Kollywood stars keep switching roles to politics

Chennai, Mar 20: 'Twinkle, twinkle Kollywood star(s), how I wonder what you are...'could be the new nursery rhyme in the coming days with more actors taking to politics in Tamil Nadu either midway in their career or just out of it and in a few cases, just as their screen glamour is waning.

The May eight elections to the state Assembly are no exception. As is wont, a few more stars have taken the plunge into the murky world of politics, the most charismatic among them being heroes Vijayakant and Karthick, son of another popular yesteryear hero Late Muthuraman known for riveting performances.

Muthuraman was so much in love with football, rather than politics, that he took time off a film shooting to fly down to Kolkata to garland the legendary Pele.

Even as one wonders why a celluloid icon of the status of Rajnikanth could not emulate the legendary MGR in this respect and his contemporary Kamal Hassan categorically keeps denying that he would never venture into it, Vijaykanth is now hogging the limelight off screen, making his entry into politics with a bang, launching his own party -- Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK).

Only May eight and publicly, May 11 will tell whether he would go down with a whimper.

But his colleague Karthik, unable to find a slot in the ruling AIADMK or DMK, has made a small beginning drafting himself into the split state unit of the All India Forward Bloc, heading a faction.

Intellectuals and leaders like Janata Party President Dr Subramanian Swamy have often come out with strong criticism that Tamil Nadu has to be rid of filmstar-turned-politicians ruling the state. But if one takes into consideration the phenomenon of more stars taking to politics, this may not be possible.

The Kollywood stars seem to be unperturbed by the dissilusionment their Bollywood colleagues led by 'Big B', Shatrughan Sinha, Dharmendra and Raj Babbar have felt with politics.

''Politics isn't about emotions but a musical chair,'' Big B Amitabh Bachchan had observed after quitting as Congress MP from Allahabad two decades ago. His Bollywood colleague Shatrughan Sinha who turned out to be the most successful star-turned politician later, going on to become a Union Minister, was also disgruntled later on.

So is another big Bollywood hero Dharmendra, who is 'uncomfortable' with his role in the scheming world of politics, as his wife Hema Malini had observed recently.

What's more, another successful actor Raj Babbar has run into rough weather in Samajwadi Party and was even forced to criticise it as the most ''unsocial'' party.

But back in Kollywood it seems to be a different story. More and more stars seem to be attracted to politics like a 'bee to honey', as it were.

While Vijayakanth, who is projecting himself as 'another MGR,' the first matinee idol to launch his own party and succeed in a big way in his latest film ''Sudesi'' to make an impact in the coming elections and Karthick playing second fiddle, a few more stars like comedian Senthil, hero-turned-character actor Vijayakumar and Director-actor Manobala have merely enrolled themselves into the AIADMK.

There are no new additions as yet to the DMK which already has two big stars Sarat Kumar as a Rajya Sabha MP and Nepolean as the sitting MLA.

Ostensibly, the Kollywood stars have been taking to politics with the intention of doing service to the society. They think that their popularity as 'artistes' makes this easy. But as the Bollywood experience or even instances in Tamil Nadu show, many stars have 'faded away' without accomplishing much, like thespian Sivaji himself, more recently Ramarajan and before him another yesteryear actor S S Rajendran.

Rajnikanth at one time seemed poised for the plunge, especially in the 1996 Assembly elections when he took on the present Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, herself a big yesteryear actress.

But he backed out after that despite being seen by his fans as a future Chief Minister. His 'pithy dialogue' against her, ''Only God can save Tamil Nadu if she becomes the Chief Minister again'' helped the DMK to sweep back to power.

But after tasting failure in the 2004 Lok Sabha poll, when he extended support to the BJP in Tamil Nadu, having fallen out with a key DMK ally-- PMK, Rajnikanth announced that he would not be supporting anyone in this Assembly poll.

Professors and students of political science opine that stars enter politics with the intention of making a difference to the people.

But things go awry for them after they take the plunge. It is one thing to win an election but another to translate promises into reality, which is what matters, they point out.

But in every election in Tamil Nadu, be it Parliament or Assembly, some actor or actress has been attempting to extend his or her popularity to the world of politics either to serve the people of his/her caste or avowedly people in general.

UNI