Stars in this Election: Comedy or Heroism?

There is no state in India that has so many active film stars involved in politics. Directly or indirectly, voluntarily or reluctantly, by choice or compelled, lured or at free will, the number of Tamil film stars participating in this election trail is at all time high. Big stars, medium stars and small stars, all are there in the campaign field.

Earlier too film actor were involved in politics, but then it was for a cause and the actors knew what they were doing and what for they were doing. Stalwarts like MK Thiyagaraja Bhagavathar, Kittappa and KB Sundarambal were pro Congress during the Indian independence struggle. Freedom fighter Sathiyamurthy was the first politician to envisage the power of the art called cinema and effectively used the medium and its bearers in politics.

After independence there was no action until the Dravidian parties came to the fore. MR Radha was a passionate promoter of Thanthai Periyar's ideologies. When DMK came to the forefront in the early fifties, cinema and politics became almost conjoined and inseparable. The powerful DMK was luring actors at will. Even Sivaji Ganesan was with DMK but later joined the Congress. KR Ramasamy and SS Rajendran were star crowd pullers for DMK.Then came the hurricane MGR, who changed all the dynamics of film stars in politics concept. His rise and rise in politics never stopped until he breathed his last. He was the only invincible actor ever to have strolled over the politics of Tamil Nadu and he was the king all his life. It is undoubtedly the success of the phenomenon MGR which has drawn today's actors on to political stage.

But after MGR, no film star could take the centre stage except for Vijayakanth. Even the mighty Sivaji Ganesan couldn't do it. Today even splinter actors are jostling for space for ostensible reasons.

The two major parties AIADMK and DMK have been inviting star campaigners even before the election date was announced. If DMK already had stars like Napoleon, Thiyagu, Vagai Chandrasekar, Pa. Vijay and others the late entry of Khusboo sizzled its cadre. Kushboo who made her intentions public last year that she is keen on joining the Congress party surprised all by joining the ruling DMK. Then Vadivelu who supports DMK not for of any public interest is another DMK star of late.
So how are the DMK film star campaigners doing on field?Kushboo attracts a lot of women crowd for obvious reasons and men for other reasons. Before starting her campaign, she had categorically said that she will comment on her colleagues in films like Sarath Kumar, Vijaykanth, Karthik, there by knocking out one of the most expected things from her. So she sticks to the policies of the party as a politician who has spent long years sweating for the party.

The biggest highlight in one of her speech in Madurai is that she told the women folks to vote for DMK, if they want children like her, fair and beautiful. Good governance and bearing children fair and beautiful?

So what is the biggest star campaigner in the DMK camp Vadivelu doing? He was brought in to do nothing more than taking on Vijayakanth, even personally. The comedian is doing it so well as if he has done a doctorate in it.

After Vadivelu took the centre stage this election field has become a Primary School where he takes Maths class every day teaching people how to measure volume and capacity the metric way.

Measurements like quarter, half, three quarters, full etc. are the only words that regularly feature in his Maths lessons every day.

Vadivelu also takes English lessons and tells the people the meaning of the word 'Captain'. According to Vadivelu, only the person who steers a ship in sea can be called a Captain and not anyone who floats under the influence of water (?). Got it? After India's World Cup win, Vadivelu showed some mercy and included Mahendra Singh Dhoni also in his Captains list.

If Khusboo and Vadivelu are entertaining the people like the way they never did even on screen how are the star campaigners in the other camp AIADMK doing?

That's a big list. Vijayakanth, Sarath Kumar, Radhika, Senthil, Radha Ravi, Vindhiya, Anand Raj, SA Chandrasekaran and others. Here too the late entrant comedian Singamuthu is inducing more chuckles.