The Marans: Dravida family’s Brahmin side

In the 1930s, a young woman called Shanmugasun-darathamal took care of two little boys. One was her son who later came to be known as Murasoli Maran (1934), the other was her brother Dakshinamurthy, who later came to be known as M Karunanidhi (1924). Shan-mugasundarathammal and Karunanidhi were born to Muthuvel and Anjugam, a couple from the Isai Vellalar community of temple musicians.

By Papri Sri Raman

The politics: By 1967-68, Karunanidhi had become the sole arbiter of the destiny of a powerful regional political party, the DMK which had ousted the Congress party from Tamil Nadu in a democratic electoral process. From 1967 onward, Maran Sr was a member of Parliament, for 36 long years. The 44-year-old Karunanidhi had a clear game plan. Maran was intelligent and hardworking, a man with ideas. Karunanidhi saw New Delhi to be the right place to keep Maran away from local politics and state power and at the same time satisfy his political ambitions as the spokesperson of the DMK.

Maran Sr was a Union minister three times, and in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, he was minister of commerce (1999-2004). He was considered a votary of liberalization and the anti-licence raj, and India’s trade policy is said to have got new direction under his stewardship, thus laying a solid foundation for the country’s economy. It was during this tenure that Maran Sr was able to successfully put India’s case at the forum of the World Trade Organization (WTO Doha round) firmly. Maran died in 2003. Karunanidhi lamented, “He was my conscience.” The conscience had a tough time keeping New Delhi from repeatedly dismissing the Karunanidhi government on corruption charges.

Maran and wife Mallika had two sons, Kalanidhi (1964) and Dayanidhi (1966). It is to this branch of the family the DMK patriarch keeps referring to when he talks of ‘Brahmin blood in the family’ and that his family encompasses all faiths, castes and communities although he is an atheist.

The two brothers studied in Don Bosco school in Chennai and the Loyola College. Maran Sr dreamt of perhaps an academic career for Kalanidhi and sent him to the US to study. After getting an MBA from the University of Scranton, young Kalanidhi, however, came back to India in 1987 with dreams in his eyes. The two brothers were heavily into technology, having been first exposed to the charm of ham radio. Both are independent ham operators.  In the US, Kalanidhi was exposed to television, digital technology, telephony, cinema, CNN and the power of the media.

Kalanidhi: He began first working for a Tamil magazine called Kunkumam, which was a family owned business. He is married to Kaveri, who is the joint MD of Sun network.

In 1992, Kalanidhi took to the Zee TV group a business plan by which Zee would sub-let to him its unused transponder time, to air Tamil programmes. Zee used to only telecast in the evening those days but paid full-day rent for the transponder. Zee however turned down Maran’s request.

Maran had in 1990 started a monthly video (VHS) news magazine in Tamil called Poomaalai which stopped publication in 1992 due to piracy. He had also set in motion plans for his Sun TV network and had a bank loan worth $86,000. Indians were, by that time, exposed to CNN and its Gulf war coverage and realised the potential of cable TV. Kalanidhi took his proposal to the ATN channel and convinced them of strengthening their southern base to take on the likes of Zee TV and pointed out how Tamil Nadu only had DD’s Hindi programmes after 8.30 pm. In April 1993, Sun TV was born and a transmission network, the Sumangali cables.

It is also from then on that the fortunes of the DMK changed, thanks to the full use of the Maran media empire as the DMK’s official media group. From the mid-‘90s to 2005, the two became inseparable in the public eye; the TV and cable business grew with DMK muscle.

Kalanidhi’s business empire now extends to Sun Network, the South Indian Television Channels; Sun direct DTH, the Direct to Home Broadcasting Service; Spicejet, the airline; Suryan FM with several FM radio channels; Red FM, the multilingual channel; Sun Pictures, the film production outfit; the Tamil daily Dinakaran; an eveninger Tamil Murasu; Tamil magazines, Kunkumam, Muthaaram, Vannathirai, Kunkuma Chimizh;  and Sun 18, a company to   distribute channels through DTH, IPTV, HITS and MMDS. By 2005, he was worth $1 billion.  In 2010, Kalanidhi Maran was the 17th richest Indian with net worth of US$ 4 billion.

It was apparent to the Marans, right from 2000 onward, when the DMK was a part of the NDA government that the DTH and telephone industry would be booming in the near future. Along with the Tatas, Ambanis, the Marans wanted a big share of this pie.

Dayanidhi: After Loyola, Maran junior did an “Owner /President Management Programme (OPM)” from the Harvard Business School. He is married to Priya, who is from The Hindu family. The 2004 Parliament elections provided the right time for the Marans to decide on their political future. In May 2004, the DMK sent Dayanidhi to Parliament, six months after his father’s death, with the plum posting as Union telecommunication minister.

In 2007, Maran claimed that as the telecom minister he had steered investment proposals worth Rs 2,66,000 crore during his three-year stint. Maran said at least Rs 47,000 crore of these investments were directed to Tamil Nadu. Maran was a popular minister with the Manmohan Singh government and the Congress high-command, on “aunty-uncle” terms with the PM and the Congress chief. While younger brother Dayanidhi rose to political stardom, Kalanadhi Maran’s business plans changed.

Selvi Selvam: There is one more player here. This is Dayaluammal’s daughter and sister of MK Alagiri and MK Stalin, Selvi. She is married to Murasoli Selvam, brother of Murasoli Maran (Dayanidhi Maran’s father). The couple lives in Bangalore with Selvam a top manager of Sun network.