Starting his career as a journalist, he worked his way up and today he is a top actor, president of film artistes, leader of political party, editor of an English monthly, donning multi various roles with aplomb.
As an actor he has created a niche for himself; as a Rajya Sabha MP he made a mark in the House; as an editor he is boundless with his enthusiasm to create a free and fair press; and he juggles his various roles with equal élan.
That dynamic person is Sarathkumar, and his actress-wife is Raadhika, and they both make a successful made for each other couple.
Talking to Asian Tribune, Sarathkumar was thankful to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi and the government for having issued a stern warning last week that persons who possessed pirated VCDs and DVDs of movies, as well as producers and peddlers of the pirated material, would be booked under the Goondas Act, a stringent preventive detention law.
Shaken by the posting of the unedited version of his starrer ‘Jaggubhai' on the internet, emotionally-bounded Sarathkumar said that those people could’ve directly shot them to death instead of committing such acts. The director of the film K.S. Ravikumar broke down in tears: “It nearly took Rs.15 crores to produce this film and involves two years of hard work.
But I am not able to withstand the cruel deed of those heartless people.” And the film industry appealed to the state government to protect the industry from the evil of piracy.
He did not stop with that. As the President of the South Indian Film Artistes association, Sarathkumar lead a film industry representative team, along with matinee idols Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan, met the Chief Minister, and the government immediately announced that provisions of the Copyright Act 1957 would also be invoked against offenders. Firm steps would be taken to ensure that the offenders got the minimum punishment of six months' prison term under the Copyright Act and it would recommend to the Centre that the provisions of the law be strengthened.
Tamil Nadu was the first state to include video piracy in the Goondas Act as early as in 2004. Now it will follow the Maharashtra example of punishing not only those selling pirated CDs but also those buying them. Though it had not amended its law, the government has issued a warning. The 2004 amendment to the Goondas Act itself had invited objection from human rights activists, but was upheld by the courts. The law is mainly invoked against habitual offenders, land-grabbers and bootleggers. Video pirates were treated on a par with these offenders, he said.
While announcing these measures, the government also asked the filmdom to take its own preventive and precautionary efforts like encryption to plug avenues for leakage of film footage at various stages of production, he said.
Acknowledging that some elements inside the cine field were behind the leak of an yet-to-be released movie, Sarathkumar said they were talking to all the film industry associations to find ways to plug the loopholes. He insisted that it was not an issue related to the stars and producers but one that affected lakhs of workers dependent on the film industry.
A multifaceted personality Sarathkumar has a keen interest in grassroots democracy with limitless passion to develop the full potential of youth on a strong moral foundation. He insists that our youth should achieve excellence built on values of hard work.
His talks are laced with progressive ideas and he considers politics as an extended way of social service. He is a true follower of the two great leaders, Mahathma Gandhiji and Kamaraj.
As a DMK Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) from 2001 to 2006, Sarath fought against female infanticide and this singularly marks the clarity of his vision.
Over a difference of opinion he left DMK and launched his political party “Akila India Samathuva Makkal Katchi.”
Launches his magazine
That journalistic experience he had gone through in the beginning of his career, made him perfect in that line also. He has launched with great enthusiasm and gusto a luminous English magazine Media Voice, which has picked up good readership for its different presentation.
Sarathkumar was born on 14 July 1954 in New Delhi to M. Ramanathan and Pushpa Leela. He has a sister named Mallika Kumar. His native place is Thalakavur in Sivaganga district near Karaikudi. He graduated with his B. Sc. in Mathematics from the New College, Chennai.
Sarathkumar started his career in Tamil cinema playing negative roles, and later played minor roles in other movies. He was first chosen for the lead role in “Suriyan” which was a success at box-office. He mainly played the role of an honest cop.
As to why he came to films he says “Because I had an idol in MGR. I was a fanatical fan of MGR. But my father wanted me to be a police officer. In fact, earlier I had an eye towards that but later on, it changed. My brother-in-law who was a minister in the DMK government told me that a police officer had to listen to politicians and he wouldn't be able to take a decision on his own! Then of course, I always had this acting thing in me. I wanted to be like MGR. I adored that man. His thinking was positive. What attracted me to him was the way he maintained his health.”
Sarathkumar is body builder, may be inspired by MGR.
Sarathkumar is married to actress Raadhika since 2001 and they have a son named Rahul, who was born in 2004. His first wife was Chaya Devi, with whom he has two daughters named Varalaxmi Sarathkumar and Pooja Sarathkumar. Varalaxmi is reportedly is having acting interest. Sarathkumar is also the stepfather to Raadhika's daughter Rayanne.
Sarathkumar has acted in six regional languages including English, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada. He has received critical acclaim for his roles in the films Pulan Visaranai, Sooriyan, Naataamai, Suryavamsam, Natpukkaga, Cheran Pandian and the latest release Pazhassi Raja.
His political foray
Sarathkumar joined DMK in the year 1996. DMK fielded him in Tirunelveli Lok Sabha constituency during 1998 parliamentary elections and he lost by small margin. In the election DMK lost very badly and the alliance could muster only 9 seats compared to the 40 seats it swept in 1996. Even though DMK lost badly in many constituencies, Sarathkumar was defeated by Kadambur R. Janarthanan by a margin of only 6000 votes.
In 2002, DMK made him a Rajya Sabha member. He left DMK before 2006 Assembly elections owing to differences with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi's family members. He joined AIADMK along with his wife Radhika and campaigned vigorously for that party.
His wife Radhika Sarathkumar was dismissed from AIADMK for anti-party activities in October 2006. He also quit from AIADMK in November 2006 quoting his workload in film industry as a reason.
On 31 August 2007, Sarathkumar floated a new party named 'Akila Indiya Samathuva Makkal Katchi' He has vowed to bring back Kamarajar rule in Tamil Nadu. His party was humiliated with less than 1% votes in the Thirumangalam by-election.
Sarathkumar after Pazhassi Raja, for which he got critical acclaim and box-office success, has become hot property in the Malayalam film industry. Now, Sarathkumar is once again doing a Malayalam film, and this time, with none other than the superstar Mohanlal.
The Nadigar Sangam chief has been getting a lot of offers from Kerala and soon, he may do a big solo hero film in Mollywood.
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- Asian Tribune -
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