CHENNAI: It will be an uphill task for Tamil superstar Rajinikanth in his new avatar as a politician to translate his popularity on the silver screen into politics as the flop show of certain actors in the past may haunt him as he paces each step.
For, tasting success in politics by garnering support of a vast majority of the public, apart from the limited fan support, will be a Herculean job.
Considered a thespian in Tamil film industry the late actor Sivaji Ganesan enthralled viewers with his matchless art of enacting the role in an impeccable style, but he could not catch the minds of voters as much as his fans when he floated a political party-Tamilaga Munnetra Munnani (TMM) and contested the polls in the late 80s which was a turbulent period in Tamil Nadu politics.
Sivaji Ganesan failed to feel the pulse of the people and landed in the wrong alliance in the polls. “In the 1989 elections, he faced the polls in the company of AIADMK-Janaki ending up in a drubbing. The alliance calculations went woefully wrong for Sivaji Ganesan who quit Congress party after the Janaki-led government was dissolved,” recalls K Chandrasekaran, a close aide of Sivaji Ganesan and currently the Arts wing president of Congress in Tamil Nadu.
That political chemistry and alliance arithmetic hold the key in winning elections was proved in the case of actor-turned-politician Vijayakant too. After ploughing a lone furrow in polls, garnering about 10 per cent votes, since launching DMDK in the mid 2000s, he grew to become the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly in 2011 by allying with AIADMK in the elections.
But, his party was decimated in the succeeding polls as he joined the wrong league-People’s Welfare Alliance-to face the elections in 2016.
After hitting the box office with highly rated films and subsequently attracting a huge fan following, filmmaker K Bhagyaraj launched his own party MGR Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam in the late 80s, but landed on the losing side. The tag of the late Chief Minister and AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran’s heir in film industry too did not help Bhagyaraj.
Mesmerising viewers with his characteristic style of dialogue delivery in ornamental language, another film maker T Rajendhar also could not translate his popularity in films into politics when he floated the All India Latchiya DMK after being expelled from DMK in the mid 2000s. Described as supreme star by fans, actor Sarathkumar has been on a dry spell in politics after floating his own outfit All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi. The flop shows of these stars in film industry would not fail to weigh if Rajinikanth is going full-fledged in politics.
Political observers do not see Rajinikanth on a par with the past greats like MG Ramachandran (MGR), NT Rama Rao (NTR) and J Jayalalithaa. In the case of MGR and Jayalalithaa, they had a long stint in politics before going solo to win elections.
“MGR had his moorings in Dravidian principles and was with DMK for long. Although from a different background, Jayalalithaa had the garb of striving for upholding the Dravidian principles,” noted Pazha Karuppaiah, a political observer and writer, adding, “The case of Rajinikanth is different. He comes into the picture all of a sudden.”
He says the very entry of Rajinikanth in politics does sound well because he has identified with a particular section by citing the Bhagavad Gita. “What he should have done is quoting the Tirukkural. By quoting Gita, he failed to reflect the sentiments of Tamils and their literary and cultural ethos.”
However, Karuppaiah, a former legislator, says it remains to be seen as to how the actor is to spell out his policies to ‘change’ the ‘system’. Political and economic commentator Venkatesh Athreya sounds cautious in predicting the political future of Rajinikanth. “We can neither simply write off Rajini nor assume he may translate his popularity on celluloid medium into political popularity,” he observed.