 A tribute to Sivaji Ganesan
 Chief Minister M Karunanidhi inaugurated a statue of the late thespian
Sivaji Ganesan on the Marina Beach on July 21, 2006. The statue joins more than half-a-dozen other statues on the beach, including that of Mahatma Gandhi.
Actor Kamal Haasan, who has claimed
Sivaji as his inspiration, was present at the beach along with T M Soundararajan, noted playback singer who gave voice to songs for Sivaji Ganesan in many popular films.
 Tamil Superstar Rajnikant, actor-turned-politician Vijaykanth, Vijay and a host of other actors from the Tamil film world also graced the occasion.
Karunanidhi's poetess daughter Kanimozhi, son and Minister M K Stalin were also present on the occasion as were the late Sivaji Ganesan's two sons,
Prabhu and Ramkumar, actor and producer respectively.
There was Kamala, widow of
Sivaji Ganesan, weeping copiously at the very mention of her late husband's name. Sitting next to her was the petite wife of
Karunanidhi, Dayaluammal.
 Moving tributes were paid to the actor not just by the Chief Minister but all the speakers of the evening.
The government has been advertising the installation of this statue for the past few weeks as something Karunanidhi greatly desired, with pictures of young Sivaji Ganesan and young Karunanidhi together as soul mates.
Karunanidhi wrote the script for 'Parasakthi', the film which introduced Sivaji Ganesan and made him famous as an
actor
 The Chief Minister himself wrote a song for the unveiling of Sivaji Ganesan's statue, which was sung at the function by noted singer Sirkazhi
Sivachidambaram.
In this song, Karunanidhi talked of how, despite "all hurdles, we have taken the decision and been successful in installing this statue".
The reference was to objections to the installation of the 8-foot bronze statue from many quarters.
The statue has been placed by the DMK government in the middle of the Marina Beach road, across Mahatma Gandhi's statue.
Freedom fighter P N Srinivasan objected to the positioning of the statue, saying it would obstruct view of the Gandhi statue, and filed a public interest litigation
(PIL).
 The bench of the Madras High Court, comprising Chief Justice A.P. Shah and Justice D Murugesan, heard the case and advised the Tamil Nadu government that it was better not to put up the statue on the busy Marina road, as it would obstruct free flow of traffic.
The government did not agree. The court then allowed the government to put up the statue but said it could be removed any time if the court so ruled later.
(Agencies)
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