Politics: where the versatile Bhagyaraj could not make a dent

Veteran film director K. Bhagyaraj had once tried his hand in politics but, despite being known as the “film heir” of AIADMK founder and former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran (MGR), he could not come to terms with the rough and tumble of politics.

As a devout follower of MGR, Mr. Bhagyaraj was naturally associated with the AIADMK. While launching a Tamil newspaper in 1984, MGR called Mr. Bhagyaraj his kalai ulaga vaarisu (successor in the world of arts). MGR attended Mr. Bhagyaraj’s marriage to actor Poornima. All this gave Mr. Bhagyaraj considerable mileage.

At the time of the AIADMK’s first split in 1988, he sided with the Janaki Ramachandran faction. But after the AIADMK (Janaki Ramachandran) group fared poorly in the Assembly polls in January 1989, Mr. Bhagyaraj left the party and launched the MGR Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam the next month, purportedly to “carry on the legacy of MGR” by dovetailing his fan clubs with those of MGR supporters. Later that year, when the Lok Sabha elections took place, the MGR Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam supported the DMK-led front. After realising that his solo performance did not yield dividends, he returned to the AIADMK banner.

In April 2006, on the eve of the Assembly election, Mr. Bhagyaraj, after meeting DMK president M. Karunanidhi, joined the party. At that time, he told this newspaper that as a supporter of the AIADMK, he had thought that Jayalalithaa was the “fittest person” to lead the country. But after she launched a personal attack on some national leaders, he decided to keep away from politics. His decision to join the Dravidian major was because only the DMK-led front could “fulfil people’s aspirations and take the State forward.”

In April 2022, Mr. Bhagyaraj participated in the launch of a publication on the welfare policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the State BJP headquarters, and his remarks at the event triggered a row, for which he later expressed regret.