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By:
JBR
C N Annadurai, M Karunanidhi, M G Ramachandran, V N Janaki, J Jayalalitha are the 5 chief ministers that Tamilnadu has seen from the Tamil film field. Can actors ever bring in votes? This question may sound absurd. But then there are exceptions that never become rules and for the very reason we have to inquire into this question if actors can get votes for candidates.
As usual, many political parties tried to rope in the actors from Kodambakkam. The majority were netted by AIADMK. The least likely actress Simran and Vindhya went from street to street asking for votes. No doubt they made a pretty picture. To see them and listen to them speak, the crowds pushed and shoved each other. Sure they drew the crowds, but will they be able to draw the votes?
MGR for success and Sivaji for failure in politics, are examples we know. Both were popular film actors with massive fan following, but only one of them tasted success in politics. Both came from same background, so what is the reason for one winning and the other losing in politics? To understand this, one has to take a glance at Tamil cinema.
When cinema was first started, mythological stories were the first types to be made. The mythological gods were heroes and the asuras were villains. After some time, social themes replaced mythological stories. The young man who worked for the good of society replaced the god hero. The tyrannical zamindars, landlords and bad guys replaced the asuras as villains.
So, films came to consist of good and bad, hero and villain and MGR had a great part to play in this categorization. MGR was always portrayed as a character that all people could look up to, but he was also a super hero whose brave and daring deeds could not be attempted by the lay people. Whether he did the role of a collector or a thief, he was always portrayed as a hero who protected his people. By being projected like this in every film, in time, MGR appeared in the minds of people as their knight in shining armour.
His help to the needy and consolation to the desperate strengthened this image of protector further. That's why he found it easy in public life to attain the trust of the people.
Those who support MGR could well ask this question. Did he not spread the ideals of being a teetotaler, truth always wins, respect your mother, labour always triumphs and so on, through his films as well as songs? But these are not MGR's discoveries. These have been around from Valluvar's times. It is pertinent to mention that these may have boosted MGR's image on screen as a savior, but brought about no changes in the minds of the people or their behavior. MGR advocated abstaining from drinking and not taking bribes in his films, but how many who supported MGR, followed that in real life?
On the one side the image of the hero was being built as the protector of the society. But Sivaji Ganesan could carve out a niche for himself by portraying roles opposite to the above. Sivaji Ganesan's roles have all been the average man's life in realistic life. His excellence was in assuming roles of a handicapped person, a robber, a murderer, a saint, and so on, and bring about emotions and actions that fit those roles like pathos, helplessness, anger, envy, happiness and valour. If the protector image was celebrated beyond the actor in MGR's films, Sivaji was celebrated for taking up the kind of roles that he did.
As for the audience, they desired MGR more, more moved by the image, forgetting realism. That's why MGR was successful in his public life.
That's the reason why Rajinikanth and Vijayakanth who follow the MGR bani would definitely be successful in politics whereas an actor like Kamal who follows the Sivaji bani may not be successful even though he has an equally huge fan following. With this background, let's take a look at today's actors in the election fray.
Vijay Kumar who dons a father role once in a while, Murali who does one film in 5 years, Radha Ravi who went missing, Simran who lost out after she got married, Vindhya some of whose films are still not released, Kovai Sarala who leans heavily on Telugu films, a lost Senthil, S S Chandran who surfaces only on political platforms, Chandrasekhar, Visu of Arattai Arangham fame, T R who's making a film for several years, Bhagyaraj who's struggling to release a film already made…these are the people who have been prominent on the political campaign scene.
None of these are action heroes like MGR to win over the masses. Nor do they have a great fan following like Sivaji. For such people, it will be difficult to win over even a handful of votes. Sarath Kumar, who leans heavily on his caste backing, is in no greater position than these people either. Many polls taken by the media support this.
This only goes to show that the people have discarded the protector role made famous by MGR. We cite two films as an example. The hero of 'Chithiram Pesudhadi' did not possess the requisites expected of a hero. He's a drunkard who hits people for money and does not do a single deed for the good of the people. The hero of 'Thiruttu Payale' is like the asuras of yore. But these are the two films that most appealed to the masses in recent times.
In contrast, the action films 'Aathi' and 'Thirupati' that portray the heroes as saviors did not receive a favorable response. This shows that people now want to see a realistic hero with his good and bad points. At least now the ridiculous situation where reel heroes become real heroes in politics will occur less now in Tamilnadu!
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-08.05.2006
