M.G.RAMACHANDRAN

Marudhur Gopalan Ramachandran who was on 17th January 1917 was popularly known only by his initials MGR. He was a great famous Tamil film actor, producer, director and politician who also served the country as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu consecutively for three terms.

In his days of youth Dr.MGR and his elder brother named M. G. Chakrapani became the members of a stage drama troupe to support the the needs of their family. He was greatly influenced by Gandhian ideals and hence MGR joined the party named Indian National Congress. After a few years of successful acting in plays, he made his entry into films with his debut film releasing in the year 1936 with the film Sathi Leelavathi in a supporting role.

In the late 1940's he started to do leading roles in films and ruled the Tamil cinema industry for the next three decades. He then became a member of the party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam shortly called as DMK in Tamilnadu and rose rapidly inside through its ranks.

He productively used his fame as a film hero to build a very large political base for himself. In the year 1972, he left the DMK party to form his very own party named as the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam which is shortly referred as ADMK. In the year 1977 he was voted as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu and held the record for being the first actor in India to become the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. He then remained as Chief minister till his last days which was in the year 1987. In the state Tamil Nadu, he had a status for philanthropism and is known to be one of the supreme political leaders and actor of the state of his time. He is one of the supreme super star of the Indian cinema . He is still been idolized by his followers with the title Puratchi Thalaivar MGR who was posthumously honored with the Bharat Ratna Award which is India's highest civilian award.

Career in Acting Awards Career in Politics Personal life He made his film debut in the year 1935 in the film titled Sati Leelavati which was directed by ace director Ellis Dungan who was an American born film director. Generally starring only in romance or action based films, MGR got his great breakthrough in the the year 1947 with the film titled Rajakumaari that was written by M. Karunanidhi. He has had the maximum number of all time blockbusters to his credit at that time with films like Nadodi Mannan, Enga Veetu Pillai and Adimai Pen. He was shot by his fellow actor Mohan R. Radha that affected his ability to speak very clearly. He won the Best Actor National Film Award for the film titled Rickshakaran. His film titled Nadodi Mannan, which was produced and directed by himself and was released in th year 1956 ran to full house in theatres. He also got the Bharata Ratna Award from the Indian Government. He won the following awards: Filmfare Best Actor Award for the film Enga Veettu Pillai Filmfare Best Film Award for the film Adimai Penn National Film Award for Best Actor for the film Rickshawkaran in the year 1971 Honorary doctorate received from the University of Madras and The World University (Arizona) Bharat Ratna was conferred by the Government of India (posthumously) in the year 1988 for his reformation activities in Tamil Nadu MGR remained as the member of the Congress Party till the year 1953 and he used to wear Khadi cloths. In the year 1953 MGR joined the party named Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam which was shortly referred as DMK with the help of M. Karunanidhi who is now the chief member of the party. He added so much glamour to the Dravidian movement which was sweeping Tamil Nadu at that time. He became the member of the state Legislative Council in the year 1962. He then was first elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly in the year 1967. After the death of his mentor Annadurai, MGR became the treasurer of DMK party in the year 1969 after M.Karunanidhi became the Chief minister of the state. On the 12th of January in the year 1967, he was shot in the neck by his fellow actor M.R. Radha. The bullet got permanently lodged in his neck and his voice was damaged. The shooting was reported to be conspired by his unexpected political rival M.Karunanidhi. From his hospital bed he carried out his campaign for the Madras Legislative Assembly. He won twice the total number of votes polled by his Congress rival and the largest vote that was polled by any candidate for that Assembly. In the year 1972, DMK leader M.Karunanithi started to project his first son named M.K.Muthu in a big way in the film industry and also in the field of politics. Understanding the tactics that was played by Karunanithi to corner him, MGR started to allege that corruption had grown high within the party after the demise of Annadurai and in a public meeting he also asked for the financial details of the party to be publicized which infuriated the leadership of the DMK. As a result, as estimated, MGR was barred from the party, and he floated a new party that was named Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam which was in short referred as ADMK, later he renamed it as All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the only powerful opponent of the DMK party. He then mobilised the period between the years 1972 to 1977 to spread and preach his party ambiition with the films like Netru Indru Naalai in the year 1974, Idhayakani in the year 1975 etc. He then became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on 30th of July 1977, remaining in the office till his death in the year 1987. MGR was the first popular film actor to be a Chief Minister in India. MGR was married to Bargavi who was also known as Thangamani but she died early due to illness. He then later got married to Sathanandavathhi who also again died soon due to Tuberculosis. MGR then married V.N.Janaki who was a former Tamil film industry actress as his third wife soon after the death of his second wife. Janaki actually divorced her husband named Ganapati Bhatt just to marry MGR.