Why AIADMK Is Not Happy With M Karunanidhi’s 100 Centenary Celebrations On December 24

The political party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is celebrating the centenary year of one of its founding members, late M Karunanidhi. It is being celebrated from June 3, 2023 to June 3, 2024. Now, a major event will be held at the MA Chidambaram Stadium (Chennai) this year. This event is named Artist 100 Festival and will be held on December 24. Tamil Film Producers Association has collaborated with other associations of the film industry to organise this event. Now, a problem has erupted as MGR Memorial Day will also be observed on December 24. MGR or MG Ramachandran was one of the acting stalwarts and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (AIADMK) founder as well. AIADMK’s supporters are not happy with the fact that an event is going to be organised on the death anniversary of their founder. M Karunanidhi was also a successful screenwriter in the Tamil film industry. He shared a good bond and friendship with MG Ramachandran, but their political affiliations pulled them apart.

IS Inbadurai, an advocate related to one of the wings of AIADMK, also expressed his views on Twitter. He wrote that, “Dec 24 is MGR’s memorial day. On that day, the nation will be in tears, only the film industry is going to celebrate Karunanidhi’s centenary with music! MGR is a big financial supporter of the formation of the actor’s association!”. Inbadurai has attached pictures of actors Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth. In the pictures, these actors are being felicitated by some people.

In 2013, the Tamil Nadu Government and the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce jointly organised the centenary of Indian Cinema. This centenary marked the 100 years of the Indian cinema’s celebration. This was held under the leadership of J Jayalalithaa, the late Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. At that time, Karunanidhi’s contribution to the film industry was not acknowledged in the centenary. She had instead taken an indirect jibe at Karunanidhi. Jayalalithaa said that everybody knew the plight of the film industry before she assumed power. During this time, the film producers who supported the DMK didn’t oppose the decision of Jayalalithaa to not acknowledge Karunanidhi’s works in the centenary.