Ignoring court advice, Karunanidhi unveils Sivaji Ganesan statue

Chennai, July 21 (IANS) Disregarding advice from a court, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi Friday evening inaugurated a statue of the late thespian Sivaji Ganesan on the Marina Beach. The statue joins half a dozen other statues on the beach, including that of Mahatma Gandhi.

The statue was unveiled in the glow of the setting sun, with the tune of 'Tamil Thai', Tamil Nadu's special anthem, filling the air.

Noted actor Kamal Haasan, who has claimed Sivaji as his inspiration, was present at the beach along with T. M. Soundararajan, the noted playback singer who gave voice to songs for Sivaji Ganesan in many popular films.

Tamil superstar Rajnikanth, actor turned politician Vijayakanth, Vijay and a host of other actors from the Tamil film world also graced the occasion.

Karunanidhi's poetess daughter Kanimozhi, son and minister M.K. Stalin were also present on the occasion as were the late Sivaji Ganesan's two sons, Prabhu and Ramkumar, actor and producer

The government has been advertising the installation of this statue for the past few weeks as something Karunanidhi greatly desired, with pictures of young Sivaji Ganesan and young Karunanidhi together as soul mates.

Karunanidhi wrote the script for the film "Parasakthi", the film which introduced Sivaji Ganesan and made him famous as an actor. The chief minister himself wrote a song for the unveiling of Sivaji Ganesan's statue, which was sung at the function by a noted singer.

In this song, Karunanidhi talked of how, despite "all hurdles, we have taken the decision and been successful in installing this statue."

The reference was to objections to the installation of the statue from many quarters.

The eight-foot bronze statue is of the actor, in the role of Chatrapathi Sivaji, a role from which he got to be known worldwide as 'Sivaji' Ganesan.

The statue has been placed by the DMK government in the middle of the Marina Beach road, across Mahatma Gandhi's statue.

A freedom fighter P. N. Srinivasan objected to the positioning of the statue, saying it would obstruct view of the Gandhi statue, and filed a public interest litigation (PIL).

The bench of the Madras High Court, comprising chief justice A.P. Shah and justice D. Murugesan, heard the case and advised the Tamil Nadu government that it was better not to put up the statue on the busy Marina road, as it would obstruct free flow of traffic.

The government did not agree. The court then allowed the government to put up the statue but said it could be removed any time if the court so ruled later.