Celebrity power by fame

By: Jasodhara Banerjee/ Forbes India

Stardom and politics have walked hand-in-hand in India. But in other countries too, famous people have used their celebrity muscle for power. The juggernaut of elections in India always throws up its celebrity ringmasters. The names of Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi in Tamil Nadu, Chiranjeevi in Andhra Pradesh, Shatrughan Sinha in Patna and Govinda in Mumbai make the link between film stardom and political ambitions obvious. Although there have been well-known personalities from other fields who have found political success