Kerala has, thus far, been cold to crossings from the silver screen to the electoral arena. But that has not stopped the Left Democratic Front, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), from fielding actor Innocent in the Chalakudy Lok Sabha constituency.
The veteran actor is taking on a seasoned campaigner, P.C. Chacko, United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate from the Congress, in the constituency, which straddles Ernakulam and Thrissur districts in central Kerala.
Innocent is in for a tough battle not just because he is pitted against a formidable opponent but also because Kerala society has never let tinsel and politics mix. Even popular Prem Nazir could not make a mark in politics after joining the Congress. Murali, national award-winning actor, lost the Lok Sabha election as a CPI(M) candidate in Alappuzha in 1999. But Innocent is unfazed by history, and the Opposition alliance seems to be banking on the acceptance the ace actor has won among Keralites through his roles in nearly 600 (including Hindi, Tamil and Kannada) films in a career spanning three decades. The actor figures among the five independent candidates fielded by the LDF from among the minority communities in Kerala this election. The 69-year-old Innocent, at ease with both humorous and character roles, has been the president of Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) for the past 13 years. He recently fought his way out of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer that affects the lymph nodes.
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The LDF considers him a strong contender to wrest the Chalakudy seat, a traditional UDF stronghold. In 2009, K.P. Dhanapalan of the Congress won there with an impressive majority of 71,679 votes. Congress leaders say the actor lacks political experience and will not be able to make a dent in their bastion. Innocent is quick to retort: “I was a councillor in the Chalakudy municipality before I entered cinema. My father was a communist.”