Today i.e. on 4th May, counting of votes for the assembly elections of 5 states is going on. Meanwhile, South Indian superstar-turned-politician Vijay Thalapathy’s party seems to be performing best in the initial trends of TVK. Vijay Thalapathi’s political party Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) has been in the news in Tamil Nadu during the elections. Vijay has contested the seat from Perambur and Tiruchirappalli (East). He is leading from both the places.
But, Vijay is not the first hero who has entered the political arena in the state. Even before this, there are some stars from the Tamil film industry who have dominated the politics of South India. Let us tell you their names.
M G Ramachandran (MGR)
Late veteran actor of South cinema, MGR ruled the screen for almost three decades. He entered Tamil cinema in 1936 and his fan following increased so much that people considered him as their God. 30 June 1977 was the day when actor MGR reached the throne of Chief Minister. He played this role till 1987.
Jayalalitha
Jayalalitha’s name has been at the top in South Indian cinema and politics. At the age of 15, Jaya worked in her first film ‘Epistle’. After this, she appeared in an important role in the Kannada film ‘Chinnada Gombe’. Jayalalitha has worked in 140 films in her film career. Jayalalitha took membership of MGR’s party AIADMK. After this, she became a Rajya Sabha member in 1984. Jayalalitha took oath for the first time in 1991 and became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. However, he died on 5 December 2016.
N T Rama Rao
In the year 1949, NT Rama Rao alias Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao did his first film ‘Mana Desam’. NT Rama Rao worked in 300 films in a career spanning nearly 40 decades. In politics, NT Rama Rao founded the Telugu Desam Party on 29 March 1982. Within 9 months he became the Chief Minister. In his political journey, he became the CM of Andhra Pradesh four times in seven years. At the same time, he was dismissed in 1984 but he returned with the love and support of the public.
Rajinikanth
South superstar Rajinikanth started his film career in 1975. His first film K. It was Balachander’s ‘Apoorva Raagangal’. Rajinikanth made about 100 films in the first 10 years of his career. In the 80s and 90s, Rajinikanth played lead roles in the remakes of many Amitabh Bachchan films in the South. He played the lead role in ‘Billa’, the remake of ‘Don’ and ‘Panakkaran’, the remake of ‘Laawaris’, which gave him superstardom.
In 1996, Rajinikanth gave a political statement for the first time. He said that ‘if Jayalalitha is re-elected, even God cannot save Tamil Nadu’. After this, Rajinikanth helped the DMK-TMC alliance to win. At the same time, in July 2021, he dissolved his party Rajini Makkal Mandram and retired from politics.
Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan has long been known for openly expressing his political views. However, he never chose to be a part of DMK or AIADMK, but kept questioning the policies and working style of these parties. In the year 2016, J. After Jayalalitha’s demise, internal strife increased in the AIADMK, making the politics of the state unstable.
In this backdrop, in 2018, Kamal Haasan founded his party Makkal Needhi Maiam to offer a different alternative to the Bharatiya Janata Party and traditional Dravidian politics. Their aim was to create a political system that was based on rational thinking and the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi, but due to lack of expected public support, MNM could not achieve great success in state politics.
vijaykant
The name of Tamil cinema star late Vijayakanth comes among these actors who turned from actor to leader. After a successful film career, he founded a party named Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK). In 2006, Vijayakanth’s party contested the Tamil Nadu elections for the first time. With this, Vijaykant’s party has succeeded in winning 8.4 percent seats in the elections. In 2011, Vijay’s party won 29 seats in a coalition government with the AIADMK and emerged as the leader of the opposition.
Pawan Kalyan
Pawan Kalya entered South cinema in 1996. She made her debut with ‘Akkada Ammayi Ikkada Abbayi’ and soon rose to stardom with films like ‘Gokulamlo Seetha’ and ‘Suswagatham’. Actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan had founded the Jana Sena Party (JSP) in 2014. After which he had a weak start in the 2019 Andhra Pradesh elections. But, Pawan Kalyan won the assembly elections in 2024. After this, he became the Deputy Chief Minister by winning 21 seats.
Thalapathy Vijay
Famous South Indian actor Thalapathy Vijay is the son of director SA Chandrashekhar. Due to family ties, he was a part of the film world since childhood. At the age of 18, he entered the film world as a lead actor with ‘Nalaiya Theerpu’. Till now Vijay has given superhit films like ‘Theri’, ‘Mercel’, ‘Master’ and ‘Leo’. Fans are now waiting for the release of his film ‘Jana Nayakan’.
Vijay founded Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) on 2 February 2024. Since then he officially entered politics. This time he stood in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections and his political future will be decided only after its results.