Murasoli Maran

Murasoli Maran (17 August 1934 – 23 November 2003) was an Indian politician and an important leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party which was headed by his maternal uncle and mentor, M. Karunanidhi.

A Member of Parliament for 36 years, he was made a Union Minister in three separate central governments, in charge of Urban Development in the V.P. Singh government, Industry in the Gowda and Gujral governments, and finally Commerce and Industry under Vajpayee.

Apart from being a politician, Maran was a journalist and scriptwriter for films too.

Murasoli Maran was born on 17 August 1934 to Shanmugasundari, the elder sister of M. Karunanidhi, in Thirukkuvalai Village Thiruvarur in Tamil Nadu.

After completing his basic education in his hometown he headed to Madras to get a master's degree in Arts (M.A) from Pachaiyappa's College and Law College, Madras.

Before joining politics, Maran worked as a Journalist and later served as a social worker.

Since his student life in Madras, he was closely associated with the DMK.

On 15 September 1963 he married Mallika and they had two sons and a daughter.

His younger son Dayanidhi Maran was an MP (Ex-Union Minister) and his elder son Kalanithi Maran heads and owns the popular TV Network Sun TV.

His daughter Anbukarasi Maran is a cardiologist.

He was very vocal against Hindi being introduced in Tamil Nadu and for this he was arrested in 1965 during anti-Hindi agitations for his articles.

He was detained for a year under Maintenance of Internal Security Act during the emergency.

Maran edited a daily newspaper in Tamil Murasoli published from Chennai.

He was also an editor of The Rising Sun, a weekly in English.

He published Kunguman, Muththaram, Vannathirai and Sumangali in Tamil language.

Murasoli Maran provided screen play and dialogues for more than twenty films in Tamil.

He has produced five and directed two films in Tamil

The Sangeet Natak Academy conferred the title Kalai-Mamani in 1975.

He was awarded the President's Certificate of Merit and Tamil Nadu Government Award for three best feature films.

As a Member of Parliament his qualification would read as M.A., M.P. The MA was his Arts degree at the Pachayappas College.

The MP signified his being the Member of Parliament.

Before treatment at Apollo Hospital, on 14 November 2002, he was admitted to the Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas, for ailments related to heart (Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy) and kidney.

At the time of his death he was a Cabinet Minister, Government of India, without any portfolio.

Then-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and an array of leaders, attended his funeral in Chennai.

Murasoli Maran died aged 69 on 23 November 2003 at Apollo Hospital in Chennai.

He was in coma for many weeks.