Tale of Sun and sons: All about the Maran brothers and their link to 'Kalaignar' Karunanidhi

The 22-year-old alleged feud between the powerful Maran brothers is in the limelight after DMK Lok Sabha MP Dayanidhi Maran accused his brother Kalanidhi Maran of "financial crimes," and asked him to restore the entire shareholding position of Sun TV and related companies to their original state or face legal and regulatory action. The allegations, however, have been denied by the Sun TV through a stock exchange filing.

As per ET's report, the timing of the alleged transaction coincided with the death of the brothers’ father, former Union minister Murasoli Maran. Dayanidhi’s contention is that Kalanithi used this opportunity to gain 60% control in the company, up from zero. without informing or consulting the other key stakeholder, MK Dayalu, wife of Karunanidhi, who was representing the family.

Who are the Maran brothers?
DMK Lok Sabha MP Dayanidhi Maran
Dayanidhi Maran, born on December 5, 1966, in Tamil Nadu's Kumbakonam, is a seasoned Indian politician and son of the late Union Minister Murasoli Maran. He pursued a B.A. in Economics from Loyola College, Chennai.


The DMK MP married Priya, who belongs to the family that owns and publishes The Hindu.

Maran first entered the political field through Lok Sabha polls of 2004 and has since served multiple terms. His ministerial stints include serving as the Union Cabinet Minister for Communications and Information Technology (2004–2007) and later for Textiles (2009–2011). Re-elected to the 17th Lok Sabha in 2019 and again in 2024 to the 18th Lok Sabha, he is currently a member of several key parliamentary committees including the Committees on Home Affairs, Estimates, and Business Advisory.

However, his tenure was also marred by his alleged role in the 2G scam case. The CBI had alleged that Dayanidhi Maran, during the check period of June 2004 to December 2006, when he was the Union minister for communication and information technology, misused his office and installed a private telephone exchange at his residences in Chennai and used the facility for business transactions involving the Sun Network. It alleged that he had caused a loss of Rs 1.78 crore to the exchequer. More than 700 telecom lines were installed at their residences in Boat Club and Gopalapuram here, the agency charged. The former minister has been acquitted by the court.

Kalanidhi Maran

After dabbling in his family's modest publishing business, the older Maran brother launched now worth Rs 23,000-crore Sun TV Network in 1993. Over the years, the Sun has turned into a regional television heavyweight with 37 channels reaching more than 140 million households in India.

Kalanithi Maran holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Madras, Chennai and MBA from Scranton University, Pennsylvania, USA.

Kalanithi started the Tamil Sun TV channel in 1993 and built it into a sprawling media giant, encompassing multiple TV channels in south Indian languages as well as a film production house, taking advantage of connections with the state establishment, industry watchers told ET.

He married Kavery Maran, and they have a daughter, Kavya Maran, who is the head of the IPL team, Sunrisers Hyderabad and South Africa’s SA20 team, Sunrisers Eastern Cape.

How Maran brothers are connected to Karunanidhi

The Marans were grandnephew of Karunanidhi, who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for almost two decades. The reason behind Dayanidhi's entry in the cabinet has also been linked to Karunanidhi. It was seen that loved his nephew and Maran's father, Murasoli Maran, as much as his sons and that prompted the DMK leader to make Maran’s younger son Dayanidhi a minister at the Centre in 2004 and 2009.

Karunanidhi, who completed 50 years as DMK chief in July, was among the few regional political chieftains who had been key decision-makers in national politics. Having won elections to the Tamil Nadu Assembly 13 times, Karunanidhi held the rare record of not having lost a poll since his first electoral victory in 1957. He was chief minister of the state five times.