Top actors of Tamil cinema Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, along with big guns from various walks of life, paid rich tributes to eminent poet and writer Soundara Kailasam at a memorial meeting in Chennai on Saturday.

In his address, Rajini described Soundara as the one who played an active role in the formation of Tamil Maanila Congress, a party floated during the 1996 Assembly elections by late leader G K Moopanar.

Tamil Nadu Finance Minister K Anbazhagan said Soundara closely followed political developments and had close association with political leaders.” But she stayed away from active politics since she did not want to embarrass her husband, a judge.”

Kamal Haasan, Vairamuthu, Sivakumar, former Vice-Chancellor of Anna University V C Kulandaisamy, The Hindu editor-in-chief N Ram and others spoke at the function organised by various Tamil organisations, including Kamban Kazhagam, Bharathiyar Sangam and Tamil Mozhi Academy.

Those who had attended the event include Union Home Minister and Soundara Kailsam's son-in-law P Chidambaram, former Minister R M Veerappan and former Vice-Chancellor of Tamil University Avvai Natarajan.