The death of Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) founder Vijayakant and the consequent public discourse on his attempt to have an independent political career has again brought the focus on the matter of film stars trying their luck in Tamil Nadu politics. It continues to be a matter of public consumption amid reports of actor Vijay planning to enter politics. Barring M.G. Ramachandran (MGR) and his political successor Jayalalithaa, no other matinee idols have carved a political base for themselves.
A seeming exception
In the years after the DMDK was launched in September 2005, Vijayakant appeared to be an exception as he got elected to the Assembly in 2006 without the support of either of the principal parties: the DMK and the AIADMK. But he could not take his experiment beyond 2011, when his party became an ally of the AIADMK.
Before Vijayakant, there were many leading film stars who attempted to chart a political path of their own. Among them was the legendary Sivaji Ganesan, who was with the Congress for nearly 35 years. Protesting against the Congress’s decision not to support the Janaki Ramachandran Ministry in January 1988, the thespian left the party and launched the Tamizhaga Munnetra Munnani (TMM) in February 1988. One of his supporters was E. V. K. S. Elangovan, who later went back to the Congress and became a Union Minister in 2004. In the 1989 Assembly election, the TMM was a junior ally of the AIADMK led by Janaki Ramachandran. Sivaji Ganesan himself lost in Thiruvaiyaru. In December 1989, he merged his party with the Janata Dal (JD). Though Ganesan was made the president of the State unit of the JD, he ended his political innings in June 1993 by leaving the party.
First actor-MLA
S.S. Rajendran, regarded as the first actor to become an MLA as early as 1962, was in various parties, starting from the DMK to the AIADMK to the MGR ADMK. In 1984, when the AIADMK denied him nomination to contest from Sedapatti, he launched a party of his own: MGR-S.S.R.Puratchi Kazhagam. A two-time MLA, Rajendran represented the DMK in the Rajya Sabha during 1970-76. It was then that his absence at the time of voting on the 24th Constitution Amendment Bill to abolish privy purses made a difference as the Bill fell through by one vote. Actor-director K. Bhagyaraj, considered a successor to the legacy of AIADMK founder MGR in the 1980s, launched the party, MGR Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (MGR MMK), in February 1989. Later that year, at the time of the Lok Sabha election, he supported the DMK-led front before winding up his party. In April 2006, he joined the DMK and was in the party briefly. Sixteen years later, he was in the news for having supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
T. Rajendherr’s innings
T. Rajendherr, an actor-director, music composer, and story writer, began his political career in the DMK and left the party during the 1989 Assembly election on the ground that his followers were overlooked at the time of nomination. He ran two parties — Thayaga Marumalarchi Kazhagam and Akila India Latchiya DMK — on different occasions. In the intervening period, he returned to the DMK and was elected from Park Town in 1996.
All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi (AISMK) founder R. Sarathkumar first tasted electoral politics when the DMK fielded him in the Tirunelveli Lok Sabha constituency in the 1998 election. He lost to the AIADMK. Eight years later, he crossed over to the AIADMK. During 2001-06, he was an MP of the DMK in the Rajya Sabha. In July 2007, he launched his party. Four years later, he had an understanding with the AIADMK and became an MLA from Tenkasi. In 2016, contesting on the AIADMK symbol, he lost in Tiruchendur.
Months after Vijayakant formed his party, another actor, M. Karthik, entered politics in 2006 and he was immediately made the chief of the State unit of the All India Forward Bloc. He also ran a party called Akila Indiya Naadalum Makkal Katchi. Film actor-director Seeman, who is running the Naam Tamilar Katchi, has not achieved any success in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. However, he is still seen as a promising force as his party secured a vote share of about 6.6% in the 2021 Assembly election.
Kamal Haasan, founder of the Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), plunged into politics six years ago when the State was awaiting the entry of his colleague, Rajnikanth, into the field. The MNM has failed to become a force to reckon with, while Rajnikanth announced in December 2020 that he gave up on his plan to form a party.
Others such as Khushbu Sundar, Radha Ravi, S. S. Chandran, S.Ve. Shekher, D. Napoleon, and C. Arun Pandian were in different political parties over the years. Ms. Khushbu unsuccessfully contested from the Thousand Lights Assembly constituency in 2021 as a BJP candidate and is now a member of the National Commission for Women. While Mr. Radha Ravi and Mr. Shekher represented the Saidapet and Mylapore Assembly constituencies at different points of time as the AIADMK nominees, Mr. Chandran of the AIADMK was in the Upper House during 2001-07. Mr. Napoleon had the distinction of getting elected to the Assembly (Villivakkam) in 2001 and the Lok Sabha (Perambalur) in 2009, both as the DMK nominee. He was also a Union Minister of State in the UPA government. Mr. Arun Pandian, elected from Peravurani in 2011 as the DMDK nominee, identified himself with the AIADMK a few years later.
Long-standing DMK loyalist
Vaagai Chandrasekar, a long-standing DMK loyalist, was elected to the Assembly from Velachery in 2016. Ramaraajan, a star of the 1980s, was fielded by the AIADMK in the Tiruchendur (now abolished) Lok Sabha constituency in 1998, and he defeated the then Union Minister, R. Dhanuskodi Athithan, of the TMC (Moopanar). There are many more. The State does not seem to have run out of its interest in film stars turning political figures.
