Mollywood’s reticence may be a far cry from the scene elsewhere. At the general elections last year, stars such as Hema Malini, Shatrughan Sinha, Paresh Rawal, Moon Moon Sen, and Kiron Kher took to victory podium.
However, perhaps it was Innocent who outdid them all.
Not because the actor, one of the finest comedians of all-time in Malayalam cinema, defeated P.C. Chacko, a seasoned MP of the Congress, in a constituency which the United Democratic Front (UDF) had won by over 70,000 votes in the previous poll. But more since his victory was the first ever by a film star in a Parliament election in Kerala, even if it had much to do with his contesting more as a Left candidate, than as a movie star.
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Kerala politics may never have an M.G. Ramachandran, N.T. Rama Rao or Jayalalithaa to steer its course. Even the biggest Mollywood star ever, Prem Nazir, never got down to contesting an election, though he had clearly harboured political ambitions and had joined the Congress.
Exceptions so far have been national-award winning actor Murali who contested the 1999 Lok Sabha election from Alappuzha as an LDF candidate and was defeated by V.M. Sudheeran of the UDF.
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Actor K.B. Ganesh Kumar won the Assembly elections and was a Minister twice. But what propelled him was not his star appeal, but his political legacy. Actor Devan had floated the Kerala People’s Party, but it sank like a stone in the elections. He then wanted to work for the Congress, but later said the State leaders were not too keen to have him on board.