Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and politician M.G.Ramachandran was a very prominent face of the Dravidian movement. Dravidian movement or self-respect movement was founded in 1925 by E.V. Ramasamy. The movement strongly criticised all religions and instilled a deep faith in atheism. M.G.R was a part of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam at that time and it followed the ideals of the Dravidian movement strictly. He even went to the extent of not acting in a particular scene as it went against his party’s policies.
The film, Rani Lalithangi, was directed by T.R.Raghunath. Bhanumathi Ramakrishna, R.Balasubramanian and others were a part of the film. M.G.R was to play the role of hero in this project. Everything was going on smoothly till M.G.R was asked to act in a scene praising God. M.G.R backed off from the scene saying that, this scene was against the principles of his party and he, therefore, he can’t do that.
MGR decided to leave the film midway. The makers were flabbergasted. Most of the film had already been shot. They were demoralised but producer Thanjai Narayanasamy Ramaiah Dass was not the one to give up so easily.
Thanjai decided to complete the film with another actor Shivaji Ganesan and M.G.R was left in a state of shock. Not able to tolerate another actor doing his role, M.G.R decided to challenge Thanjai in court. The legal battle was ultimately won by Thanjai. Rani Lalithangi was released in 1957 and tanked at the box office.
The failure of Rani Lalithangi and the legal battle with M.G.R took a toll on the financial situation of Thanjai. He was forced to sell his house to pay the debts. Thanjai’s daughter recalls that her father lost everything after writing and producing Rani Lalithangi.
Thanjai didn’t lose courage and decided to move on from the financial loss caused by Rani Lalithangi. He wrote songs for films like Kaathavaraayan, Kadan Vaangi Kalyanam and Harishchandra but couldn’t recover the loss due to Rani Lalithangi.
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