The playwright who turned a stolen necklace into a political revolution

Countries & Cities · Published 12 October 2026 · Updated 21 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Before he was the longest-serving Chief Minister in Tamil Nadu's history, M. Karunanidhi was a teenager who pawned his mother's gold necklace to fund a student association. His journey from a humiliated music student to a cinematic powerhouse and political titan is a masterclass in ideological conviction.

Born in 1924, Karunanidhi's political awakening was rooted in personal humiliation. While learning music in temples, he was forbidden from covering his upper body or wearing slippers as a sign of respect to upper-caste individuals. He described these music lessons as his 'first political studies,' where he witnessed the systematic oppression and self-righteousness of the caste system. This experience drove him to join the Self-Respect Movement and later help found the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in 1949. His early activism was marked by extreme personal sacrifice and physical risk. At age 15, he founded a student magazine and later organized protests against mandatory Hindi education. To fund a student association in 1942, he famously pawned a gold necklace his mother had made for him.

His commitment to his ideals even led to a brutal assault in Pondicherry; after being beaten unconscious by Congress workers for his writings, he was left in a sewer before being nursed back to health by an old woman. Karunanidhi successfully bridged the worlds of literature, cinema, and governance. As a screenwriter, he composed dialogue for landmark films like 'Parasakthi' and 'Rajakumari,' using the medium to propagate egalitarian ideals. He served as Chief Minister for five terms between 1969 and 2011, championing state autonomy and caste-based affirmative action. His legacy is defined by a transition from a radical student activist to a sophisticated statesman who secured classical status for the Tamil language.

Karunanidhi's political career was defined by a complex web of shifting alliances with national parties like the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, alongside a fierce, decades-long rivalry with J. Jayalalithaa. Despite facing controversies—including a 1991 government dismissal and a 2001 arrest—he remained a dominant force in Tamil politics until his death in 2018.

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