Star power in politics

Superstar Rajinikanth’s dramatic year-end announcement of his impending entry into Tamil politics, adroitly upstaging fellow thespian Kamal Haasan, raises an interesting question. The serial drama that is the Indian political scene should have yielded legions of leaders from India’s vibrant and thriving film world, you would have thought. Yet, apart from Tamil Nadu, where reel-life and real-life have converged for decades, and undivided Andhra Pradesh, over which N T Rama Rao (NTR) presided — unforgettably — for more than a decade, the rest of India has not experienced quite so pronounced an overlap between cinema and politics.

There have been, to be sure, plenty of MPs and MLAs from the silver screen who have taken their chances at the hustings or (mostly) through Rajya Sabha shoo-ins. Even supernova Amitabh Bachchan once tried his hand at politics, beating, to everyone’s surprise including his own, UP heavyweight H N Bahuguna in the Allahabad constituency by a record margin in 1984 before his suspected involvement in the Bofors scandal encouraged him to resign his seat. Some have even made it to minor ministerships. This is par for the course. But few have gone beyond the sinecures of Parliament or state Assemblies to create memorable political careers.

Think about it: No other states have had actor-chief ministers — not even Maharashtra, Karnataka and Bengal, all centres of powerful local cinema and theatre traditions — nor has any actor created seminal political movements as M G Ramachandran (MGR) did in Tamil Nadu with All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and NTR with the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra.

More to the point, both also left lasting political legacies. MGR’s inheritor was another actor and long-time co-star Jayaram Jayalalithaa. Ironically, it is the turmoil among followers in her party after her long-drawn death — it is alleged that she died months before it was officially declared — that has encouraged two other prominent actors Rajinikanth and Kamal Hasaan to declare their political ambitions.

NTR’s inheritor in both undivided Andhra and the rump state is his son-in-law. Chandrababu Naidu is no thespian, as those who have met him will confirm. But he certainly scripted political drama in his time, removing his father-in-law and mentor NTR from chief ministership (a revolt that included conspiring with his sons and a co-brother) and co-opting the Telugu Desam Party.

Whether MGR, a Sri Lankan-born Malayali, Jayalalithaa, Kannada by origin, NTR or Rajinikanth (also Kannadiga) today, all of them have followed a similar script, a similar path to their political careers. The huge fan bases they built up during their acting years in crusading, superhero roles — in NTR’s case, this chiefly comprised playing mythological heroes — morphed into a political following when they entered politics. Screen personas also transmuted themselves into political agendas — anti-corruption, clean administrations, defender of the poor and the weak and so on.

As demi-gods — indeed, many fans believed they were god (or goddess) incarnate — they retained an unshakeable credibility. It says much for progressive social attitudes in Andhra that NTR’s proclivity for cross-dressing did not dim his star power by even one watt (even Kamal Haasan risked it only for a local version of Mrs Doubtfire called Chachi 420). Both Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan can be relied on to follow this well-worn route. The latter has already signalled this path with his overtures to the Aam Aadmi Party; the former is still to reveal his hand.

Corruption, the plight of the common man, the triumph of good versus evil are central concerns for the rest of India too, and most actors have played the Superman/crusader role in their heyday. So why do more actors not follow the MGR/NTR route elsewhere in India? One plausible answer could be that there’s too much money to be made in the film world today. Plus, there are alternatives for those whose film careers are on the wane: In modelling, endorsements, owning sports teams and so on. Few would care to forego all this easy money for the heat and dust and uncertain rewards of a political career.

Conversely, it is worth wondering whether MGR or NTR would have followed this path had such post-career enticements been open to them in their day. Still, it says much for the political movements they created that several actors continue to be drawn to state politics.

Or maybe it’s early days yet, and India will yet get its first actor-prime minister (though the current one fulfils that role quite admirably). After all, Hollywood yielded one Governor (Arnold Schwarzenegger, of California) and one president (Ronald Reagan) — two if you count a movie called Ghosts Can’t Do It in which Donald Trump, the first reality TV star to win the White House, acted as, who else, himself.

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