TN superstars who tried to enter politics start fizzling out

New Delhi: In Tamil Nadu politics, people associated with the cinema industry have ruled in the past years. Chief Ministers like M. Karunanidhi, M.G. Ramachandran, and J. Jayalalithaa, all were associated with cinema. Karunanidhi was a scriptwriter and M.G. Ramachandran was a superstar in Tamil Nadu’s tinsel town. Karunanidhi and MGR have several films together and MGR and Jayalalithaa have also acted in many films.

Taking inspiration from them, actors like Captain Vijayakanth, Rajinikanth, and Kamal Haasan entered politics. In fact, Captain Vijayakanth had a promising start by becoming the leader of opposition in the Tamil Nadu Assembly. However, these stars’ popularity has started to fizzle out in politics. Experts believe these superstars lack the charisma and hard work needed to survive in politics.

Vijayakanth launched his party Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) in 2005. In the 2006 Assembly election, DMDK won only one seat out of the 234 seats contested. In that election, the DMK formed the government.

Later, in the 2011 Assembly election, the DMDK won 29 seats out of the 41 seats contested.

It scored more seats than the DMK, which lost the election to the AIADMK, and officially became the opposition party and Vijayakanth became the opposition leader. But since then, the popularity chart of Vijayakanth has declined. In the 2019 general elections, the DMDK contested the polls under the NDA.

Experts believe that the DMDK is a one-man party and with Vijayakanth not keeping well, the party is not active on the ground. Sumanth Raman, a political commentator, told The Sunday Guardian, “Vijayakanth is not keeping well for a long time and the party cannot function without its popular leader.”

Tamil Nadu tinsel town’s superstar Rajinikanth announced on 3 December that he is ready to enter politics.

However, by the last week of December, he developed a respiratory problem and was rushed to the hospital in Hyderabad. Soon after he was discharged from hospital, he wrote an open letter to his supporters stating that because of his bad health he cannot campaign for his candidates. With this, Tamil Nadu’s superstar political journey ended before it started.

Kamal Haasan is a different story. Haasan formed his party Makkal Needhi Maiam in 2018, contested election in 2019 and polled around 3% votes.

Haasan will contest the upcoming Assembly election and political analysts believe that electorates looking for a change might vote for him.

However, political commentators also said that Haasan’s MNM is not putting in efforts that are required.