In this Indian name, the name "Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran" is a patronymic, not a family name, and the person should be referred to by the given name, "Ramachandran".

Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran
Born	January 17, 1917(1917-01-17) Nawalapitiya, British Ceylon
Died	December 24, 1987 (aged 70) Chennai, India
Other name(s)	M. G. R., Puratchi Thalaivar
Occupation	Actor, Politician, Producer
Spouse(s)	Thangamani (deceased) Sathanandavathi (deceased) V. N. Janaki (died in 1996)

This article contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.

Maruthur Gopalan Ramasamypillai (Tamil: மருதூர் கோபாலன் இராமச்சந்திரன்; Malayalam: എം.ജി രാമചന്ദ്രന്‍ ) (January 17, 1917 – December 24, 1987), popularly known by his initials M. G. R. (Tamil: எம்.ஜி.ஆர்), was an Indian film actor, producer and politician. Well known as a Tamil activist, he served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1977 until his death in 1987.

Contents 1 His Early life and background 2 Acting career 3 Political career 3.1 Member of Legislative Assembly 3.2 Chief Minister 4 Awards 5 Philanthropy 6 Death 7 Filmography 7.1 As producer 8 Gallery 9 References 10 External links

[edit] His Early life and background

M. G. R. was born in Nawalapitiya near Kandy, British Ceylon (present day Sri Lanka), to Keralite Nair parents — Gopala Menon and Maruthur Satyabhama. (Nairs are traditionally matrilineal, hence he shares his matrilineal family surname "Maruthur"). His family was originally from Vadavannur, Palakkad, Kerala, but his father had migrated with his family to Ceylon.^[1][2]

MGR was a Hindu and portrayed himself as a devotee of Lord Murugan, as is common practice for many Hindus in Sri Lanka.^[3] He had asked his followers to pray for the success of his AIADMK party.^[4]

His followers even prayed for him when it was determined that he had a kidney illness.^[5] After his demise, his wife opened up a temple in his name.

After his father's death, he joined a drama troupe called Original Boys. Later, he entered the world of cinema, becoming an actor, and later a director, producer, and editor. MGR married Bargavi also known as Thangamani who died early due to illness. He later married Sathanandavathi who also died soon due to Tuberculosis. M. G. R. married V. N. Janaki a former Tamil film actress as his third wife after the death of his second wife. Janaki divorced her husband Ganapati Bhat, to marry MGR.

[edit] Acting career

Making his film debut in 1935, in the film Sati Leelavati^[6], directed by Ellis Dungan, an American born film director^[7], M. G. R. dominated Tamil cinema during the Fifties and Sixties with multiple blockbusters. Generally starring in romance or action films, M.G.R. got his big breakthrough in the 1947 film Rajakumaari, written by M. Karunanidhi. He rose to super-stardom in 1954 after Malai Kallan. Later, this film was used as a template for other films by playing roles that portrayed him as the saviour of the poor and the oppressed. His movies were the medium of communication for the Dravidian movement.^{[citation needed]}

He had the maximum number of all-time blockbusters to his credit at that time viz. Nadodi Mannan, Enga Veetu Pillai and Adimai Pen. He was shot by fellow actor Mohan R. Radha, affecting his ability to speak clearly. He won the National Film Award for Best Actor for the film Rickshakaran. His film Nadodi Mannan, which was produced and directed by himself and released in 1956, was re-released in 2006 and ran to full houses.^[8]

[edit] Political career

M. G. Ramachandran
Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
Constituency	Andipatti
Political party	ADMK

Dravidian political parties
Dravidian movement Periyar E. V. Ramasamy Rise of Dravidian parties Anti-Hindi agitations Cinema in Dravidian politics
Defunct Dravidian parties Justice party Tamil National Party Thamizhaga Munnetra Munnani Thayga Marumalarchi Kazhagam
Contemporary Dravidian parties Dravidar Kazhagam Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Pattali Makkal Katchi Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam All India Latchiya Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
Chief Ministers from Dravidian parties C. N. Annadurai V. R. Nedunchezhiyan M. Karunanidhi M. G. Ramachandran Janaki Ramachandran J. Jayalalithaa O. Panneerselvam This box: view • talk • edit

MGR was a member of the Congress Party till 1953 and he used to wear kathar. In 1953 MGR joined theDMK with the help of M. Karunanidhi. He became a vocal Tamil and Dravidian nationalist and prominent member of the DMK ("Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam" aka Dravidian Progressive Federation). He added glamour to the Dravidian movement which was sweeping Tamil Nadu. He became a member of the state Legislative Council in 1962. He was first elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly in 1967. After the death of his mentor, Annadurai, MGR became the treasurer of DMK in 1969 after Karunanidhi became the chief minister.

In January 1967, he was shot in the neck by fellow actor M.R. Radha. The bullet was permanently lodged in his neck and his voice damaged. Within hours of the shooting, some 50,000-odd fans had gathered at the hospital where MGR had been taken. People cried in the streets; shops closed. For six weeks, he lay in the hospital as fans awaited each report of his health. He was visited by a steady stream of commoners and luminaries of film industry, polity and bureaucracy. The shooting was supposed to be conspired by his unannounced political rival, M.Karunanidhi. From his hospital bed, he conducted his campaign for Madras Legislative Assembly. He won twice the number of votes polled by his Congress rival and the largest vote polled by any candidate for the Assembly.^[9]

He wanted the financial details of the party to be publicized which enraged the leadership of DMK and in 1972, MGR was expelled from the party, and floated a new party named Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK), later renamed All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), the only powerful opponent of the DMK. He became Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in 1977, remaining in office till his death in 1987. In 1979, members of his party Satyavani Muthu and Aravinda Bala Pajanor, became the first non-Congress politicians from Tamil Nadu to be ministers in the Union Cabinet. The AIADMK won every state assembly election as long as MGR was alive. Although Anna Durai as well as Karunanidhi had acted in stage plays in trivial roles, in their younger days, before becoming chief minister, MGR was the first popular film actor to be a Chief Minister in India.

Once he became Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, he placed great emphasis on social development, especially education. One of his most successful policies was the introduction of the "Mid-day Meal Scheme" introduced by the popular Congress Chief Minister and Kingmaker K Kamaraj to a nutritious Mid-day Meal Scheme in the Government-run and aided schools in Tamil Nadu, which encouraged underprivileged children to attend schools. He also introduced Women's Special buses. He set up a free school for the Cinema Technicians children in Kodambakkam called MGR Primary & Higher Secondary School which provided Free Mid-Day meals in the 1950s.

His was instrumental in setting up the Tamil University, The Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University and the Mother Theresa Women's University in Tamil Nadu.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Member of Legislative Assembly

Year	Elected/Reelected	Place	Party
1967	Elected	St. Thomas Mount	DMK
1971	Reelected	St. Thomas Mount	DMK
1977	Elected	Aruppukottai	ADMK
1980	Elected	Madurai West	ADMK
1984	Elected	Andipatti	ADMK

[edit] Chief Minister

From Year	To Year	Election
1977	1980	Tamil Nadu state assembly election, 1977
1980	1984	Tamil Nadu state assembly election, 1980
1984	1987	Tamil Nadu state assembly election, 1984

[edit] Awards

• National Film Award for Best Actor for the film Rickshakaran in 1972
• Honorary doctorate received from University of Madras and The World University (Arizona)
• Bharat Ratna was conferred by the Government of India (posthumous)

One famous incident was that M. G. R. was nominated for the Padmashree award from the Government of India but he refused to accept as the wording was in Hindi and not in Tamil in 1960.

[edit] Philanthropy

he is good human He was always the first to personally offer relief in disasters and calamities like fire, flood, drought, and cyclones, he was the first donor during the war with China in 1962, donating Rs. 75,000 to the war fund. He was the founder and editor of THAI weekly magazine and ANNA daily newspaper in Tamil. He was the owner of Sathya Studios and Emgeeyar Pictures (willed to charity) which produced many of the films he acted in. He gifted golden sword weighing half a Kilogram to Mookambika temple in Kollur,Udupi district.[2]

[edit] Death

In October 1984, MGR was diagnosed with kidney failure and rushed to the Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, United States for treatment, undergoing a kidney transplant. MGR died on December 24, 1987 after his prolonged illness. His death sparked off a frenzy of looting and rioting all over the state of Tamil Nadu. Shops, movie theatres, buses and other public and private property became the target of violence let loose all over the state. The police had to resort issuing shoot-at-sight orders, something seldom seen or heard of in democratic India.^{[citation needed]} The violence during the funeral alone left 29 people dead and 47 police personnel badly wounded. [3],[4] This state of affairs continued for almost a month all over the state of Tamil Nadu. Around one million[5] people followed his remains, around 30 followers committed suicide and lakhs of people had their heads tonsured. After his death, his political party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, split between his wife Janaki Ramachandran and his political protégé, J. Jayalalithaa; they later merged in 1988. In 1989 Dr. M. G. R. Home and Higher Secondary School for the Speech and Hearing Impaired was established in the erstwhile Residence MGR Gardens, Ramavaram, in accordance with his will dated January 17, 1986. His official residence at 27, Arcot Street, T.Nagar is now MGR Memorial House and is open for public viewing.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] As producer

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1958	Nadodi Mannan		Directed by MGR, a movie that seeded a change in Tamil Nadu’s political history
1961	Paasam
1965	Aayirathil Oruvan (1965) film
1969	Adimai Pen		unusual plot set in a fictional medieval European kingdom
1973	Ulagam Sutrum Valiban		MGR's second venture as Director, Shot mostly in Foreign locations

[edit] Gallery

MGR with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi	MGR at his office at the Secretariat of the Government of Tamil Nadu	MGR's Tomb on the Marina	The Bharat Ratna Citation conferred on MGR.
Temple built for MGR's Mother by MGR.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: M.G. Ramachandran

• M.G. Ramchandran: Jewel of the Masses
• The Hindu - Politics and Suicides in TN
• All about Dr MGR
• MGR Memorial Charitable Trust

Preceded by M Karunanidhi

Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu 1977–1987

Succeeded by Janaki Ramachandran

v • d • e Bharat Ratna laureates Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1954) · C. Rajagopalachari (1954) · C. V. Raman (1954) · Bhagwan Das (1955) · Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya (1955) · Jawaharlal Nehru (1955) · Govind Ballabh Pant (1957) · Dhondo Keshav Karve (1958) · Bidhan Chandra Roy (1961) · Purushottam Das Tandon (1961) · Dr. Rajendra Prasad (1962) · Dr. Zakir Hussain (1963) · Pandurang Vaman Kane (1963) · Lal Bahadur Shastri (1966) · Indira Gandhi (1971) · V. V. Giri (1975) · K. Kamaraj (1976) · Mother Teresa (1980) · Acharya Vinoba Bhave (1983) · Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1987) · M. G. Ramachandran (1988) · B. R. Ambedkar (1990) · Nelson Mandela (1990) · Rajiv Gandhi (1991) · Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (1991) · Morarji Desai (1991) · Abul Kalam Azad (1992) · J. R. D. Tata (1992) · Satyajit Ray (1992) · A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (1997) · Gulzarilal Nanda (1997) · Aruna Asaf Ali (1997) · M. S. Subbulakshmi (1998) · Chidambaram Subramaniam (1998) · Jayaprakash Narayan (1998) · Ravi Shankar (1999) · Amartya Sen (1999) · Gopinath Bordoloi (1999) · Lata Mangeshkar (2001) · Bismillah Khan (2001) · Bhimsen Joshi (2008)

v • d • e National Film Award for Best Actor 1968-1980 Uttam Kumar (1968) · Ashok Kumar (1969) · Utpal Dutt (1970) · Sanjeev Kumar (1971) · M. G. Ramachandran (1972) · Sanjeev Kumar (1973) · P. J. Antony (1974) · Sadhu Mehr (1975) · M. V. Vasudeva Rao (1976) · Mithun Chakraborty (1977) · Bharath Gopi (1978) · Arun Mukherjee (1979) · Naseeruddin Shah (1980) 1981-2000 Balan K. Nair (1981) · Om Puri (1982) · Kamal Haasan (1983) · Om Puri (1984) · Naseeruddin Shah (1985) · Shashi Kapoor (1986) · Charuhasan (1987) · Kamal Haasan (1988) · Premji (1989) · Mammootty (1990) · Amitabh Bachchan (1991) · Mohanlal (1992) · Mithun Chakraborty (1993) · Mammootty (1994) · Nana Patekar (1995) · Rajit Kapur (1996) · Kamal Haasan (1997) · Suresh Gopi and Balachandra Menon (1998) · Mammootty and Ajay Devgan (1999) · Mohanlal (2000) 2001-present Anil Kapoor (2001) · Murali (2002) · Ajay Devgan (2003) · Vikram (2004) · Saif Ali Khan (2005) · Amitabh Bachchan (2006) · Soumitra Chatterjee (2007) · Prakash Raj (2008)

[[ta:]