NaMo chant echoes in Telugu filmdom

 

With the elections nearing, many Telugu film actors are gearing up to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Two actors have already met the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, at his residence in Ahmedabad.

Andhra Pradesh Congress’ election campaign committee chairman and Union minister Chiranjeevi’s brother and actor Pawan Kalyan – who floated his own political outfit called Janasena Party – and Akkineni Nagarjuna, a popular Telugu film star, recently flew to Gujarat to meet Modi. The former wanted to close a likely tie-up ahead of the general elections, and the latter to “express his wishes for Modi’s drive to become the prime minister”.

According to informed sources in Tollywood (as the Telugu film industry is called), the latest list of actors contemplating jumping into the BJP bandwagon includes actor-producer Manchu Mohan Babu, veteran director-producer Raghavendra Rao, senior comedians Brahmanandam, and Babu Mohan, who was earlier with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and had won two Assembly elections in the Telangana region.

“The Namo mantra is casting its spell not just on the voters but on the film personalities as well. Besides, many of these actors are said to have been ignored by other leading parties like the TDP and the Congress and this probably is one of the reasons why they are knocking at the doors of the BJP,” says a Telugu film analyst.  

Meanwhile, actor Rajasekhar and his wife Jeevitha (both earlier with the Congress and then YSR Congress Party), who are known for switching loyalties quite frequently, have joined the BJP, while veteran actor Uppalapati Krishnam Raju, who after failing to win the Lok Sabha election on Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rayam Party ticket during the last elections, has already returned to the saffron party. Raju, a two-time MP, served as Union minister of state in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government.

On the other hand, yesteryear Tollywood actress and Congress party MLA from the Secunderabad constituency, Jayasudha Kapoor, is reportedly planning to join the Telangana Rasthra Samithi (TRS) party. Another actress, and TRS MP Vijayashanthi, has already joined the Congress a day after TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao ruled out the possibilities of merging his party with the Congress.

“Film celebrities adding glamour quotient to election campaigning is not new in the Andhra Pradesh political arena. The trendsetter for this was late actor NT Rama Rao, who came to power within 10 months of floating the TDP in 1982. The influx of film celebrities will only increase as the ballot battle looms over. But, will these box office icons shine bright in the battle of power? It is to be seen,” the analyst says.