Every time Rajinikanth makes an announcement about the possibility of entering politics, there is an artificial buzz pressed by his fan clu...
Every time Rajinikanth makes an announcement about the possibility of entering politics, there is an artificial buzz pressed by his fan club and the popular Tamil media. These two groups, along with his film publicity team, have long made a business out of the star’s career in Tamil cinema.
But despite the attempts to portray parallels between him and the popular cine idol-turned-political MG Ramachandran, Rajinikanth is neither an icon that Tamil society looks up to nor a phenomenon like MGR. This sudden aura of indispensability around Rajnikanth has been engineered by the desperate Bharatiya Janata Party in Tamil Nadu because of the party’s lack of a political identity and the fact that it has been unable to make common cause with the people and issues in Tamil Nadu politics.
Speculation about the actor’s political future mounted again on Friday as he was admitted to hospital in Hyderabad with fluctuations in his blood pressure.
How is Rajnikanth different?
Rajinikanth is neither charismatic nor creative enough to address and offer solutions to the challenges facing the state. He has long been hobnobbing with political leaders, cashing on his cinematic outreach. When it comes to imposing stardom on the innocent movie-going public, political parties in Tamil Nadu are colour-blind to the...
