 The man who could do no wrong in delivering his lines, who could act out any role, came a cropper when it came to acting in real-life politics. Ironically, he lost out to the man who was considered an inferior actor, M G
Ramachandran.
It was a strange reversal of roles for Sivaji and MGR in politics. Sivaji was a rationalist early on. Dravidar Kazhagam founder E V Ramaswamy, more commonly known as Periyar, conferred on 'Sivaji' the title.
However, Sivaji moved over to nationalism and theism later and became a member of the Congress, a supporter of Kamaraj in his last days.
MGR, on the other hand, was early on in the Congress, but moved towards the Dravidian movement later. It is anybody's guess whether their success ratio would have remained the same if MGR had stayed on in the Congress and Sivaji with the Dravidian movement till the end.
Did the Dravidian movement gain more from MGR or was it the other way round? It will always remain a debating point.
Fact is, MGR's contribution was perhaps the most significant since in the run up to the Assembly polls, the DMK used to the hilt the shoot-out in which MGR received a bullet in his throat. Pictures of MGR with a bandage round his throat vastly improved the DMK's fortunes at the hustings, according to observers.
If up to 1967, Sivaji was with the ruling party, from then on MGR had an upper hand, in the formation of the new DMK government, elevated to treasurer and later became Chief Minister on the basis of his Good Samaritan image.
MGR projected himself as a man of the masses, taking up the issues of the lower strata of society, a carefully nurtured, some may say even well-acted out, image but politics is the art of public relations, any way.
 Sivaji as a politician did not set the Cooum on fire. He had no clear political agenda.
His role as a politician was not apparent. He had no mission. Secondly, he was seen as opposing the front with which MGR was associated. The MGR fan clubs were also better
organised.
In the seventies, Sivaji was a supporter of the Congress and Kamaraj. After Indira Gandhi's death in 1984, Sivaji lost a major supporter in the Congress. The equations were not the same with Rajiv Gandhi.
Sivaji, meantime, was also fed on the theories of his close supporters that the time was ripe for him to float a party of his own. See what MGR has done in Tamil Nadu. N T Rama Rao is another actor who has become the CM in AP. Rajkumar also has an active role in politics in Karnataka, they pointed out to him, and egged him on.
After spending some time with the Janata Dal, he was the president of its state unit, he later joined V P Singh's Jan Morcha of which too he was the state unit president.
He launched his own party, Tamizhaga Munnetra Munnani (TMM), with an eye on capturing power in the state in alliance with the AIADMK (Janaki Ramachandran group) which was opposed to Jayalalithaa's
AIADMK.
Sivaji himself contested the elections in 1989 but lost at Tiruvaiyaru. His party came a cropper. Though MGR was gone, Sivaji continued to face political defeats.
Having spent considerable money on his new party, Sivaji gradually distanced himself from active politics, announced the closure of his party. That was the end of the road for Sivaji the politician.
Another tragedy for the man who revelled in tragic roles.
R Rangaraj
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