Stars add glamour and entertainment to polls

I remember my grand father in my village saying that women in Andhra Pradesh used to offer harati (diya used while performing pooja in hindu culture) to N T Rama Rao during his campaign. NTR is well known to the Telugu speaking population for his Shri Krishna role in mythological movies. Even today, people in AP visualize him in Shri Krishna role when they want to pray Lord Krishna. That’s the kind of impact that he created among the masses through his movies. While promoting a new film, he was asked a question by a person in the audience, “Sir, we have treated you like a God but what have you done for us?" He was so moved by this that he formed TDP in 1982, and creating a record, he formed the government in AP within eight months of his entry into politics. NTR used his popularity in a full fledged manner to revolt against congress with pro poor policies and he created a history and set an example that stars have an advantage in politics and that they can defeat stalwarts in politics. We can find similar such stories about MGR in Tamil Nadu.

I often hear my office colleagues saying that people in south are mad about movies and making movie stars as netas. Then I reply to them saying that it is not only we who are mad about it but even people in north are mad about it:) Some of the popular actors like Vinod Khanna, Dharmendra and Shatragnu Sinha from BJP, Govinda from congress, Jaya Prada and Raj Babbar from SP won with huge margins in 2004 elections. In the past we have seen bollywood badhshah Amitabh Bachchan as well actively participating in poll process. The range of bollywood actors whom we have seen campaigning for two major parties include Hema Mailni, Smriti Irani, Yukta Mookhey, Jitendra and Manoj Kumar for BJP and Shakti Kapoor, Om Puri, Sharad Kapoor, Namrata Shirodkar and Bappi Lahari for Congress. So, whether it’s North India or South India, Indian politics has a lot of craze for the glamour world. But if someone says that South Indians are crazy people because they make the film stars as Chief Ministers, I would disagree with their argument and say that probably south Indian actors are intelligent in gauging the regional sentiments of their respective regions and therefore, they are intelligent enough to convert their mass regional popularity into votes.

One of my friends frustratingly says, “Damn politics, nowadays I don’t find even a single good movie in theatres to watch.” That’s the condition of the billion dollar Tollywood. Nowadays, it’s difficult to find a star from tollywood who is not involved with politics. Right from Chiru, BalaKrishna and Vijayashanti to Babu Mohan and Brahmanandam almost the entire industry has jumped into election dhamaka. Some feel that it’s a spoiler of the movie industry and some feel it’s a great entertainment for them in another form.

The stars poll story doesn’t end with filmy stars. Sport stars are not an exception to this and there are a number of sport stars as well in politics. Cricket stars are fully prepared to bat for their parties in the coming polls and earn votes for them. Navjyot Singh Siddu who is a star campaigner for BJP in Punjab and Kirti Azad, a popular cricketer from Bihar are once again ready to enter into poll fray on behalf of BJP. Anil Kumble from BJP and Chethan Sharma from BSP are going to bowl googlies and yorkars to their opponents in these elections. While Azhu bhai has already started his campaign in Hyderabad for congress. Dilip Vensarkar recently joined Shiv Sena while the renowned shooter Jaspal Rana want to give a shot from UP with BJP ticket.

One may say that people just come to see these stars during campaigns and they do not make much impact. I would beg to disagree with them and say that there is much more to it. Indians relate their favorite stars at a personal level and therefore the stars get an opportunity to make their mark. This is observed even in Indian business arena. There have been number of instances where the companies have made huge profits after they launched advertisements with popular stars. The best examples that I can site about the impact that stars can make in polls is the charismatic Vajpayee’s unsuccessful contest in Balrampur in 1962. Then the sitting MP Vajpayee was put to a defeat by the campaign of the legendary Sahni who was brought in by Nehru. So, whether everyone agrees or not, I think that there is a strong link between star status and politics. Most of these stars are not completely aware of the ideologies of their respective parties but the popularity they enjoy offsets all these arguments and the stars make their popularity work for their parties.

2009 elections are going to see the highest number of stars in the poll fray. Entertainment is expected to reach peaks in next few weeks. Would this election make Chiru an NTR and whether Azhar wins in the people’s court if not in judicial court and whether Kumble’s googlies work even in politics, we will have to wait and watch.

Jai Hind