How film stars in south India tread a different political path than their counterparts in the north

Rajinikanth has announced that he would be launching his political party in January 2021

Now that Rajinikanth has announced that he would be launching his political party in January 2021, all eyes will be on superstar’s much-awaited electoral plunge that comes months ahead of the 2021 Tamil Nadu assembly elections.

The actor, who turns 70 on December 12, said his party would be a “non-corrupt, honest, transparent, and secular with spiritual politics” and would contest the forthcoming elections.

Film stars joining politics is not new in Tamil Nadu and other South Indian states such as Andhra Pradesh. In fact, Tamil Nadu has seen five chief ministers - CN Annadurai, MG Ramachandran (MGR), Janaki Ramachandran, M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa coming from the film world, not to mention other actors who could not convert their stardom into electoral wins.

While stars from south Indian film industry have made it big in politics, actors from Bollywood are no strangers to political arena either. There is a long list of actors who have had a successful political career.

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However, there is a difference.

Stars in the south have mostly set up their own political parties and contested elections, while those in the north have been individual politicians adding celebrity quotient to the existing parties.

Decades ago, firm stars used to do mythological and religious roles which earned them a cult status in Tamil Nadu. But now the politicians are scrutinised by people before voting them to power. There is not much of cult personality now

- Sumanth Raman

There have been many more actors, such as Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Khanna, Rajesh Khanna, and Sunil Dutt who have been politicians and those who have been elevated to Union cabinet. But none of these Bollywood stars set up a political party like their counterparts in the south.

In Andhra Pradesh, for example, NT Rama Rao, popularly known as NTR, became the tenth chief minister of the state in 1983, within nine months of forming his Telugu Desam Party (TDP). NTR’s TDP was the first regional party to become the main opposition party at the eighth Lok Sabha from 1984 to 1989.

“In the north, stars join the already existing political parties and help the parties add to their seat count. But it is different in the south where actors use their cult following to set up their own political parties and play it in a  big way,” Sumanth Raman, Chennai-based political commentator told Moneycontrol.

Find more stories about Rajinikanth on Moneycontrol here

Many credit MGR with starting the trend of superstars turning into mass political leaders in Tamil Nadu when he broke away from Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in 1972 to float All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and went on to become the chief minister.

Film historian S Theodore Baskaran told Moneycontrol recently that it was MGR alone who was successful in converting his film popularity into votes. “Jayalalithaa inherited this from MGR,” he said.

In the upcoming assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, apart from Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan and A Vijaykant will also be trying their luck with their political parties.

Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Neethi Maiam (MNM), was launched in 2018, but failed to win any seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. However, experts say that the party might achieve some success in the assembly elections.

Vijaykant’s Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) contested 2006 Tamil Nadu assembly elections fielding candidates in all the 234 seats. The party got not more than 8 per cent of the votes and not a single candidate, except Vijayakanth himself, could win. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the party polled 2 per cent votes.

Likewise, Tamil actor Sarath Kumar, former MLA, formed All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi in 2007 but failed to woo voters.

Like Rajinikanth, most of the recent politicians have projected themselves as an alternative to the two Dravidian parties — DMK and AIADMK. For over three decades the two claimants of Dravidian ideology — M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa dominated political landscape of Tamil Nadu. However, since the 2021 assembly election will be held after the death of the two cult figures, the political dynamics in Tamil Nadu is expected to change.

“Decades ago, the firm stars used to do mythological and religious roles which earned them huge followers and a cult status in Tamil Nadu. But now times have changed. The politicians are scrutinised by people before voting them to power. There is not much of cult personality now,” Raman said.

READ: What Rajinikanth’s entry into politics means for the upcoming Tamil Nadu elections

With about six months to go got the Tamil Nadu assembly elections, it remains to be seen how Rajinikanth and his party takes it forward from here and what impact it can make on the elections.