MGR, through the eyes of a new biography

The book shows how MGR cultivated his cinematic image to become a cult hero in politics too

Unlike almost anywhere else in India, Tamil Nadu had thrown up towering personalities of regional identity politics, who were unique at a time when nationalism was stirring the rest of India in the decades leading up to independence. 

They were political ideologues, writers, poets and polemicists who were vital to spearheading the Dravidian movement, challenging established social dynamics, caste hegemonies and upholding Tamil pride and resistance to Hindi and north Indian entitlement. 

Among them, none was as unique as the late matinee idol and long-time chief minister of Tamil Nadu, Marudur Gopalan Ramachandran, or MGR, and the founder of All