R. M. Veerappan

R.M. Veerappan
Minister for Information and Hindu Religious Endowments
In office 30 June 1977 – 17 February 1980
In office 9 June 1980 – 9 February 1985
Minister for Local Administration
In office 10 February 1985 – 30 January 1988
Minister of Education and Youth Welfare
In office 24 June 1991 – 12 May 1996
Joint General Secretary of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
In office 1989–1993
Deputy	V. R. Nedunchezhiyan
General Secretary	J.Jayalalithaa
Preceded by	position established
Succeeded by	position abolished
Leader of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
In office 7 January 1988 – 30 January 1988
Personal details
Born	(1926-09-09)9 September 1926 Vallathirakottai, Pudukkottai State, British India
Died	9 April 2024(2024-04-09) (aged 97) Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Political party	DMK, AIADMK, MGR Kazhagam
Spouse	Rajammal
Children	6
Parent(s)	Ramasamy (father), Deivanai (mother)
Occupation	Politician, film producer

R. M. Veerappan (also referred to as RMV or Rama Veerappan, 9 September 1926 – 9 April 2024) was an Indian politician, an early Dravidian Leader, and a film producer and screenwriter from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He was the founder and leader of the MGR Kazhagam party. He served as a Cabinet Minister in five governments from 1977 to 1996, was a three-time Member of Legislative Council and a two-time member of the Legislative Assembly. He was the Leader of the House for Legislative Assembly and Leader of ADMK party of the Legislative Council. He was the architect behind the ADMK organization, unified the MGR fan clubs for the party formation. He was called as the 'Chanakya' of AIADMK politics in the 70's and 80's.

Political and entertainment career

Veerappan was introduced to Periyar in Karaikudi by Rama Subbaiah. He soon began to follow his Dravidian ideologies. He moved to Erode with Periyar and was there with him for some time. He met many other Dravidian leaders. He subsequently joined K R Ramaswamy's Krishnan Drama Company as supervisor. During this period, he became an admirer of Arignar Anna and also friends with Chevalier Sivaji Ganesan. The company was closed in 1950 and R. M. V. went to Madras.

In 1953 he met MGR through the advice of his mentor C N Annadurai and joined his drama company as Manager, later becoming an executive director of the Company Em.Gee.Yar Pictures. Nadodi Mannan was the first film under this banner which was released on 22 August 1958. The company later filmed Adimai Penn and Ulagam sutrum Valiban.

Veerappan later started his own production house and the banner's debut movie titled "Deiva Thai," with MGR in the lead role, was released in 1964. Director K Balachander made his debut into the Tamil film industry by writing the dialogues for this movie. Following that, MGR and RMV appeared together in many movies under this banner, such as Naan Anayittal, Kaavalkaran, Kannan En Kadhalan and Idhaya Kani. Rickshawkaran, produced by Sathya Movies, helped MGR achieve the National award for his performance. In addition to this, the production house made films including Kadhal Parisu, Kakki Chattai, Ranuva Veeran, Moondru Mugam, Thanga Magan, Oor Kavalan, Panakaran, Baasha, Mandhira Punnagai, and Puthiya Vaanam. Among his movies, Basha, was remarkable and set box office records in all major South Indian languages.

Veerappan was using the super star status of MGR to propagate the DMK ideologies in his films and Rickshawkaran was a prime example where the movie was used to propagate Arignar Anna's DMK ideology during 1971 elections. When MGR moved out of the DMK following differences with M. Karunanidhi in 1972, RMV organised the fan clubs and helped him in starting the AIADMK. In 1984, while MGR was ill, K. RMV, oversaw the party proceedings and election campaigning. Following the death of MGR in 1987, the party broke up into two factions where the larger faction was headed by him. He garnered support of 98 MLA's to instill V.N. Janaki as the Chief Minister and then later reconciled with J. Jayalalithaa's faction and was the Joint General Secretary of the party.

Veerappan was elected to the legislative assembly two times and to the legislative council three times. He was elected to the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly in the Tirunelveli constituency as an Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam candidate in the Tamil Nadu state assembly by-election in 1986 and in the Kangayam constituency of Tamil Nadu state assembly by-election in 1991[2].

M.G.R. Kazhagam

M.G.R. Kazhagam (M.G.R. Federation), a political party in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The president of M.G.R. Kazhagam was R. M. Veerappan, a former All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) founder and leader of the House.

M.G.R. Kazhagam supported the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led Democratic Progressive Alliance in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.

Electoral Career

Tamil Nadu Legislative Council Elections Contested

Year	Election	Party	Result
1977	Tamil Nadu Legislative Council	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Won
1983	Tamil Nadu Legislative Council	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Won

Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Elections Contested

Elections	Constituency	Party	Result	Vote percentage	Opposition Candidate	Opposition Party	Opposition vote percentage
1986 Tamil Nadu By Election	Tirunelveli	AIADMK	Won	56	A. L. Subramanian	DMK	41.94
1989 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election	Pudukkottai	AIADMK(JR)	Lost	20.89	A. Periannan	DMK	36.24
1991 Tamil Nadu By Election	Kangayam	AIADMK	Won	96.57	C. S. Amnachalam	Independent	1.05
2001 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election	Alandur	MGR Kazhagam	Lost	41.25	B. Valarmathi	AIADMK	47.59

Literary and social service activities

He was the founder and President of Kamban Kazhagam and Azhvargal Aaiyvu Maiyam. He also ran an education trust which funds the education of the oppressed.

Personal life and death

Veerappan married Thirumathi Rajammal on 12 March 1956, in Thiruparangundram. The wedding was conducted in the Tamil tradition under Arignar Anna. They have 3 daughters and 3 sons. The eldest daughter, Thirumathi Selvi, married T. G. Thyagarajan of Sathya Jyothi Films, son of Thiru. Venus Govindarajan of Venus Pictures.

R. M. Veerappan died on 9 April 2024, at the age of 97.

Filmography

Year	Film	Cast	Notes
1964	Dheiva Thaai	M. G. Ramachandran, Saroja Devi, M. N. Nambiar
1966	Naan Aanaiyittal	M. G. Ramachandran, Saroja Devi, K. R. Vijaya
1967	Kaavalkaaran	M. G. Ramachandran, Jayalalithaa, Sivakumar
1968	Kannan En Kadhalan	M. G. Ramachandran, Jayalalithaa, Vanisri
1969	Kanni Penn	Jaishankar, Vanisri, Lakshmi, Sivakumar
1971	Rickshawkaran	M. G. Ramachandran, Padmini, Manjula
1973	Manipayal	A.V.M. Rajan, Jayanthi, Master Sekhar
1975	Idhayakkani	M. G. Ramachandran, Radha Saluja
1980	Oru Velladu Vengaiyagiradhu	Sivakumar, Saritha
1981	Ranuva Veeran	Rajinikanth, Chiranjeevi, Sridevi
1982	Moondru Mugam	Rajinikanth, Radhika, Senthamarai
1983	Thanga Magan	Rajinikanth, Poornima Jayaram, Jaishankar
1985	Kakki Sattai	Kamal Haasan, Madhavi, Ambika
1986	Mandhira Punnagai	Sathyaraj, Nadhiya, Sujitha
1987	Oorkavalan	Rajinikanth, Radhika, Raghuvaran
1987	Kadhal Parisu	Kamal Haasan, Radha, Ambika
1988	Puthiya Vaanam	Sivaji Ganesan, Sathyaraj, Rupini, Gautami
1989	En Thangai	Arjun, Gautami
1990	Panakkaran	Rajinikanth, Gautami, Vijayakumar
1990	Nila Pennae	Anand, Divya Bharati
1991	Pudhu Manithan	Sathyaraj, Bhanupriya, Sarath Kumar
1993	Enga Thambi	Prashanth, Subhashri, Lakshmi
1995	Baashha	Rajinikanth, Nagma, Raghuvaran
2006	Em Magan	Bharath, Gopika, Nassar