Role of Film Stars in Tamil Nadu Politics

Subject – Political Science-1

Submitted by
Aravind Sunder,BA018000
Dokka Mrinalini, BA01800
Gokul Abimaniyu,BA018000
Narayana M, BA0180025
Yagnesh Patta, BA0180049

Course:BA LLB
Group Number:H
Signature of the team members:

Submitted to:
Dr.S.Subba Rao
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Tamil Nadu national Law University
Trichy – 620 027
Marks Awarded-
Project:
Presentation and Viva-Voce:
Total:

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 DECLARATION

We, Aravind Sunder and His Group Members pursuing Course and year_BA LLB FIRST
YEAR, do hereby declare that the project entitled “Role of Film Stars in Tamil Nadu
Politics” submitted to Tamil Nadu National law University (TNNLU), Trichy, in partial
fulfillment of requirement of award of degree in undergraduate in law is a record of original
work done by us under the guidance of Dr.S.Subba Rao, Assistant Professor of Political
Science, TNNLU, and has not formed basis for award of any degree or diploma or
fellowship or any other title to any other candidate of any university.

Date: 12-10-2018
Place: Tiruchirappalli

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Contexts:

1. Introduction ..........................................................................................
2. Summary of Tamil Nadu politics........................................................
3. The influence of Film stars in the Tamil Nadu politics.......................
4. The reason for film stars entering into the politics: A Critical
analyses......................................................................... ..........................
5. Conditions of Tamil Nadu politics with the entry of two major Cine
stars of Tamil Nadu (Rajinikanth and
Kamalhasan)..........................................................................................
6. Prospects of Tamil Nadu politics with the arrival of new film
stars.........................................................................................................
7. Film stars in Tamil Nadu politics - Merits and Demerits....................
8. Our opinion on the prospect of Tamil Nadu politics...........................
9. Conclusion................................................................................................

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Introduction:
Political Parties in India were effectively mobilised by various media mainly by cinemas.
Cinemas play a major role in the evolution of the life of the people of India, mostly in Tamil
Nadu. Cinemas have the effect of capturing the minds of the people and also serve as the
tool to widen the knowledge of literates and to provide knowledge to the illiterates. It is only
in the cinema hall people forget all their social differences such as castes and religions and
show their full attention to the movie. Tamil people are the cinema lovers and they show
more interest than any other people in the country. Tamil cinemas have a great influence
among the people of Tamil Nadu. Cinema has influenced the practices, life styles, habits,
character, mind set of the people of Tamil Nadu. They even consider their favourite cine
stars as their own family members and many of the people develop their habits from their
favourite cine stars. So, considering this passion of people towards the Tamil Cinema, it
was better used by the earlier political leaders of Tamil Nadu than any other politicians of
other states to attract the people. The Dravidian party has handled the stage plays and
Tamil films as a tool to spread their policies and to bring out the emotion of the people
against the national parties. This was put forward in the following lines "intention was to
introduce the ideas and policies of social reform and justice […] and bring up the status of
the Tamil language as they were called for in DMK politics" 1.From C.N. Annadurai to J.
Jayalalitha used their identity of cinema to step into the politics. They were all somehow
belong to the Tamil cinema before they become politicians. Five out of seven Chief
Ministers from Dravidian Parties were from Tamil cinema. From 1969 to 2016 ,Tamil
Nadu was ruled by cine stars. Let us here analyse the influence and role of film stars in
Tamil Nadu politics and the prospects of Tamil Nadu Politics with the arrival of new film
stars in Tamil Nadu politics. This project also studies the merits and demerits of cine stars
entering into politics.

Summary of Tamil Nadu Politics:

There is a lot of confusions in the present political conditions in Tamil Nadu. These
confusions were the result of the demise of the two brave and strong Dravidian leaders (M.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1

Karunanidhi, Former DMK leader in ‘Parasakthi’ (1952)

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Karunanidhi and J. Jayalalitha). The death of J. Jayalalitha brought a drastic change in the
Tamil Nadu Politics and new began to arouse. The death of M. Karunanidhi also paved the
way for many new politicians. After the death of these two majestic leaders there was a
void in the Tamil Nadu politics and many try to fill this void. But none of the newly emerged
politicians have not filled their gap.
After the death Jayalalitha, there were lot of disputes in the party from the date of her death
till this date. Many groups were formed within AIADMK after her death. Sasikala, a close
friend of Jayalalitha tried to replace her in the party and in the government but in vain. She
has been jailed in the property accumulation case. Then she appointed his relative TTV.
Dinakaran to lead the party and Edapadi. K. Palanisamy to take over the government.
Because of the strong opposition from O. Panner Selvam and his supporters Sasikala and
her family members were kept aside from the party. TTV. Dinakaran started a new party
and he even won in R.K. Nagar election. The AIADMK lost in R.K. Nagar which showed
the great fall of the party after Jaya’s death. The rise of TTV. Dinakaran is also a major
threat to the party and he pulls members from AIADMK to his party slowly. The
disqualification of MLA’s case and the rise of Dinakaran is the major problem for the party.
There was also a complaint from the opposition leaders that AIADMK was controlled by
the BJP in the centre.
There were no much conflicts in DMK when compared to AIADMK. The new leader M.K.
Stalin organises his party in a systematic manner but the pressure given by M.K. Alagari
who has many supporters in Madurai is the only problem that Stalin has to face. Alagiri
Showed his power in the possession to the Marina Beach with his supporters. The death of
M. Karunanidhi is an uncompensated loss to DMK. Though Stalin organises his party in a
systematic manner, the people have lost their faith on DMK to a limited extend.
The fall in the both AIADMK and DMK paved the way for many new members to start a
new political party. The relatives of Jayalalitha such as Deepa, Madhavan and Diwakaran
started a new party with their supporters. To the surprise of everyone Tamil cinema’s most
prominent actors such as Rajini Kanth and Kamal Hasan entered into the politics. Vishal
also has entered into the politics. There is a view that the entry of these two actors will
split the votes into many. In the current scenario the political conditions in Tamil Nadu is
unpredictable, unclear and is very pathetic. There is no mass leader of appeal with both
Jayalalitha and Karunanidhi out of circulation. People power coming to the force, students

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getting more involved in politics forcing current politicians to mature, get in new politics
with alternate ideologies. These are the favourable situations which give chance for the
cine actors to step into politics in Tamil Nadu.

The Influence of Film Stars in Tamil Nadu Politics:

Since very olden days, cinema and politics have been really closely knit and the reason for
this can be derived from the anti British propaganda.

Annadurai and Karunanidhi were the first two people to have put forward their Dravidian
ideologies. Starting with movies, the biggest hit was Parasakthi (1952). It carried some views
on caste systems prevalent in India. It also featured Sivaji Ganesan and S.S. Rajendran - two
people who played major roles in shaping the politics of tamilnadu as debutants. As expected
and looked forward to, the film was successful in spreading the message across to people
which led the congress to resort to censorship to make sure that they have their hold in the
state.
Just when Annadurai and Karunanidhi made their minds to shift back to theatre, the congress
brought censorship even to stage plays. There were too many cuts in the films that were
produced there after that led to lack of basic continuity. These actors and politicians were
hereworshipped and the reason for this was they kept the draifan movement running and also
the characters that they played in the movies and plays turned them into superstars and for a
large mass of people who were uneducated, they were their only source of hope and
inspiration.

Years later, when everything was going well the biggest and most important member of the
party- M.G Ramachandran brought about the downfall of the party.
Later, Annadurai's death and Karunanidhi's push for his son MK Muthu led to M.G.R going
against the party and eventually forming a new party called the ANNA DRAVIDA
MUNNETRA KAZHAGAM. (ADMK) which was later renamed to ALL INDIA DRAVIDA
MUNNETRA KAZHAGAM (AIADMK).
MGR's popularity helped him win over DMK in the 1977 elections. He also went on to win 3
consecutive assembly elections because of his popularity along with the help of S.S
Rajendran.

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A major turn in the tamilnadu politics happened after MGR's death. It brought to light
another filmstar who people didnt know was capable enough to govern the state for the
decades to come. She was none other than J. JAYALALITHAA. Along with being MGR's co
actor in many movies she was also his confidante and a very close person to him. The
following years after the demise of MGR were very turbulent. That was when tamilnadu
politics were not stable. The AIADMK party split into two groups - one supporting
jayalalithaa and the other supporting Janaki Ramachandran, MGR's widowed wife.
In the 1989 elections, Jayalalithaa emerged as the leader of opposition of her party.
Ever since then the two major parties in Tamilnadu are DMK and AIADMK.
And for condition of tamilandu with the entering of rajnikanth and kamal, it only has
prospective ideas.

The reason for Film Stars in the Tamil Nadu Politics -A Critical Analysis

Having been embittered with the two Dravidian parties and their
"degenerate ways", Vijayakanth propelled DesiyaMurpokkuDravidaKazhagam (DMDK), a
territorial political gathering with focus left belief systems. He put his gathering as an option
in contrast to the two standard ones contrast to the two standard ones.

The DMDK challenged the 2006 get together decisions and proceeded to collect 10% of
voters in the get together races and 10.1% votes in the Lok Sabha races. The one-year-old
outfit had recently turned into the third biggest gathering in the state and had figured out how
to get a greater number of votes than the relentless DMK.

In 2011, Vijayakanth's gathering held hands with the AIADMK and won 29 of the 41 seats it
challenged in. Besides, the on-screen character was then chosen as the pioneer of the
restriction in the administrative get together of Tamil Nadu.

Then again, after stretches with both AIADMK and DMK for over 10 years, performer R
Sarath Kumar propelled his own political gathering – All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi in
2007. The gathering has not seen much achievement other than the two get together seats it
had won in collusion with the AIADMK in 2011.

While many object to craftsmanship and diversion being utilized to promote a belief system,
it remains an unpreventable truth that both exists together and will impact one another.

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MERITS OF CINE STARS ENTERING INTO POLITICS:
Cinema stars usually know the taste and preference of the people and give new films
according to the preference of the people. As cine stars know the taste of people they work
for the people effectively according to their taste when they enter into politics. They will
also raise their voice for the people according to their needs. Cine stars also have a huge fan
following which enables them to act effectively if they come to power. The huge fan
following will also help the leaders to motivate the people easily. So, people can easily
connect to them which makes them the good leaders. There won’t be much opposition to
their policies that promotes effective functioning of the state. Cine stars can do more for
the welfare of the people as they live in amongst the common people. As they live among the
common people they know the sufferings that people undergo on the daily basis and can
draw conclusion efficiently for their problems. In Tamil Nadu, one can find a large number
of corrupt politicians who primarily think of themselves, their families and the ways by
which they can make money that will support their next generations. They do not think in
broader aspects to mitigate illiteracy and poverty. They know if illiteracy is removed, this
will affect their vote bank. Now comes the point of actors coming into politics, they are
public figures - liked, admired and accepted by all so they should live up to the expectations
of people. There is no harm in actors joining politics because as far as money is concerned
they already have ample of it so they don't think of filling their own pocket to an extent. But
they think that they should do something valuable for the society; contribute in achieving
some milestone; and do something for the nation from the core of their heart. At least the
cine stars are somewhat educated when compared to the politicians who are mostly
uneducated. Cine stars usually under go many struggles in their career which would lay
down the basement for working in Politics. The enthusiasm on politics will be improved
among the youngsters and the children if their favourite celebrity is involving in active
politics. It will make them to contribute directly or indirectly for the development of the
state. They will be very eager to vote for their favourite cine star and they would also
develop the habit of reading newspapers and know the political strategies. There is a chance
for the young adults to live in a political world that they desire. Now a days there is a need
for huge sum of money to contest in an election. The actors may not have the problem of
money. The film stars are quite popular in Tamil Nadu and they are usually loved by all
sections of the society. Therefore when they contest an election, there is more chance to win
due to their popularity. Some of the cine stars in Tamil Nadu such as Annadurai, M.

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Karunanidhi, J. Jayalalitha, M.G. Ramachandran has made the best use of their identity as
film stars to succeed in politics. However, they are many cine stars who find it very
difficult to adjust to the real-politics and satisfy the people of their constituency.
DEMERITS OF CINE STARS ENTERING INTO POLITICS:
Most of the film stars think that entering into politics is the next stage in their life. This
happens mostly in Tamil Nadu. Cine stars such as M.G. Ramachandran, J. Jayalalitha, M.
Karunanidhi, Sivaji Ganeshan, T. Rajendran, Karthick, Sarath Kumar, Vijay Kanth,
Kamal Hasan, Rajani Kanth, Vishal and many entered into politics. Most of the above
mentioned stars came to Politics when their market value has fallen. Many entered into
politics just to become more popular and even some enter into politics just to make their
films successful. Cine stars used to act according to the script. But when they become a
politician, he/she has to use his/her own ideas. They lack this skill to a large extent which
may affect the smooth functioning of the state when they come to power. Cine actors
usually don’t have any prior experience in the field of politics and they win the elections
only because of their fame. Many stars even after entering into the politics they were unable
to come out of the fictional world. The actors entering into the politics are not good for our
state. Because actors are just the people who know to act . They lack experience and
knowledge about the politics, national resources, current affairs and the past political
affairs. They know to act and perform in front of the cameras. People knew only the life of
the actors behind the camera and not their real life. There exists a stereotypic view that the
actors are good people which should be thrown away. None of the actor would want the
people to forget him or her and do not recognize them. Some of the cine stars consider
Politics as the easiest way to get the limelight and their motto is not to serve the people but
just to be there . There also arises a question that if an actor is interested in politics why
should he start his carrier as an actor. Some actors enter into politics with the sole aim of
earning fame and money. There is a danger situation in Tamil Nadu that people started
searching for their leaders in the cinema theatres which should not be welcomed.

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