Duraimurugan has Assembly in splits over acting quips

During his Assembly speech, Duraimurugan urged the government to take steps to encourage and protect village folk artists. As he enlivened the speech with folk songs as interludes, Speaker P Dhanapal complimented the Deputy Leader of Opposition and praised his singing talent.

Dhanapal also wanted to know whether Duraimurugan acted in stage plays and other art forms. In reply, Duraimurugan said he had acted in several plays when he was young.

Citing William Shakespeare’s monologue ‘All the World’s a Stage’ from As You Like It, Duraimurugan said everyone was playing their part in this world. “Even you (Speaker) are ‘acting’ your part,” he said.

While this led to a wave laughter in the House, Deputy CM O Panneerselvam recalled how Duraimurugan was got a ‘pat’ from Jayalalithaa herself in the House in 2001 for his lively speeches in the Assembly.

A further enthused Duraimurugan said that he would have made it big in movies had he entered the tinsel world. “If I were in the film industry, I would have gotten a chance to act with Jayalalithaa. I would have also become a great actor like Sivaji (Ganesan),” Duraimurugan said. It took a while for the laughter and thumping of benches in the House to subside after his remarks.