Karunanidhi to donate film earnings as tsunami relief

Chennai, Jan 7 (IANS): DMK president Muthuvel Karunanidhi has offered to donate for tsunami relief his earnings from writing the story and dialogues of two forthcoming films.

"I have been associated with the Tamil film industry for over five decades. I want the donation to be included in the collection being made by film personalities for the Chief Minister's Relief Fund," Karunanidhi said in a statement.

The latest films he has scripted are "Kannamma" and "Manian Maindan".

The DMK trust had earlier donated Rs.10 million to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund after tsunamis devastated Tamil Nadu Dec 26, killing over 7,000 people.

Karunanidhi had handed over the cheque to Congress president Sonia Gandhi who visited a city hospital to see him recouping from an illness. The DMK president was later discharged from the hospital.

DMK's media mouthpiece, the Sun network, too has been at the forefront of collecting relief for tsunami victims. The network owns 10 TV channels, covering four south Indian states.

"We have been putting up promos for contribution to tsunami-hit victims," said R.M. Shanmugam, vice president of Sun TV, the flagship organisation of Sun network.

Without giving the actual figures, which unofficially is learnt to have crossed over Rs.10 million, Shanmugam said: "The response from the public has been overwhelming.

"Contributions, which are both in cash and kind, are pouring in and our chief, Kalanidhi Maran, would be meeting the prime minister soon to hand over the cheque for the relief fund."

The donations are routed through the Sun Foundation, which is engaged in relief and rehabilitation, Shanmugam said.

The volunteers of the foundation who are mostly the staff of Sun TV are going with the relief material to costal districts and distributing them to affected people.

R.M. Ramesh, vice president, administration, Sun Network, said the entire staff had decided to donate a day's salary for tsunami victims.

Sun TV is at the forefront of covering tsunami-hit areas. Even though there has been criticism about its live pictures which some say are causing more trauma than relief, it has also been appreciated by many.