Why is famous MGR lookalike Thyagarajan not campaigning in this election season?

CHENNAI: P R M Thyagarajan has been doing the role of a lookalike of late Tamil Nadu chief minister M G Ramachandran (MGR) since 2002. Being an ardent fan of the actor-turned-politician, Thyagarajan has so far immortalised many roles of him in his popular colourful attires. But this 65-year-old refused to be the lookalike of MGR in this election season. Why?

“He feels the current political situation in Tamil Nadu is ‘chaotic’, so he is not interested in the election campaign,” said his son T Balaji.

Even though there are many lookalikes of MGR, Thyagarajan is prominent mainly because of his dual role in singing and acting like the way MGR used to do in movies. The AIADMK used this to gain mileage in the previous elections.

Thyagarajan is undergoing treatment in a private hospital in Hyderabad (where he went to see his sister) after he suffered a mild stroke.

Even before hospitalisation, Thyagarajan had taken the decision not to campaign for the AIADMK. “The party (AIADMK) lost its focus after Amma’s (J Jayalalithaa) death. It doesn’t have a leader. He is very much disturbed by this,” he said.

Thyagarajan was a main campaigner for the AIADMK in the 2016 assembly election in the state. He began his campaign at Perungalathur in Tambaram assembly constituency by distributing chocolates to children the way MGR did during poll campaigns. But there was a difference compared the campaigns he had done in the previous elections. Since he thought cinema and politics were two different things, as a lookalike of MGR he should stick to the white and white dress MGR used to wear when he was the chief minister. It was a great success.

It was while performing at a light music show in 2002, some friends told Thyagarajan that he looked like MGR. It was a turning point in his life and he never looked back.

Balaji said his father received several calls from politicians, but he was not interested. “He is an ardent fan of MGR, and he followed his ideologies. He now feels that the party is not on the right track,” he said.

Thyagarajan was not able to speak. He might undergo angioplasty in a week.