Destination: Mumbai, India

There’s a surprising amount of crossover between Bollywood and Indian politics, and the actor/politician Melakkath Gopalan Ramachandran (MGR for short) is a prime example. After all, what better way is there to convince the people that you’re a hero than to play one in a hit movie? This is essentially what MGR did when he asked A.S.A Sami to write a script based off the British novelist Marie Corelli’s Vendetta, in which MGR himself would play the brave, crusading populist. Made as a Tamil film under the name Marmayogi (Ek Tha Raja is the Hindi version), the film tells the story of a king whose power is usurped by his Machiavellian mistress. Enter his younger son (MGR), who leads an uprising against the evil queen and returns the kingdom to his father. Little ones beware: Marmayogi was the first Tamil film to be rated "A" (Adults Only). Why? Because it featured a ghost.

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