Rewriting and Actualizing the Script: The Story of M.G. Ramachandran

Abstract

Human history is often haunted by epic heroes and their heroism. Film and reality can have both contrasting and overlapping features either in the past and present or in future. The life of Marudur Gopalan Ramachandran (MGR), a unique film actor in Tamil Nadu, reflects this tendency. He was a hero by himself as well as he was made as hero by the film makers and viewers over the years. He remains as a hero among the people. MGR had his own ideas and interests in his film career. The team ranging from producers, directors, script writers and lyricists and the supporting artists for dance, stunt, make up and costume significantly involved in making his hero image intact. One can believe that there must a convergence between his interests and the interests of his team in making the hero image for different reasons. He kept heroic manners both in films and politics in a pleasing way. He intensely worked for others in politics for fifteen years and another fifteen years for his own politics. By looking into how he rewrote and actualized his life story in relation to his films, one can capture the reality within or beyond the narrative of criticism.

Keywords: heroism, Tamil cinema, film and politics, Tamil Nadu politics, subaltern class