part of the DMK which, under its founder, the late CN Annadurai, unseated the Congress in the 1967 elections to become the first regional party to head the state in independent India. Later, Mr Ramachandran parted ways with it when Mr Karunanidhi helmed the party and launched his AIADMK in 1972. The DMK chief succeeded Annadurai as Chief Minister following his death in 1969.

Mr Jayakumar said while pictures of Ramachandran undergoing treatment carried in party posters after he was shot at, allegedly by the late actor MR Radha, played a vital role in DMK's victory, Annadurai subsequently wanted to make Ramachandran a minister, which he refused but was later made deputy chief of Small Savings, a newly created post.

Mr Jayakumar said that the film portrayed as if Ramachandran had sought a minister's post after Annadurai's death, when Mr Karunanidhi took over the mantle and said, "This is not true."

In fact, it was Ramachandran who proposed Karunanidhi's candidature for the Chief Minister's post after Annadurai's death, he said.

"It would be better if the scene is deleted," he said.

Some other scenes -- one claiming Jayalalithaa was in touch with the late Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Mr Rajiv Gandhi without Ramachandran's knowledge that gave an impression as if she was going against him, as well as another scene showing Ramachandran "belittling" her also were not true, he said.

"So these scenes should be removed. This is our request," he added.

The former Assembly speaker recalled he had "travelled" with Jayalalithaa since 1982 and had turned nostalgic after watching the film.

"This is a well-made film and if some of the scenes are addressed (deleted), it will become a big hit," Jayakumar added.

'Thalaivi,' starring Kangana Ranaut, Aravind Swamy and Nassar, among others, is a multilingual biographical film about the life of Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who had paired opposite yesteryear matinee idol and late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Ramachandran, thespian late Sivaji Ganesan and many others before charting a successful political career.

She died in December 2016 after 75 days of hospitalisation.

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