After actor-comedian Vadivelu burnt his fingers campaigning for the DMK in the 2011 elections for the Tamil Nadu Assembly, the cine world now seems to be wary about voicing their political opinion. Unlike previous elections which saw many stars coming out en bloc to support their preferred political leaders, the 2014 general election campaign is seeing a lack of star campaigners. Even those who are becoming involved – Kamal Haasan, SP Balasubrahmanyam and Arjun Sarja – are campaigning for ethical voting rather than support any political party overtly.
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According to reports from the offices of various political parties, most of the actors and actresses would rather not be involved in the campaign. “What happened to Vadivelu after the assembly polls seems to have been a huge deterrent for other cine stars. While crowds thronged to watch his ready wit, the numbers did not translate to votes for DMK. The parties are also now beginning to realise the futility of getting cinema stars to campaign and we have begun focusing on addressing real issues now,” said a source at the DMK office.
While DMK’s list of campaigners from Kodambakkam includes names like Kushboo and small-time actors Kumari Muthu and Vasu Vikram, the AIADMK has brought in comedians Senthil, Singamuthu and Gundu Kalyanam, actress Vindhya, yesteryear stars ‘Vennira Aadai’ Nirmala (who was chief minister’s co-star in Jayalalithaa’s first film) and R Ramarajan. Sarath Kumar is another notable AIADMK campaigner, but the actor has been active in politics for years now.