It could be surprising for many to know that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin also once tried his luck in acting before becoming a prominent political leader. He was seen in films Makkal Aanai Ittal and Ore Ratham. Makkal Aanai Ittal was directed by Ramanarayanan while Ore Ratham was helmed by filmmaker K Swarnam.
Both the films were based on the stories written by his late father and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi.
Vijayakanth, Radha Ravi, and others played important roles in Makkal Aanai Ittal. In this movie Vijayakanth played a police officer’s character. MK Stalin appeared in a song titled Aara Amara in this movie. Stalin was seen holding Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s flag in this song. This sequence became extremely popular.
Director Ramanarayanan was a staunch supporter of M Karunanidhi. In DMK’s regime, he was made the president of Tamil Nadu Filmmakers Association. Apart from Makkal Aanai Ittal, Ramanarayanan directed a total of three films, which were based on stories written by Karunanidhi.
In film Ore Ratham, Stalin was seen along with Radha Ravi and Karthik. Stalin enacted the role of Nandhakumar in the movie. Ore Ratham was based on a novel of same title by Karunanidhi. This film narrated the story of Mahesh who is an educated young man. Ore Ratham described how his father is an extremely orthodox person who believed in caste system.
Besides these films, Stalin was also seen in a television serial named Kurinji Malar. The serial was successful and became popular with DMK cadres in 1980s. Stalin enacted Aravindhan’s character who is a young poet with Dravidian ideals.
Despite the success of this serial, Stalin remained focused on politics. He won the 1989 assembly elections from Thousand Lights constituency. In 1996, Stalin was Chennai’s first directly elected mayor.
