Vijay: A mass hero now looks to the masses

Around 13 years ago, an interviewer from the NDTV Hindu asked C. Joseph Vijay, familiar by his screen name Vijay, “If politics beckons, which party would you join and when?” It was a question, commonly faced by top actors in Tamil Nadu where politics and cinema remain intertwined. Most would shy away.

However, Vijay responded in a measured tone. “Right now, my interest is only cinema… I desired to be an actor. Back then I did not expect that the people would bring me on to such a big stage… Similarly, time will make me sit in a position. When that happens, I am determined that for the people of Tamil Nadu I have to do something…We can’t come [to politics] just because someone writes or gives a build-up. The base for that must be strengthened. We are doing it constantly by converting the fans’ association into a people’s movement,” he said.

Now, the actor is in the limelight after making a high-voltage political address at the first rally of his fledgling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) in Vikravandi recently. For a debutant, his well-rehearsed speech, delivered in a cinematic fashion peppered with punch dialogues, have largely hit the right notes, in terms of its appeal to his audience. Without naming any political party, he spelt out his party’s position: it shall be ideologically opposed to “sectarian” forces and politically opposed to what he described as the looting of Tamil Nadu by one family that invoked the name of Dravidian stalwarts Periyar E.V. Ramasamy and C.N. Annadurai. In short, the message is he shall maintain a distance from the BJP and take on the ruling DMK.

Besides, another message that emerged from Vikravandi was that Tamil Nadu has got back a political crowd puller after the passing of leaders such as M. Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa. The milling crowd at the rally venue and the jamming of the highways by vehicles was proof of this. There is, however, no guarantee, that crowds necessarily convert into votes.

However, aside from the plank of fighting corruption, Vijay has not offered anything new to the Tamil Nadu electorate. He has preferred the status quo on the Dravidian parties’ two-language formula (opposing Hindi imposition); abolition of the post of Governor; opposition to NEET-based admission to medical courses; and restoring Education as a State List subject. He has chosen to accept Periyar as one of the guiding lights of his party minus the social reformer’s atheistic viewpoint. He also sees no difference between “Dravidam” and “Tamil Nationalism” and believes they are two eyes of this land, something which followers of the two ideologies would strongly reject.

Vijay’s coinage of his party’s commitment to “secular social justice principles” is as ambiguous as the “Annaism” coined by the late M.G. Ramachandran to describe his AIADMK’s ideology. His opposition to “sectarian” politics appears to be a bit superfluous considering that he made light of “fascism” by equating it with payasam (a sweet dish).

Soft stance towards AIADMK

Nonetheless, he has stirred Tamil Nadu politics by declaring he is open to sharing power with allies. Unlike other new entrants, who have projected themselves as an alternative to the two established players, the DMK and the AIADMK, Vijay has remained silent on the latter. While Vijay’s offer for a share in power was made by placing the TVK in a position of strength and eyeing potential allies as junior partners, his soft approach towards the AIADMK subtly underlines that politics is pregnant with possibilities.

The spadework for Vijay’s political entry was begun much earlier by his father and director, S.A. Chandrasekhar, who had launched him as a child artiste in Vetri (1984) and thereafter as a young hero in Naalaiya Theerpu (1992). When the first few films bombed, Chandrasekhar approached Vijayakant, one of the top actors of the time, to do Senthoorapandi with Vijay. It worked wonders and over the years, Vijay turned into a bankable actor, initially earning the moniker Ilaya Thalapathi (young commander). He later entered the big league and became Thalapathi, a sobriquet that has incidentally been used by supporters to address incumbent Chief Minister M.K. Stalin. Chandrasekhar carefully cultivated a fan base for Vijay early on; encouraged his son to be accessible to fans; and was instrumental in converting the fans’ club into Vijay Makkal Iyakkam (People’s Movement).

Vijay built on this platform. He never lost an opportunity to take a political line on regionally emotive issues. He did some of these outside the glare of cameras. For instance, in 2018, under the cover of darkness, he knocked on the doors of grieving families whose kin were killed in the police firing on anti-Sterlite protestors in Thoothukudi and consoled them. His PR machinery ensured these acts made it to the media limelight later.

Occasionally, he took centre stage as well. In 2008, at the height of the civil war in Sri Lanka, he went on a day’s fast in Chennai calling for ending the strife. Flanking him on the stage were his mother Shobha Chandrasekhar and Bussy N Anand, a former Congressman and MLA from Puducherry. The latter, who headed the Vijay Makkal Iyakkam, has since played a crucial role in the metamorphosis of the movement into a political party and is its general secretary.

Lack of clarity

While Vijay associated himself with issues that could potentially give him political leverage, he lacked clarity on which political train to board and when. This was evident from his brief association with birds of different feathers. Initially, his father wanted him to float his party during 2009, when the towering Dravidian leaders M. Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa were active. Around the same time, he met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and discussed politics, cinema, Makkal Iyakkam and his fans club. He, however, remained hesitant about an electoral plunge.

In 2011, Chandrasekhar met Jayalalithaa and declared the support of the Ilaya Thalapathi Vijay Makkal Iyakkam to the AIADMK in the Assembly election. The same year, Vijay flew down to the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi to express solidarity with social activist Anna Hazare, who was on a fast seeking the establishment of a Lokpal to fight corruption. In 2014, he met the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

His meeting with Mr. Modi notwithstanding, he faced the ire of the BJP for dialogues ridiculing the Digital India initiative and the Goods and Service Tax in the film Mersal. Senior BJP leader H. Raja shared the actor’s voter ID card to stress that his full name was Joseph Vijay, a Christian.

Vijay has cited the political success of M.G.R. and N.T. Ramarao but those were achieved in a different era. There is no doubt Vijay’s electoral debut comes with a minimum guarantee given his frenzied fanbase but it is unlikely to catapult him to power overnight. If Vijay goes it alone in the 2026 Assembly election, he would certainly wound one of the two principal players, depending on the strength of their respective alliances, similar to what Vijayakant did in 2006. For achieving singular success, though, he needs to be patient, plot his moves, and hit the ground to run a marathon and not a sprint.