Karnataka Elections: Politicians may or may not fear voters but Kannada film stars certainly fear their fans

Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai (left) and actor Kichcha Sudeep. (Source: Twitter/@KicchaSudeep)

Several Kannada actors have dabbled in politics, and many of them have gone on to become legislators, MPs or even ministers. Yet, popular star Kichcha Sudeepa was singled out for a vicious attack on social media after he announced his decision to campaign for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the ensuing Karnataka assembly elections.

Actors do have mass appeal, but heroes and heroines in Karnataka have not had the same mesmerising effect on voters as their counterparts in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, namely, NT Rama Rao, MG Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa. One reason could be that the people of the state are not fanatical by nature and do not believe in blind hero worship. "Real Star" Upendra, for instance, found this out the hard way when he launched his own party and fielded candidates in all 224 seats in 2018, only to draw a blank.

Dr Rajkumar’s Wisdom

If there was any actor from Sandalwood who had the potential to become Chief Minister, it was perhaps matinee idol Dr Rajkumar who had won the hearts of millions. Besides being an accomplished actor, he had led a language centric movement (Gokak Chaluvali) in the eighties, said to be one of the defining moments in the history of the state, demanding  primacy to Kannada.

Though Rajkumar was under tremendous pressure to join politics, he reasoned that he had fans – who he called ‘abhimani devaru’ or gods – in all parties, and did not want to antagonise any of them. In 1978, post-Emergency, when the combined opposition wanted him to take on Indira Gandhi in Chikkamagaluru he simply disappeared for a week only to return after the dust had settled.

“I would not mind my services being utilised for a good cause, but politicians only want to use me as a weapon against their rivals,” he would say. Similarly, his contemporary, Vishnuvardhan also stayed away from politics.

Then, in 2014, Rajkumar’s daughter-in-law Geetha Shivarajkumar, surprisingly, contested the Shivamogga Lok Sabha elections against BJP’s BS Yediyurappa and lost. While most of the film industry campaigned for her, the Rajkumar family kept away.

Actors Propose, Fans Dispose

Though actors are in demand during elections due to their popularity, the BJP has been unusually bullish in roping them in. During one of his recent visits to Bengaluru, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had invited a few stars and cricketers for dinner at Raj Bhavan, while earlier a futile attempt was made to get Puneet Rajkumar on board.

Puneet perhaps had foreseen the backlash he would face had he decided to take the plunge. When reports recently emerged that Sudeepa and another well-known actor Darshan would join BJP in the presence of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, social media reacted with outrage.

The pushback was such that while Darshan did not turn up at the event, Sudeepa tied himself in knots trying to explain that he had not joined BJP but would only campaign at the request of his ‘maama’ (uncle) Bommai, who had stood by him in difficult times.

A similar situation arose when senior actor Ananth Nag who was slated to join the party failed to turn up at the event, possibly due to the negative feedback on social media. Interestingly, Nag had faced no such criticism when he joined politics and became a minister during JH Patel’s term as Chief Minister in the mid-nineties.

Social Media’s Clout

Several other actors have played their part in Karnataka politics. Kumar Bangarappa abruptly cut short his acting career to become an MLA in 1996 and later joined the SM Krishna ministry. Comedy actor Jaggesh who was a Congress MLA was poached during ‘Operation Kamala’ when the BJP did not have the numbers to form the government in 2008.

He is now a Rajya Sabha MP from BJP. Actors Umashri and BC Patil became legislators and were made ministers. While Sashikumar, Ramya and  Sumalatha Ambareesh were elected as MPs, the late Ambareesh went on to become a minister both at the Centre and then in the state. The list is long.

What explains the acceptance then and the outrage now? Theatre personality Shilpa Rudrappa sums it up thus, “Social media has given people a voice. They are disgusted with present day politicians and are not comfortable with their heroes being associated with them. They want their stars to have an unblemished image, just like the late Puneet Rajkumar who was known for probity in public life.”

Well, that perhaps explains why fans are demanding political neutrality from their favourite actors.

Gautham Machaiah is a senior journalist and political commentator based in Bengaluru. Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.