DC Edit | Will Vijay impact politics of TN?

The entry of another film star into Tamil Nadu politics was in the air for some time, but when Vijay decided to take the plunge, he did so decisively, with clearly stated goals and with the 2026 Assembly polls a specific target. He will be 50 when what could be his last film releases early next year, which means he will be giving up, at least for a while, a lucrative film career in which he has delivered a series of recent blockbusters.

There needed to be no clearer signals about his intention to enter politics, which he has done with a to-be registered party — Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, than in the heavily political commentary that seeped into his films which invariably proved attractive to idealistic youth with belief in the principles of fighting corruption in public life and governance and taking on divisiveness caused by caste, creed, religion, etc.

In his party’s name, Vijay has left out the word ‘Dravida’, so popular and prominent in most Tamil Nadu parties, of which the two majors were founded and nurtured by personalities belonging to the world of films like scriptwriters, matinee idols and actresses. There is no lack of precedent in film stars cashing in on their popularity to come to power as MGR and N.T. Rama Rao first did in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh in the ’70s and ’80s.

Unlike Rajinikanth, who dragged his feet so long as to make an intended political foray virtually meaningless until he chose to sheepishly call it off, avowedly on health grounds, Vijay has years ahead in what could be a second career. With a fan base that has undertaken social initiatives and relief work in several climate calamities that keep striking the state, the newcomer has a base he can build upon.

It is to be seen which vote bank he will break most into of the 80 per cent that the two Dravidian majors polled in the last Assembly polls in 2021, but there is no denying that here is a serious player who can set the cat among the pigeons.