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Kamal Hassan and the Political circus of Tamil Nadu

The political scenario of Tamil Nadu has become a giant Circus that every clown sees a job opportunity.

Kamal Hassan is a great actor (other than occasionally shoddy pieces like the Mumbai Express, etc.,) and there is no doubt in that. But, he has zero experience running a social/political movement. Same for Rajnikanth and other players in the league.

Over 70 years, MGR and Jayalalitha were the only actors who succeeded in Tamil politics and both are unique. It would be futile for other actors to have the same ambition.

MGR created an aura for decades (always the good guy (except for the occasional rumors) and peppered films with motivational songs). He spent many years with the Dravidian movement, where he learnt the basics of politics and growing a strong connect with public at large. Even with all that, it was only the untimely death of his leader Annadurai that gave the room for him and Karunanidhi to break out.

Jayalalitha tagged behind MGR and used the power vacuum left behind by MGR. Again, she was not a novice like Kamal Hassan or Rajnikanth - she had a great political mentor. And she had an amazing opening in the form of Rajiv assassination in 1991 that turned the sympathy wave for her.

Kamal Hassan or Rajnikanth or whomever out there with no political work, no social movement, no mentors, no godfathers have no chance there. Just acting in a movie would never get anyone a CM post (may be an exception can be given to NTR here, but he worked extremely hard to establish himself as a politician) and if one reads the history of MGR it would be clear. And the failure of Chiranjeevi as a politician can be the best example for this.

Actors wanting to become Chief Ministers instantly are as realistic as actors wanting to become Nobel Laureates in Physics. They don’t know science, they have not done even basic experiments, but suddenly think of the highest prize. If they want the highest prize they better start from the bottom part of the ladder.

And mainstream politics is the deep end of the swimming pool - if you know swimming it would be a peaceful exercise and if you don’t know swimming and dive without a float, you die!

To cut the crap, I don't see any political future for either Kamal Hassan or Rajni Kanth by themselves. For them to taste any success in politics, they would need a really strong alliance. Would BJP be the alliance? Can Tamil Nadu see a change? Only time can answer.

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