Stalin winds up with film songs

From the jeep, a man dressed in blue-white striped shirt, and basking in the glow of the spotlights fixed on the vehicle, waved his hands at the people, a few of whom had a red and black shawl coiled around their neck. 

For a while, the 60-plus VIP visitor who was decked up adequately to disguise his age, fired a volley of charges against chief minister Jayalalithaa. As anxious onlookers pulled out their mobile phones and attempted to grab an image of the VIP, out came a hoarse voice “Innum ethanai kaalam thaan yematruvar intha naatiley,” an old number from the famous Robin Hood styled Tamil movie Malai Kallan starring MGR.

Even before the onlookers came to terms with the rendition, the loudspeaker blurted out; “Sathiyam tha varatha uthamar polavey nadikkiraar,” taking people by surprise, some of whom hummed the tunes, while many whistled and clapped in elation. Like the song, the VIP also swayed in a fluid and yet animated fashion from the van. It might be a tad too hard to believe, but the VIP singer was indeed DMK treasurer MK Stalin, campaigning for his candidate Ravichandran in Egmore.

Lacking the energy and enthusiasm of his son, DMK president M Karunanidhi extensively recalled his infamous 2001 midnight arrest at the final rally of the May 16 poll in Chintadaripet and said: “DMK is a social movement. We were raised by Periyar and Anna. We (DMK) will not seek political vendetta. Jayalalithaa need not fear. If Jayalalithaa thinks that continuing public welfare schemes of the DMK regime is vendetta, I will continue to do it forever,” he wrapped at 6 pm.