Film stars entering politics in Tamil Nadu have failed to click without a solid grounding in political ideology - The Indian Express | Canada News Media
While Rajinikanth’s on again-off again flirtation with politics seems indefinitely suspended for now, it adds another chapter to the ties between Tamil Nadu politics and its film industry. And though MGR remains its most successful link — for reasons beyond his stardom — this story doesn’t begin or end with him.
If S S Rajendran, Sivaji Ganesan, Jayalalithaa, Captain Vijayakanth are the more known examples, and Kamal Haasan hopes to join their ranks, there were others who fell along the way. The common thread is that unlike other parts of the country, cine stars entering politics in Tamil Nadu have failed to click without a solid grounding in political ideology.
A scholar of South Asian cinema, Gopalan Ravindran, who teaches at the Central University of Tamil Nadu, points out that the founder of Dravidian movement, Periyar, didn’t view film stars favourably. “But Annadurai (Periyar’s disciple who left to set up the DMK) was a theatre artiste and writer, and roped in his followers like Karunanidhi and MGR to communicate with people. Annadurai used a combination of mediums… There were also many factors… cinema was not seen as a separate entity unlike today,” Ravindran says.
The actors too belonged to the post-Independence era where nationalism was at its peak, and cinema often reflected that, along with themes of socialism.
One of Annadurai’s first choices was K R Ramaswamy or KRR. A much-in-demand actor at the time (1950-60s), who starred in both theatre and films, Ramaswamy was a committed DMK functionary who kept aside his entire remuneration for the party. Soon after, the DMK had two more actors in its ranks, S S Rajendran a.k.a SRR and Sivaji Ganesan. More popular than Rajendran, Sivaji too was a diehard DMK functionary. It was when he got too busy with his movie career, and branched onto mythological movies (seen at variance with the DMK’s professed atheism) that the space vacated by him in the DMK was filled by M G Ramachandran.
Gopalan says that unlike Sivaji, MGR was clear about his political ambitions and worked on this. “He picked roles where he was cast as an idealistic man, and cultivated an image of being benevolent to the poor. He marketed and branded himself for the masses.” If J Jayalalithaa was his protege, M Karunanidhi wrote the scripts for many of MGR’s films, with both eventually joining politics. Karunanidhi carved a separate space on the strength of his writings, both for theatre and film, and his poetry.
This is where the older film stars differ from Rajinikanth’s ambitions, despite the latter’s unsurpassed success and name recognition that extends to North India.
Tamil film historian Theodore Bhaskaran calls a comparison between MGR and Rajinikanth “foolish”. “Right from his 30s, MGR was active in politics, initially in the Congress and then the DMK. When he left the DMK to form the AIADMK after party founder C N Annadurai’s death, the followers he took along with him were not mere film fans but a highly political, homogenous set of people, unlike Rajinikanth’s heterogenous fans,” he says.
Apart from this, MGR was a powerful orator with complete command over the Tamil language, Bhaskaran says, with Rajinikanth trailing on both accounts.
This is why, Bhaskaran feels, that despite all the hype surrounding any announcement by Rajinikanth regarding politics, he will fail if he rests on “mere stardom”, without firm politics or ideology.
One of the most recent examples of this is Captain Vijayakanth, whose DMDK blazed to the second-highest number of seats after the winner AIADMK in the 2011 Assembly polls, but is now reduced to zero MPs and MLAs. Kamal Haasan’s party Makkal Needhi Maiam failed to open an account in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, with its vote share not crossing even single digits.
Kalaippuli S Thanu, a veteran Tamil film producer known for several Rajinikanth superhits including Kabali, says the success of film stars in politics is a thing of the past, and not just because they are not as rooted in politics as before. Actors had a certain aura, Thanu points out, with a larger-than-life image, accessible only on the big screen.
“Also, unlike the past, fans too are no longer political.”
This article first appeared in the print edition on January 31, 2021 under the title ‘Why Rajini is no MGR, and other starry stories’.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
