Gymming

Thalaivar gets up at 4 in the morning. He starts working out with all his favourites items like, "Karla kattai". In his Ramavaram house he had a mini gym in the first floor. He usually wears a white lungi when he exercises.

White hat

An aged Islamic friend of Thalaivar gave him a white hat. Except the shooting spot, he will be wearing that wherever he goes. And he continued to buy the hat from that particular friend's shop alone. The white hat symbolised Thalaivar all along his life.

Meeting Strategy

Usually when Thalaivar attends meetings or rallies, he makes a point to talk in the end. This is done because he witnessed that once if he finishes of his talk early the crowd leaves early. But this habit was not undertaken only in Annadurai's meetings. There he will talk ahead of Anna, so that Anna gives the final finish. In election rallies he used to say that that he never wanted monetary fortune. The amount of love people had in him will make his life so simple that he can have a meal everyday in their houses till the end of his life because they were his real fortune.

The launch of a fan club

For an actor there can be numerous fan clubs. But a country's prime minister inaugurating an actor's fan club can happen only for Thalaivar. Yes, The late Lal Bahadur Shastri inaugurated, "Panathottam MGR Rasigar Mandram" in 1965 when he was touring Andaman and Nicobar Islands. And i believe his fan club was the first to be launched in Dubai.

Foodie bit

Thalaivar does not eat non-veg on fridays alone. He likes aval paayasam very much. His favourite food is chicken fry and dried fish gravy. I believe this was said by S.S.R's actress wife Vijayakumari, who used to call Thalaivar as "Checha", some years back.

MGR's Wiki

A good link and some amazing pics of (y)our Thalaivar >>

Something common between the Thilagams

There are two films of MGR and Sivaji that never released the records. One is Sridar's Sithoor Rani Bathmini with Sivaji Ganesan and Padmini acting. The super songs were by GR but they never came out in record. The other is Kalai Arasi with MGR acting, and KVM providing the music. This is the first Tamil film to show outer space, a story loosely based on UFOs. I thought one of the best sci-fi movies of all time. But a flop. Still had good songs. This movie was directed by Ramanna if my records are right.