Film personalities, who shied away from expressing opinions on socio-political issues, have become vocal in the State, beginning with the pro-jallikattu protests.
Kamal Haasan has made headlines with his comments on the power struggle in the State and Surya, Arvind Swamy, Siddarth and Raghava Lawrence too had been vociferous on the tussle between Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and rebel AIADMK leader O. Panneerselvam. The criticisms have been sharp. In a TV interview on Sunday, Kamal Haasan described the State government as “a criminal conglomerate.” People were angry and would revolt if there was an “orchestrated lathi charge.”
Tamil Nadu politics and the film world are interwoven, and film personalities independent of political parties have borne the brunt of politicians’ ire whenever they openly criticised the establishment.
Vadivelu suffered a jolt to his film career for campaigning against the AIADMK in 2011, and Ajith Kumar came under pressure after he said at an event attended by then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi that actors should not be compelled to attend such functions.
Shift in culture
What has emboldened film stars now?
“Film personalities had reservations when Tamil Nadu politics was dominated by two mega personalities, the late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and DMK president M. Karunanidhi. But they have now shed their inhibitions,” said Suba Gunarajan, editor of film magazine Kaatchipizhai .
However, Sashi Kumar, chairman of Media Development Foundation, said the views aired by film personalities on social and political developments were not surprising, since politics always had links with the film world in Tamil Nadu.
Pointing to the support extended by actors like Kamal Hassan to jallikattu, he said they were airing their views on what they felt strongly because they carried influence among people.
Mr. Gunarajan said that though he was not ready to buy the argument that some actors drew inspiration from the RSS ideology, he did see a tinge of Brahmanism in their discourse.
“But it is unfortunate that the public sphere is dominated by godmen and film personalities rather than intellectuals, writers, philosophers and artistes. Their participation would create diversity of opinion. But the media is more interested in accommodating the views of film personalities and godmen,” he said.
Referring to suggestions that the actors’ comments were ‘brahmanical’, he said, “It happens because of the absurd recent narratives put forth by leaders like K. Veeramani in support of the Dravidian movement. Can we accept Ms. Sasikala because Mr. Panneerselvam is perceived to be controlled by the BJP and the Sangh Parivar,” he asked.
