Tamil actor Vijay and the cinematic politics of “Dravidian” Tamil Nadu

Dravidian party dominance

Vijay is the latest in a long line of Tamil film actors transforming themselves into political leaders

The advent of Independence and the early post-Independence years saw cinema and politics becoming intertwined in South India especially Madras state as Tamil Nadu was then called. The larger-than-life image of movie stars and film personalities dominated the political scene. Tamil film stars were not mere ornaments but valuable assets. They served as an integral component of their parties. In most cases, they were the ‘stars’ around whom their parties revolved. The rise of screen actors in the cinematic politics of Tamil Nadu was greatly due to the state’s Dravidian heritage

Chandrasekhar Joseph Vijay known to the world at large as Vijay is arguably the super star of Tamil cinema today. Although stylish veteran actor Rajinikanth has been acknowledged for long as Tamil cinema’s solitary super star, that position has changed in recent times. In terms of popularity and marketability, Vijay who celebrated his 51st birthday last June, is way above Rajini who will celebrate his 75th birthday this December.

Vijay who has a huge fan following in Sri Lanka is married to a Sri Lankan Tamil woman hailing from Chuzhipuram in Jaffna named Sangeetha Sornalingam. They have two children. Vijay is the highest paid actor in Tamil cinema today reportedly earning around 200 Crore Indian rupees per film. He is also the biggest box-office draw among Tamil actors. At an all India level, Vijay is ranked third below Hindi cinema’s Shah Rukh Khan and Telugu cinema’s Allu Arjun.

Tamil Nadu has a long tradition of film personalities entering politics and forming their own parties. Some even became chief ministers. Former Chief Ministers CN Annadurai and M. Karunanidhi were renowned film script writers. Among the Tamil film actors who entered films are NS Krishnan, MR Radha, KR Ramasamy, MG Ramachandran (MGR), Sivaji Ganesan, SS Rajendran, VN Janaki, Jayalalithaa Jayaram, TR Rajendar, SV Shekhar, Napoleon, Vijayakanth, Seemaan, Sarathkumar, Radhika, Kamal Haasan and Udayanidhi Stalin. Even the current chief minister Stalin has acted in a few films and TV serials.

“Thamizhaga Vettrik Kazhagam” 

Vijay is therefore the latest in a long line of Tamil film actors transforming themselves into political leaders. He launched his own political party named “Thamizhaga Vettrik Kazhagam” (TVK) last year. Vijay’s fan clubs numbering around 85,000 were converted into party branches. The TVK claims a party membership of several millions.

Vijay and his party though untested at the hustings have gained a lot of media coverage. Though it is too early to make a proper assessment, there is little doubt that Vijay and his TVP will have a considerable impact on the Tamil Nadu state elections due next year.

In what seems to be part of his envisaged polls campaign for next year’s elections, Vijay began conducting district-wise political meetings from September onwards. Vijay addressed meetings every Saturday in the districts of Trichy, Ariyalur, Nagapattnam, Thiruvaarur, Naamakkal and Karur. The meeting held on 27 September at Karur was a huge disaster resulting in a humanitarian tragedy.

Karur crowd crush

Karur is a municipality in Tamil Nadu about 245 miles to the south west of the State capital Chennai known earlier as Madras. The TVP political rally was held at a place in Karur named Velusamypuram alongside the Erode-Karur highway. The attendance was expected to be around 10,000 to 15,000. The final turn out estimated at around 25 to 28,000 vastly exceeded the expected number. There was a terrible crowd crush resulting in 41 deaths and 105 serious injuries. Ten of the dead were children.

The Karur tragedy has gained much media coverage nationally and internationally. Although people getting killed in stampedes and crowd crushes are nothing new in India, it is very seldom that deaths of such magnitude occur in political meetings or rallies. Hence the incident continues to remain a controversial topic of discussion. The Karur tragedy and its consequences would be discussed in detail in a forthcoming article.

Meanwhile actor Vijay’s ill-fated TVP rally and its aftermath have drawn much attention to the peculiar politics of Tamil Nadu. One is the continuous rule of Dravidian political parties. Two regional parties namely the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the All India Anna-Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) have been governing the state alternately since 1967. The other is the influence of films and film personalities in the political sphere.

Dravidian party dominance

Dravidian party dominance in Tamil Nadu and the influence of cinema in Tamil Nadu politics are both inter-related issues. In a sense the rise of Dravidian politics and growing influence of cinema on politics were processes that complemented each other.

The fact that a leading actor like Vijay could launch his own political party and aspire to be the future chief minister of Tamil Nadu is mainly due to the “cinematic politics” ecosystem prevailing in the state. It is against this backdrop that this column – with the aid of earlier writings – focuses on the evolution and growth of cinematic politics in “Dravidian” Tamil Nadu.

Independence struggle

The involvement of popular artistes in Indian politics dates back to the struggle for Indian independence. Back then it was more a case of singers, musicians and drama artistes involving themselves at a provincial level, where explicit and implicit messages extolling the virtues of Mahatma Gandhi and independence were conveyed to the audience. Social reform was also advocated. 

Congress party leader Sathiyamurthy was one who recognised the political potential of actors and singers and began utilising their services in the Tamil speaking areas of the former Madras presidency. The singer-actor KB Sundarambal and the TKS Brothers Drama troupe being glittering examples in this sphere.

The message of Swarajya was projected through song recitals, street dramas, folk theatre, stage plays and later through silent and “talkie” films. Logic gave way to patriotism in many instances. For example the mythological film “Sathi Anasuya” had women of the Puranic era weave “Khadar” on the hand loom in keeping with Mahatma Gandhi’s tenets.

As the film industry bloomed, some films were perceived by the erstwhile British rulers as possessing seditious content. The authorities clamped down on some “objectionable” films, a notable example being the Tamil film Thyaga Bhoomi (Land of Sacrifice) made in 1938. It was written originally for the screen by “Kalki” Krishnamurthy and serialised in the Tamil journal Ananda Vikatan. The film directed by K. Subramanyam spoke eloquently against oppression of women as well as against British rule.

The advent of Independence and the early post-Independence years saw cinema and politics becoming intertwined in South India especially Madras state as Tamil Nadu was then called. The larger-than-life image of movie stars and film personalities dominated the political scene. Tamil film stars were not mere ornaments but valuable assets. They served as an integral component of their parties. In most cases, they were the ‘stars’ around whom their parties revolved. The rise of screen actors in the cinematic politics of Tamil Nadu was greatly due to the state’s Dravidian heritage.

Self-Respect Movement

With a population of more than 72 million, Tamil Nadu is home to India’s original rationalist movement, started by E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker (Periyar) a century ago. Known as the Suyamariyaathai lyakkam, or Self-Respect Movement, it promoted healthy political protest against caste oppression, the imposition of Hindi as national language, oppression of women, and superstition in religion. 

Periyar also founded the Dravida Kazhagham or Dravidian Party in 1943, to which both today’s ruling party DMK and chief opposition AIADMK in Tamil Nadu trace their lineage. In spite of this “Dravidian” heritage of rationalism and self-respect, it is Tamil Nadu that has allowed film stars to exercise political hegemony like no other.

Aryan-Dravidian divide

The politics of Tamil Nadu for the past 85 to 90 years has been pervaded by notions of the Aryan-Dravidian divide. This concept itself is not very scientific and has been greatly mythologised. Nevertheless, this consciousness has helped politicise significant sections of the Tamil masses and has sustained whole political parties and movements.

According to Dravidian ideology proponents, the original inhabitants of India were the Dravidians and it was the invading Aryans who took over the north and pushed the Dravidians southward. In addition, the Aryans also imposed their caste structure on the Dravidians, who had until then a classless society. 

This hierarchy placed the Brahmins on top. Dravidian ideologues maintained that Tamil Brahmins were not Tamil even though they spoke the language, but were alien Aryan relics. While its social reform platform was quite progressive, the Dravidian movement’s crude version of the Aryan-Dravidian interface and its venomous antipathy towards Tamil Brahmins left much to be desired.

Socio-historical reasons had enabled the Brahmins to remain the ruling elite in the state. They were better educated and dominated most fields, including the professions and arts. In addition there was the stamp of authority provided by orthodox Hinduism. The emerging non-Brahmin elites chose to adopt the Dravidian ideology to overthrow what they saw as Brahminic hegemony. 

The clearly perceived position of power that the numerically inferior Brahmins enjoyed, made them vulnerable targets. The democratic process made easy the mobilisation of non-Brahmin caste groups on the basis of the Dravidian ideology.

Dravidian languages are 19 in all. Of these Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Tulu are the most prominent. Interestingly, there were few takers for the “Dravidian” ideology among the other South Indian states of Andhra Pradesh (Telugu), Kerala (Malayalam) and Karnataka (Kannada). However, it took firm root in Tamil Nadu. 

Dravidian state

The original political demand of the Dravidian parties was a Dravidian state comprising present-day Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. It later modified itself into a secessionist movement, focused on Tamil Nadu alone. It was only after the 1962 war with China that the DMK dropped its separatist demand in the interests of national unity and security. It now agitates for greater autonomy within the Indian union.

Periyar’s Dravidian social reform movement was opposed to participation in politics. It was also very much under his autocratic control. A group of dissidents, revolted under the leadership of Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai and formed the DMK in 1949. Starting out as a social reform movement, the DMK later decided that change was impossible without capturing political power through democratic means. Following is a brief re-run of Dravidian party politics in the post-Independence period.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam

In 1957, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) decided to enter electoral politics and secured 15 seats in the state assembly and two in Parliament. In 1962, the figure went up to 50 in the state assembly and eight in Parliament. 1967 saw it capture power for the first time when it got 138 out of the 234 seats in the state. The DMK also won all the seats (25) it contested for the Lok Sabha. Annadurai became chief minister.

Annadurai known widely as Anna died in 1969 and was succeeded by Muttuvel Karunanidhi as chief minister. In 1971, the DMK led by Karunanidhi registered a landslide victory when it captured 184 seats in the state and 23 in Parliament. The party seemed invincible.

All India Anna-DMK

But 1972 saw a major split. The DMK’s chief vote gatherer and matinee idol Maruthoor Gopalamenon Ramachandran, or MGR, broke away from the party and floated his own party that year. He named it after Annadurai and called it Anna DMK. It was later changed to All India Anna-DMK. MGR’s party won three elections in succession, securing 125 seats in 1977, 130 in 1980 and 125 in 1984. Karunanidhi had to remain content as opposition leader for 11 years.

When MGR died in 1987 December, his wife Janaki a former actress succeeded him. But the government fell after one month due to Congress machinations. With MGR’s ex-leading lady and then propaganda secretary Jayalalitha also staking her claim to party leadership, a split resulted. In 1989, a divided ADMK contested as two factions led by Janaki and Jayalalitha. 

The Janaki faction (one seat) was trounced by Jayalalitha (24 seats) but the DMK under Karunanidhi romped home the winner. After Rajiv Gandhi’s death, the Jayalalitha-Congress combine routed the DMK. Only its leader, Karunanidhi, managed to win. In 1996, the DMK was returned to power and retained it till 2001.

Jayalalithaa returned to power in 2001 and was de-throned by Karunanidhi and the DMK in 2006.The wheel turned again in 2011 and Jayalalithaa became chief minister. The AIADMK under Jayalalithaa won again in 2016. Jayalalithaa died the same year. She was succeeded by O. Pannerselvam who was soon replaced as chief minister by Edappaady Palaniswamy. Karunanidhi passed away in 2018. The 2021 elections saw the DMK led by Karunanidhi’s son MK Stalin winning polls. The next election will be in May 2026.

Annadurai

The brief account of the political power struggle and its results within Tamil Nadu outlines the vicissitudes of the Dravidian parties in the past years. Of interest in all this is the role played by films and film personalities. It was the DMK that first attempted to use cinema for political propaganda in the post-independence years. Annadurai had once said that if it takes 10,000 political meetings to convey one message, it only takes one single ‘hit’ movie to deliver the same. He and his disciple Karunanidhi set out on that venture. Films scripted by Annadurai were well-received. Their political content made great impact. But it was Karunanidhi who really hit it big as script-writer.

Karunanidhi

Karunanidhi developed a writing style that was flowery and alliterative, and it soon became very popular. Courtroom scenes, inquiries in royal courts in historical movies and short dramas introduced into films that had a modern setting, provided ample scope for Karunanidhi’s captivating prose.

 His reputation had producers advertising their movies by proclaiming, “Story and Dialogue by “Kalaignar” (Artiste) M. Karunanidhi”. When film titles were projected in the cinema halls, his name would be shown ahead of the stars and greeted with applause. There were others to follow Karunanidhi in both content and style — Aasaithamby, Krishnaswamy, Maaran and Kannadasan. The DMK also spawned a school of actors who could effectively pronounce the lines of the scriptwriters. 

Sivaji Ganesan

When the DMK began using actors for political propaganda, the Congress leader Kamaraj dismissed them derisively as Koothaadigal (performers). This was contrary to the views held by Kamaraj’s political mentor Sathiyamurthy who encouraged artistes in politics. Congress stalwarts argued that those wearing “aridhaaram” (make-up) should not enter “arasiyal” (politics). But the Congress had to soon change roles and rely on people like Sivaji Ganesan and lyricist-script writer Kannadasan. Both had crossed over from the DMK.

M.G. Ramachandran

Even as filmstars were used for political propaganda, the actors in turn were using politics for their personal advancement. M.G. Ramachandran himself was constructing and consolidating a personal political base. Even when he starred in films not written by DMK ideologues, the lines he got carried hidden political meaning. An example was the constant reference to the rising sun, the DMK symbol. In colour productions, he would wear the party colours, black and red. 

Gradually, MGR’s screen persona started reflecting the DMK’s image. The difference between reality and make-believe blurred, while he continued to pull crowds. As Annadurai once said of MGR, “Avar Sollukku pathu latcham. Avar Mugathukkiu muppathu latcham.” (One million votes for his speech. Three million for his face.)

In his roles, MGR always spoke up for the underdog, fighting oppression and injustice. He took special care to project a social message in most songs, and took care to act in different roles so that different segments of the population could relate to and identify with him. 

Fan clubs

A unique feature of the relationship between the movie stars of the Indian south and their fans was the proliferation of fan clubs. M.G. Ramachandran encouraged the phenomenon of fan clubs from late 1940s onwards, and the clubs ended up as a well-knit federation that counted its membership in the millions. The clubs held annual conventions and also participated in social service projects.

When MGR entered active politics, his fan clubs were in turn politicised and soon became an indispensable component of the DMK propaganda machine. Both spheres mutually reinforced each other —film popularity providing political mileage and political positions strengthening film popularity. Currently actor Vijay too has turned his network of fan clubs into TVK party branches.

The MGR phenomenon was no doubt unique, and his mystique continues its hold over Tamil psyche even today. Before his death, he had come to personify the aspirations of the common people but as more than just a symbol. As political leader, he was also seen as a vehicle for realising their dreams.

Jayalalithaa

Jayalalitha symbolised the transition from the MGR era to the future. It was MGR who had, as chief minister, introduced his former leading lady into politics. She was hailed as MGR’s political heir. As propaganda secretary of the party and Rajya Sabha member, she soon established her power base within the party and emerged as an extra-constitutional authority in the state.

Jayalalitha went on to become chief minister and ruled the state from 1991 to 1996, 2001-2006 and 2011 to 2016. She too set up a fan club network called the Jayalalitha Peravai (Federation). Jayalalitha became a key player on the national scene and enjoyed immense power. 

The ascendancy of Jayalalithaa in the Tamil Nadu political milieu can be viewed as an ironic contradiction. The dominant political ideology in the state is that of Dravidianism. This is based on archaic concepts of the Aryan–Dravidian divide where the Brahmin community is seen as Aryans and other Tamils as Dravidians. Anti-Brahminism is a core element of Dravidian discourse. Jayalalithaa was a Brahmin.

Thus one could see that the Jayalalithaa phenomenon went against the grain of a hitherto dominant political concept in Tamil Nadu. She was a “Paapaathi” (Brahmin woman) ruling the Tamil Nadu anti-Brahminist roost. The success of this embodiment in the socio-political realm of Tamil Nadu was a contradiction. Jayalalithaa in a way was an exception or aberration.

Vijay’s political entry

It could be seen therefore that the rise of Dravidian political parties in Tamil Nadu greatly helped enhance the influence of cinema in the State’s political sphere. Actor Vijay’s political entry is in keeping with this tradition. However Vijay and his TVP regard the DMK as their political opponent and the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) as their ideological adversary. The political prospects of Vijay and his TVP would be analysed in a future article.

(The writer can be reached at [email protected].)