In a promo for the AIADMK, an old woman is seen entering a temple and eating there, emotionally proclaiming that even when her own children didn’t feed her, the government did.
A television promo for the DMK has a senior citizen lamenting that there has to be an end to governance by leaders who are not aware of ground reality and suffering of the people.
It turns out that both of them are the same — G.T. Kasturi. Known popularly as ‘Kasturi Paatti ’, the 67-year-old, a regular in the Tamil cinema circuit, has become an overnight social media sensation with memes, videos and articles doing the rounds about how she is the ‘favourite model’ for the DMK and the AIADMK.
Seated on the floor of her small room, which has her scarce belongings under a thatched roof, she says she wasn’t aware that the ads she had acted in were for rival election campaigns.
“An agent initially approached me to act in the promo for the AIADMK. At that time, I didn’t know it was an election promo, but thought it was for a short film. A few days later, another agent approached me asking me to say a dialogue for an advertisement and I didn’t know it was for the DMK’s election promo,” she explains. She says that she was paid Rs. 1,500 for the AIADMK promo and Rs. 1000 for the DMK promo.
She is no stranger to the world of acting and says that she has done small roles in over 300 films over the last 25 years, They include ‘Mayakkam Enna’, ‘Sagaptham’, ‘Madras’ and the soon-to-be-released ‘Iraivi’. “I used to be an actor in radio plays at All India Radio and then moved to films,” she says.
“Many casting agents call me first when directors need someone to essay the role of an old woman, which is probably why I was called by two different agents for the election promos. All the children here are imitating the dialogue ‘ Podhum da’ (enough) in one of the promos.”
Making it clear that she has no political preferences or affiliations, Kasthuri paatti says she admires Mr. Karunanidhi’s determination to contest and win, and Ms Jayalalithaa for bringing in welfare schemes during her tenure as the Chief Minister. “Many people think that just because I am an actor, I am well to do. I can barely make ends meet and thanks to a few acting assignments as well as my pension, I just get by,” she adds.
