|
In
Tamil Nadu, most filmstars chase politics around trees
Karthik Subramanian
Chennai,
April 26: DMK founder C.N. Annadurai said: ‘‘Brother,
you just show your face to the people.’’ And M.G. Ramachandran
did and made history — political history, that is.
 This
happened almost four decades ago when MGR, the charismatic film
star, was still the DMK’s propaganda secretary and treasurer.
He went on to break away from mentor and scriptwriter Annadurai
and create the AIADMK in 1972 and reigned supreme in Tamil Nadu
as chief minister for three terms. Tamil Nadu politics has for long
been home turf for tinsel stars. In fact, nowadays aspiring politicians
look upon the silver screen as a shortcut to the political arena.
A big reason
for the film industry’s sway over Tamil Nadu politics is its
parallel development with the Dravidian movement. Since the 1950s,
several politicians have used Tamil films to propagate their parties’
views.
Parashakti
released in 1952 swept aside the trend of musicals, till then dominated
by Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, T.R. Mahalingam and P.U. Chinnapa. A
versatile newcomer, Sivaji Ganesan (then V.C. Ganesan), set the
screen on fire with the fiery words penned by Muthuvel Karunanidhi.
Karunanidhi, then a trusted lieutenant of Annadurai, soared in public
esteem with his scripts and dialogues. Annadurai, himself a noted
dramatist, was popular for his plays such as Ore Iravu. The farsighted
man even endorsed films as the medium of the future.
With top-notch
film personalities staying on in the political arena and gaining
in popularity, the trend came to stay. After Karunanidhi and MGR
came J. Jayalalitha, a popular actress in her heydays who played
MGR’s heroine in many of his blockbusters.
The film-politics
alliance has worked the other way too. DMK leader Murasoli Maran,
who is better known as a politician, has played a role in films,
but behind the screen. He has produced over 40 feature films under
the banners of Mekhala Pictures and Poompuhar Productions.
Ex-AIADMK minister
and MGR Kazhagam secretary R.M. Veerapan was one of the main producers
for MGR starrers, under the Sathya Movies banner. Between 1960 and
1990, stars not only stepped into politics but tried creating their
own political parties. Sivaji Ganesan, MGR’s contemporary in
the Tamil film industry, failed to repeat his on-screen success
with his party, Tamizhaga Munnetra Munnani. T. Rajendar and K. Bhagyaraj
too floated parties that proved damp squibs. Rajendar is now a DMK
MLA and Bhagyaraj has quit active politics.
In the 1990s,
tinsel stars again started immigrating to politics — if not
as candidates, then as frontline campaigners. Rajnikanth campaigned
for the DMK-TMC combine in 1996 with live TV interviews repeated
endlessly. Some political observers even rated him as the ‘‘next
big force from the film industry after MGR’’.
In 1998, after
the Coimbatore bomb blasts, Rajnikanth again made a highly ‘‘politicised’’
statement trying to side with the state government. But, of late,
the superstar has been quiet after a self-imposed exile from politics.
Several film
stars will participate in the coming Assembly polls too. Other than
Napoleon, the DMK candidate from Villivakam, and others with some
political background such as Sarath Kumar, Radhika and Radharavi
may fail to make any impact. Radha, Ambika, S.S. Chandran, Junior
Balaiya and Dhamu are now campaigning for ADMK.
|
