I still remember my first meeting with Kalaignar. I was travelling from Chennai to Erode by train, and he was in the next compartment. They told me Kalaignar is here and it would be nice if I could meet him. At that time, I wasn't fluent in Tamil; I could understand but couldn't speak. I said vanakam, and he said he had seen my films and that I was a good actor. This was just after I did Chinna Thambi (1991). When I told I cannot converse much in Tamil, he told me, “It's such a shame. You are a good actor, you must learn the language.” This, coming from someone like him, inspired me to learn Tamil. I have listened to his speeches, and have always been fascinated by the way he spoke and the Tamil he spoke. I have seen the euphoria that people used to have when he addressed them.
Today, people take so much pride in speaking the Tamil language, and consider it one of the most beautiful languages. I think the credit should be given to Kalaignar because he gave a complete different turn to Tamil language, and ensured people take pride in it. When it comes to cinema, be it actors like Sivaji Ganesan or Kamal Haasan, or the newcomers, all of them look up to the dialogues he has written.
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But apart from all of this, he, as a statesman, ensured that the state was leading in the country; that it was right at the top. Five times as chief minister of the state, there was tremendous growth under his leadership. He may have been a little calculative, but I would never say he was shrewd.
As a chief minister he was very accessible. He also understood the film industry very well, and the plight of the workers. Even as a chief minister, he always went out of his way for the industry—be it the number of award functions he has attended or how he would help us with anything to do with the industry.
When I decided to join politics, I was sure I wanted to join the DMK though I was working with Jaya TV at that time. Our ideologies matched, and what the DMK and Kalaignar stood for made a lot of sense to me. I met him and told him I wanted to join politics. What's noteworthy is he never told me to join his party. In fact, he just said, “That's interesting. You will be a great person to have in the political sphere. Which party would you like to join?” He seemed quite surprised when I expressed interest to join the DMK. He asked me if that was fine since I was working on a show with Jaya TV. I told him it was different; that was work, but this was where I wanted to be personally. The kind of warm welcome I received in the party will always be special. He was a fatherly figure for me. He would tell me so much about politics and what I should be learning and doing.
The kind of confidence he infuses in you is magical. On his birthday on June 3, he told me to get on stage and address the public, that too only in Tamil. For me, doing that in front of Kalaignar who told me to go learn the language—speaking to a massive crowd for almost 49 minutes, in Tamil—that was a huge thing. Before I went on stage, he told me just one thing: “Out of 100 people listening to you, 98 of them will be waiting to rip you apart. Two of them will be wishing you do your best. And out of those two, I will be one of them.” That really gave me so much confidence. After I finished my speech, he called me to his office the next day. He gifted me a gold chain and said he was proud of me. These memories will always stay with me.
I am emotionally attached to him, and the respect and warmth never changed even after I left the party. I call him 'Appa' and that emotion is something that nobody can take away.
Khushbu is a renowned actress-politician
(As told to Ancy K. Sunny)