UPCLOSE
MEDIA MARAN
The Sun TV boss has created a huge business empire
with his entrepreneurial genius. But is the rupture with the DMK going
to make a paper tiger of Kalanidhi Maran? PC Vinoj Kumar
gets a sense
Mokhallad Lazim |
| |
Friends say Kalanidhi
Maran may be a ruthless businessman, but he is no traitor to the
DMK’s first family |
At 42, Kalanidhi
Maran, one of the most powerful media barons in the country, is facing
the worst time in his life and career. The managing director of the
Sun Network, he has suffered blows one after another in quick succession.
His high-profile younger brother Dayanidhi Maran was unceremoniously
removed from the Union Cabinet. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK),
a party headed by his granduncle and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi,
has made plans to launch a television channel — most likely to
be named ‘Kalaignar TV’ — to air party news, distancing
itself from Sun TV. Further, he has been accused of having attempted
to cause a divide in the Karunanidhi family. And the immediate provocation
for all these was the controversial publication of a survey in his daily
Dinakaran, aimed at selecting Karunanidhi’s political successor.
The survey pitted
Karunanidhi’s heir apparent MK Stalin against his elder brother
MK Azhagiri, half-sister Kanimozhi and ‘others’ (which understandably
includes the then Union it and Communication Minister Dayanidhi Maran).
DMK workers believe
that the survey findings were concocted. But those who are close to
Kalanidhi argue that he is not such a person. He may be a ruthless businessman
but not a traitor, they said. “Those jealous of their (Daya and
Kala) growth have used this opportunity to poison Karunanidhi’s
mind,” argued a friend. Notably, there is little love for the
Marans among the DMK cadre. A senior leader depicts Kalanidhi as a villain.
“He thought he could do anything with money. He planned to promote
Dayanidhi and to capture the party. But it backfired,” the leader
said.
While many in the
DMK are celebrating the fall of the Marans, friends of the duo are still
optimistic about a patch-up. “The Marans-Karunanidhi family bonds
are too strong to snap easily,” they say. It seems so when you
consider that Murasoli Maran (father of Daya and Kala) is son of Karunanidhi’s
elder sister, who is still alive. Karunanidhi’s daughter, Selvi
— sister of Azhagiri and Stalin – is married to Murasoli
Maran’s brother, Murasoli Selvam (who is also in media business).
In fact, in the wake of the recent developments, Selvi is believed to
have taken steps to bring about a compromise but Karunanidhi was reportedly
unwilling to cede ground.
Once, Kalanidhi was
able to take an overdraft of Rs 50 lakh from Indian Bank only
because the DMK had an account there |
In this tough time,
those standing by Kalanidhi are his close friends who hold crucial posts
in the Sun Group. The top brass, including second-in-command Hansraj
Saxena and others like K Shanmugam and RM Ramesh, are Kalanidhi’s
friends from school. In fact, both brothers have the habit of placing
their friends at important posts in their ventures. Kalanidhi did his
schooling at the prestigious Don Bosco in Egmore, Chennai, and took
a Commerce degree from Chennai’s Loyola College. In Loyola, Kalanidhi
became student’s union chairman and led an agitation on the Sri
Lankan Tamils issue.
Kalanidhi did his
MBA from University of Scranton, USA, and returned to India in 1987
though his father was keen to send him for doctoral studies. He joined
Kungumam, a family-run Tamil magazine, as circulation executive and
moved up the ladder. A couple of years later, he started a video news
magazine called Poomaalai.
Married to Kaveri
(who hails from Coorg in Karnataka) in 1991, he has a 15-year-old daughter,
Kavya. Despite the Marans being the proponents of Dravidian politics,
they have a close Brahmin connection. Daya’s father-in-law is
the cousin of N. Ram, editor-in-chief of The Hindu.
He launched Sun
TV in 1993 as a channel, beaming three-hour programmes daily. Today,
it’s a conglomerate consisting of 20 television channels, 7 fm
stations and two Tamil dailies. The Sun empire is a powerful media entity
in four southern states, and Kalanidhi, according to Forbes, is India’s
20th richest person.
Even Kalanidhi’s
rivals are all praise of his business “acumen”. Says Ravinath
Menon, general manger, Vijay TV, “He is sharp and ahead of his
times. Look at where he started and where he is now. Hats off to him.”
But was it his own skills that brought him here? The DMK workers believe
that their party has played a crucial role in making the Marans’
business a success. The Sun TV office itself is located at the DMK headquarters
in Chennai. “It was launched when Jayalalithaa was in power. It
would have been difficult for Kalanidhi to operate from any other place
in the city then,” says a senior DMK leader.
Kalanidhi had little
money when he launched the channel. A former employee recalls that,
in those days, Kalanidhi was able to take an overdraft of Rs 50 lakh
from Indian Bank only because the DMK had its account there. There were
also stories floating in the market that how advertisers were allegedly
browbeaten to do business with the channel whenever the DMK was in power.
According to industry sources, the channel’s political connections
helped them in roping in celebrities for special programmes. Sumangali
Cable Vision, the multi-system operator of the group, was accused of
adopting unfair tactics to expand its network in the state.
Always, the DMK
workers had been there to support the Marans’ ventures. With the
controversial survey, Kalandhi has almost ruined that support-base.
Says a party leader, “We would have ignored the survey findings
had it been done by any other newspaper. Dinakaran should not have done
it.”
Kalanidhi’s
professionalism has often out manoeuvred his political preferences.
In fact, this is an issue that stares Kalanidhi now. His Udaya TV (Kannada)
and Surya TV (Malayalam) often drew flak in Tamil Nadu for its state-centered
reporting on inter-state issues like Cauvery and Mullapperiyar dam disputes.
The DMK workers could not distinguish between Kalandhi, the grandnephew
of Karunanidhi, and Kalanidhi, the businessman.
