Why is cinema such a powerful phenomenon in Tamil Nadu politics?
Tamil Nadu has long been dominated by movie stars from the time of Annadurai to Karunanidhi to MGR to Jayalalitha. In recent times, Vijayakanth and Director Seeman launched their own parties. The latest to join the bandwagon are Kamal and Rajini, the biggest superstars of Tamil cinema.Why is cinema such a phenomenon in Tamil Nadu?
I follow the twitter trends closely in India and if you follow the twitter trends in Chennai, it is cinema news that dominates the trends. Audio launch, movie teaser, movie release get more attention than anything else. A comedy scene in the 2004 super hit Tamil film Kadhal, directed by Balaji Sakthivel, explains the cinema-politics bond in a funny way. The scene goes like this where a cinema aspirant when asked whether he wants to be a character artist or villain or hero, the aspirant says ‘First Hero, then politics, then CM’. No wonder Tamil Nadu was led by movie titans like Karunanidhi, MGR and Jayalalitha in the last 4 decades.
It may sound as a silly argument that only movie stars could provide inspiration for a state that has around 70 million people. Are there other success stories or role models from this state? Let’s examine a few popular names — Abdul Kalam was considered a golden child of this state but he is more like Gandhi who never wanted to participate in power politics. Sahayam, an IAS officer, is considered as an exemplary and upright officer whose fight against corruption has won the hearts and minds of the Tamil people. But he declared that he is not interested in joining mainstream politics. TM Krishna, the Carnatic Singer and Magsaysay Award winner, has been vocal for social change and has been writing & performing as an activist but many people don’t even know him. Ashwin Ravichandran and Murali Vijay are playing for the Indian cricket team but do people see them as ‘leaders’ of their state? Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, is from Tamil Nadu and an inspiration but he is an American citizen. Viswanathan Anand, World Chess Champion, has no relevance even as an inspiration. It is so hard to come up with any names from any other industry or any other walks of life.
The political leaders who didn’t have any cinema background and who lead political parties including Vaiko, Ramadoss, his son Anbumani Ramadoss(a medical doctor), Thirumavalavan have never been able to stamp their authority as alternatives. Public intellectuals like Subramanian Swamy and Dr.Udhayamoorthy couldn’t capture the imagination of the people either. Their idealism had initial appeal but it quickly died out. Though Swamy has massive following outside Tamil Nadu, he has no appeal or relevance to the Tamil people. Even outsiders who have broad appeal like Narendra Modi couldn’t appeal to the people and were out-rightly rejected. At the peak of the Modi wave in 2014, which helped BJP to register a thumping win all over India, Tamil Nadu stood out as an outlier where Modi’s BJP was whitewashed along with Rahul Gandhi’s Congress. An argument that Modi and Rahul Gandhi are outsiders won’t stand ground because MGR, Jayalalitha and Rajinikanth are outsiders who have achieved the highest possible power and influence over any local in the history of Tamil Nadu since independence.
On the other hand, the Tamil movie industry churns out ‘rags to riches’ type of stories on a frequent basis. MGR was born to Malayalam speaking parents who were tea plantation workers in Kandy, Sri Lanka. From there to working for theater companies in India to a struggling artist to becoming the superstar of Tamil cinema to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu is a fairy tale story of legends. Karunanidhi, known for his extraordinary oratory and writing skills, came from the grassroots who beat all odds to become the Chief Minister. Popular filmmaker Maniratnam even made a film ‘Iruvar’ that chronicled the life of these two legends. Also, there was Sivaji Ganesan, the first Indian actor to be made a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, also came from very humble backgrounds.
Rajnikanth, a coolie turned bus conductor turned actor, is the most popular star in TamilNadu. Born in a Marati family and raised in Karnataka, Rajnikanth doesn’t have the conventional good looks of movie stars and couldn’t speak Tamil properly in the initial stages of his career. But he set the screen on fire for the Tamil audience every time he came on the silver screen and his movies are celebrated like festivals. Almost every successful film director or technicians have a similar ‘rags to riches’ story. A R Murugadoss, the director who gave blockbusters like Gajini and Thuppakki, was taking clothes from washerman and washed it to survive his initial years when he was looking for opportunities. Vikram, one of the finest actors, persevered for 14 years before he became a big star. The most recent success story, Vijay Sethupathi also came from humble beginnings. Movie star provide the inspiration and serve as role models in their journey towards their own success.
It is not always about the ‘rags to riches’ inspiration from the movie industry. The tamil film industry is a symbol of excellence also. Music Director Ilayaraja came from a tiny village, sang in the streets and political rallies before he became the soul of the Tamil people. My friends in America claim that they listen to 3–5 Ilayaraja songs on a daily basis. Another music director AR Rahman, from humble origins, went on to win the Academy Awards and has pan India appeal. Kamal Hassan is known for his innovations and experimentations while Maniratnam and PC Sreeram (Cinematographer) changed the way films were made. New age directors like Vetrimaran, Myskin, Balaji Sakthivel have taken Tamil films to global standards. In addition, their realistic portrayal of socio-economic and cultural factors play a very important role in shaping the mindset of people around issues. Tamil Nadu is the only place where even music directors, cinematographers and directors get claps & whistles when their names appear on the title card of the movie. The belief that they can reach global heights is again provided by cinema through the excellence pursued in cinema by AR Rahman, Kamalhassan, Ilayaraja, Maniratnam, PC Sreeram and the new age film directors.
In addition, film dialogues have so much usage in the everyday conversation. It is very common for people to use the popular vadivelu dialogue ‘Mudiyala’ or Rajinikanth’s ‘Neruppuda’ or Kamal Hassan’s ‘Naan adicha sethuruva’. Film comedy dialogues are used as metaphors to explain funny situations in life This trend cuts across all age groups and across all strata of the society. Films influence the dressing style, hairstyles, social conversations, bathroom singing and all aspects of people’s lives.
There could be one more factor that I believe could have contributed to this trend. The anti-Hindi protests of the 60s cut Tamil Nadu from the national mainstream and their lack of Hindi knowledge moved them away from national leaders and made them stay local. Leaders like Vajpayee, Advani, Modi who are excellent orators in Hindi, have never been able to appeal the people here. A tamil guy will not have the same admiration for Vajpayee like a North Indian. Rajiv Gandhi was the last political leader from the north who was able to connect to the people here. His son Rahul Gandhi is not considered smart enough as intelligence and smartness is highly valued and the congress government’s support to Sri Lankan government to defeat the Tamil Tigers in Srilanka also moved them away from the congress party.
Also, their pro-English approach makes them use English heavily in everyday conversations. It is very common to see two educated Tamil people speak in English even in normal settings. In fact, it will be a surprise if they speak in Tamil. Hollywood films, both English and Tamil dubbed version, have their biggest audience in Tamil Nadu and no other language films including Hindi have any market here. Also, huge diaspora of Tamil people and their success abroad either as individual (Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google) or as groups (Tamil is the official language in Singapore, Sri Lanka) have also helped connect the people to the world directly.
There are also a few outside factors that contribute to this phenomenon. The Rajnikanth memes, the awful Lungi dance, the ‘ennada rascalu’ puns in South Indian accents by North Indian people don’t go well here. Cine role models have given them a firm footing to showcase their identity proudly. They are not competing with the national benchmark anymore in any field and as a result, they don’t look up to other current national icons. Tamil cinema industry, with the likes of AR Rahman and Kamal Hassan, has given the identity, inspiration and the belief than any other field in Tamil Nadu in instilling this belief — “If you pursue excellence, the world will embrace you”. May be this is why cinema is such a powerful phenomenon in Tamil politics.
Is this good for Tamil Nadu? No, Absolutely not. After Kamaraj, politics has become such an ugly word here and the corruption that Kamal Hassan talks about became mainstream during the time of his senior stalwarts. Whether the people will continue to get inspired by cinema is a question mark but the alternatives are hopelessly weak.
