After 8 years, it’s screenplay by Karunanidhi

From tomorrow, he will start writing the dialogues and script of Kalaignarin Kannamma, a Tamil movie directed by his fan-friend, S S ‘Baba’ Vikraman. ‘‘It is the story of a Kargil war hero, his wife and his friend,’’ Karunanidhi told The Indian Express.

The veteran admits he ‘‘looks forward’’ to returning to his old passion, but won’t reveal the storyline of his 56th film. ‘‘Wait for the release,’’ he says with a smile, adding that he ‘‘agreed to do the film because my old friend Vikraman requested me.’’

The timing though is crucial, with Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu due in 2006. Karunanidhi wrote his last movie Paalaivana Rojakkal (Desert Roses) in 1996, just before he became chief minister for the third time.

So will Kannamma carry a political message? ‘‘It is a social film. However if politics gets mixed in, it is the film’s luck,’’ Karunanidhi smiles.

What’s sure though is that he’s penning the dialogues in contemporary Tamil, with the classic Kalaignar touch of rapid-fire metaphors, fiery rhetoric and razor-sharp messages.

‘‘The dialogue trends have changed over the years. When I first wrote the script for historicals like Manthiri Kumari and Raja Rani, the language was a chaste Tamil,’’ he recalls.

Says Vikraman: ‘‘Kalaignar liked the story and readily agreed to write the script for the film. He even suggested the title Kannamma. I changed it to Kalaignarin Kannamma. He also suggested some dramatic turns in the plot.’’

Vikraman is much more forthcoming about the story too: ‘‘The film revolves around the heroine Kannamma, who is the wife of a Kargil war hero believed to have died in the conflict. The story is about the friendship between the war widow and her husband’s colleague, which is misunderstood by their relatives.’’

The film ends with the return of her ‘‘dead’’ husband.

But barring the famous scriptwriter, everything else about the film is small—its budget is just about Rs 65 lakhs and the heroine Abitha Kuchalambal is only two films old and the rest of the cast is drawn from among TV artistes.

Vikraman, a Sai Baba devotee, has cautiously avoided the traditional pooja at the film muhurat tomorrow—Karunanidhi has admitted to being an atheist.

‘‘I will do the pooja at home and confine the function to speeches by Kalaignar and popular film director, K Balachander. Kalaignar will not object to the pooja, but there may be criticism from political quarters,’’ he says.

A long-time admirer of Karunanidhi’s dialogues, Vikraman, who has produced two films so far, had approached the DMK chief for penning the script for his movie Veera Vanniar in 1996. ‘‘He agreed to do it and asked me change the title to Vannia Singam. However, he became the chief minister soon and the project had to be dropped,’’ he says.

Karunanidhi plans to finish the script for Kalaignarin Kannamma in about a month.

‘‘I won’t take more than a month. Probably, I will either spend two or three hours a day on the script or sit and finish it off at one go,’’ he says.

And how much would Kalaignar earn for his script? ‘‘I asked him if he would take money for the project and he said ‘yes’. Of course, I can’t tell you how much he would be paid. That’s a trade secret,’’ says Vikraman.