Political Wheel: Once Again Action Has Moved From Screen To Politics In Tamil Nadu

As it has happened many times in Tamil Nadu, once again the action has moved from the screen to the much larger stage of state politics.

Veteran film star Kamal Haasan, who launched his party 'Makkal Neethi Mayyam' (People's Justice Centre) yesterday, is the latest participant in the state's time honoured tradition of film stars leveraging their almost cult-like popularity to seek office.

And quite successfully too.

The Chennai film industry has given the state two chief ministers -- M.G. Ramachandran, popularly known as MRG, led the way. Capping a three-decade long domination of the silver screen, he occupied the chief minister's office for 10 years from 1977 until his death in 1987.

The 63-year-old Haasan's appeal goes beyond Tamli Nadu, as he has appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi movies. Clearly mindful of his pan-South India appeal, Hassan said at the launch of his party that he plans to forge ties among the southern states.

He referred to his party's flag -- a white background with six interlocked hands, which he said represented the six southern states including the union territory of Puducherry.

Also striving to be different from the Dravidian parties that have dominated Tamil Nadu politics, his party's name does not have the suffix Katchi or Kazhagam that have been always been in Dravidian politics.

Even his public pronouncements are designed to appeal to the entire south.

While regional leaders usually extract political mileage through inter-state tensions, Haasan yesterday projected a more diplomatic line in talking about Tamil Nadu's spats with Karnataka over the Cauvery river water dispute.

“People ask me what is my solution to the Cauvery issue. I have answered this before. The problem is there is so much politicisation of the issue … there needs to be a fair dialogue.â€Â

Still, his ambitions are likely to remain confined to Tamil Nadu whose politics have already been stirred by the recent entry of Hassan's colleague, Rajnikanth, the phenomenal superstar into politics.

It remains to be seen if either of them can attain the kind of political following that MGR or his protege and successor, the evergreen J Jayalalithaa, commanded. She too became the chief minister and served for six terms for over 14 years between 1991 and 2006.

The first of the film personalities to enter Tamil Nadu politics was DMK founder CN Annadurai, a playwright known for films such as 'Velaikari', who led the first non-Congress government in the state in 1967, at a time when Dravidian politics was at its peak.

Former chief minister M Karunanidhi too was a noted member of the film fraternity, having penned scripts and dialogues for a number of films, including the super hit 'Parasakthi', considered the launch pad of actor Sivaji Ganesan.

MGR, who was closely aligned with Karunanidhi in the DMK party, parted ways with him in 1972 over political differences and founded the AIADMK.

Veteran yesteryear actor SS Rajendran also had a fairly decent stint in politics. He won an Assembly election, and was also elected to the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Having said that, not all of the actors graduated to a successful career in politics, despite showing initial promise.

Among them was Ramachandran's contemporary Ganesan, an immensely popular actor who failed to leave a political mark.

Often looked up as a benchmark of acting in Tamil Nadu, Ganesan served in the DMK and the Congress initially, and later found his own party.

He, however, lost the elections in 1989.

Similarly, actor Vijaykanth formed the DMDK in 2005, and aligned with the AIADMK for the 2011 Assembly polls to win a good number of seats.

But he fell out of favour with Jayalalithaa after a spat on the floor of the Assembly.

For a party which did well in the 2006 and 2011 elections, garnering a good number of votes, the DMDK could hardly make an impact in the 2016 polls as part of a five-party bloc, with his party drawing a blank in the 2016 elections and Vijayakanth losing his deposit.

Hassan says his party has no particular ideology.

"People are asking me if I am left or right. That's why we have "mayyam" (centre_ in our party. We will absorb all good things from whichever direction they come."

PTI