Many political aspirants and Tamil Nadu party leaders are secretly coveting this extraordinary Brand status of Vijay, the leader of TVK. How lucky can a man get with such super branding, promos, press and news stature like the cine star Vijay? Of course he bungee jumped into the fray with a mind blowing fan following, star status and oodles of money and flash. Just two years into his splash down, Vijay gets to hog the press…41 people die in the Karur stampede at his first ever public meet, his overhyped and meticulously planned release Jana Nayagan, so called swan song hits the censor road block, allegations of an extramarital affair and the fury of his wife Sangeetha in her divorce plea, his two children openly cutting his name off as parent, toxic revelations about his parents distancing themselves from him, CBI summons and trips to Delhi so called pressure wooing from a national party. In fact, every facet of his public and private life is in the constant glare of publicity. Would any other politician go out on a limb and still smell of roses? Vijay does. The Kohinoor in Vijay’s crown is the happening development — V Senthil Balaji summoned to Delhi for CBI questioning. Balaji is the DMK MLA from Karur, his powerful stomping ground where the stampede killed 41 people. Vijay is alleged to have conveyed to the CBI, that though he was delayed coming to the mega meet, it was the henchmen of Balaji who sprayed a fainting agent on the crowd …the stampede, melee and deaths quickly happened.

The battle lines have all but been drawn for the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls 2026. It is advantage DMK as the polls head for a 3- or 4-cornered contest with actor Vijay the significant new player in the fray. The DMK-Congress alliance is yet to be formalised after seat-sharing talks hit speed bumps, but given the long-term relationship between chief minister MK Stalin and Rahul Gandhi, the Congress is only likely to keep its ties with the DMK going. Poll arithmetic in a contest in which the opposition to the regime is divided among the AIADMK-led NDA alliance, Vijay’s TVK which will be on a solo run and Seeman’s NTK, a fringe player who can however play spoilsport by taking away a proportion of the votes, will favour the ruling DMK despite the anti-incumbency factor. With a lack of data and history, no one can gauge Vijay’s advent into politics. But the way the BJP has played the cards against him is certain to bring him such sympathy for the treatment meted out to him and his last movie Jana Nayagan. Repeated questioning by the CBI with regard to the Karur stampede is another good reason why more people will gravitate towards the TVK. Also, people are yearning for change from the tired Dravidian politics. Even so, it will be DMK, with its committed cadre vote, that will come away with less of its vote share diminished even as AIADMK, which got a near equal vote share in 2021, suffers from its association with the northern upper class party BJP. Stalin seems set to emulate Jayalalithaa’s 2016 performance when her AIADMK was re-elected. The alliances are all but set now no matter what conspiracy theories may be floated from here and what pulls and pressures may come up in the last mile to the polls.

A section of the Tamil Nadu BJP leadership is completely disappointed with the line-up of people arranged by Union Minister L Murugan for Pongal festivities organised at his residence and presided over by PM Modi. While it might all be very well for Murugan, who is Minister of State for I&B, to flaunt the presence of makers and cast and crew of the DMK-backed film Parasakthi, some BJP leaders were not comfortable with the presence of producer Akash Baskaran. He is related to late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi and his late first son MK Muthu. His wife Dharini is MK Muthu’s granddaughter. Her dad is CK Ranganthan who owns Cavinkare. Her mother is Thenmozhi, Kalignar Karunanidhi’s granddaughter. The issue with Akash Bhaskaran’s presence at PM Modi’s event was that he had briefly figured in the TASMAC scam probe. Of course, the ED had to apologise to Bhaskaran as directed by the Madras High Court. Some TN BJP leaders feel a section of party leaders are always hell bent on bringing “not very desirable characters” into the party and thereby putting off genuine voters. Incidentally, neither PM Modi nor Murugan shared any pics of their interaction with Parasakthi actors on their timeline. It was done by the National Award-winning composer GV Prakash to share a photograph of his interaction with PM Modi as well as reveal the presence of Sivakarthikeyan and Ravi Mohan. Prakash also performed a track from his Tamil pride album Thiruvasagam for the first time at the event. Meanwhile, it is being said the real problem with TVK leader Vijay’s film Jana Nayagan, one hears, is that the protagonist is seen making a direct pitch against “political leadership” that it is communalising politics. Two, he is also seen speaking against “atma nirbhar bharat”. If the Congress has issues with Parasakthi because it is critical of Indira Gandhi, Jana Nayagan has clearly irked powers that be in Delhi.

Tamil Nadu is experiencing a churning of this magnitude for the first time after MGR decoupled his political star with Kalaignar (his mentor and launch pad). The state was shaken, stirred and saturated with the rise of a new hope, an actor legend…a film super star pole vaulting into politics, with his unique generosity and charisma. MGR’s magic and the launch of his AIADMK, followed by the long years of dominance by his protégée J Jayalalithaa is still talked about. Shivaji Ganesan, Kamal Haasan tried but failed. Vijayakanth did make inroads while Rajinikanth very nearly entered it but backed off at the last moment. This is why everybody is keenly watching the entry of Vijay. He seems to have created some impact going by the huge attendance to his rallies. He has pitched himself and his party TVK as an alternative to DMK and this seems to have shaken the complacence of the DMK’s heir apparent …Udhayanidhi Stalin, another film star who basks in his entitlement. Is this jump from films to power as easy as it seems? Not really as Vijay is finding out. The Karur tragedy, roadblocks of the jittery opposition, the extreme challenges in releasing his swan song Jana Nayagan has hit hard but not shaken his confidence. His farewell film has run into trouble with Censor, then followed court cases as a resulted it will not be released during the Pongal festival. Will the late release work in his favour? Heads or tails, Vijay would have made his mark.

Is the Censor delay for Vijay’s film all aimed to strengthen the TVK chief’s support base and ensure its a superhit? Is the BJP-led Centre actually helping the superstar? As Vijay is facing an uphill task to get his last film Jana Nayagan released on Jan 9 and the Tamil Nadu Congress leaders are already blaming the Home Minister Amit Shah for it. A perception is growing in TN that the BJP is not obstructing the screening of the film but perhaps doing it all to increase his popularity among youth and women. It is being said the whole idea is to ensure that sizable votes of youth and women could now consolidate behind Vijay — that is to move away from the DMK. A strong TVK is bound to weaken the DMK. It is believed a three-way fight in TN will benefit the challenger AIADMK-BJP. Jana Nayagan was postponed two days before release due to a censor certificate delay.  While a Madras HC hearing is expected to pave way for its release next week, there is a growing view that Jana Nayagan’s Censor problems were clearly linked to Vijay’s political dalliances with the Congress — Rahul Gandhi had spoken to him post Karur incident. It is in this backdrop that top Congress leaders from AICC in charge Girish Chodankar to Tamil Nadu MPs — Manickam Tagore and Jothimani attacked the Centre for withholding Censor certificate for Vijay’s film. TN Congress sources however feel Vijay may not eventually take up Congress offer of an alliance. “Vijay may finally end up with the AIADMK-BJP.  Everyone in TN is heading that way. The DMK will also not take us on board,” pointed out a TN Congress leader.

Tamil Nadu is on the boil over two cinematic events and the heroes involved…one aspiring to become the next chief minister, the other using his political sinews to hold on. Even as Vijay’s Jana Nayagan announced 9th January to hit cinemas and Red Giant’s distributed Parasakhti starring Sivakarthikeyan was pitched for the 10th January, a jugalbandi that many think is hopelessly one sided…pitched in Vijay’s favour. Add to that the trailer of Jana Nayagan released on 3rd January…testosterone action and rocking music filled with incendiary dialogues of Vijay; it got 20 lakh hits in just half an hour. Vijay’s character is Dalapathi Vettri Kondaan, a double meaning title which means “I am coming to stay. Not going back”. But there are some road bumps too, behind the scenes…delaying announcing booking and screens for Vijay’s film, seen as political pressure from Udhayanidhi Stalin’s Red Giant movies. There are those who insist that Jana Nayagan is commercially poised to get 60% of screens, Parasakhti a mere 40%. But, Theatre Owners Association President Thiruppur Subramanian is quick to correct this view of political pressure on the logistics of a film release. “Distributors want 75-80% of vasool. We can give only 70%…in Kerala it is only 60%… but in Coimbatore and Tirunelveli it is almost 80%”. Will Jana Nayagan win or the political Sakti of Parasakhti?.

The battle lines have been drawn. Even as the much-hyped anticipation is churned up for Vijay’s last film Jana Nayagan to hit cinemas on January 9, avant garde director Sudha Kongara and Dawn Pictures have cantered in from behind to release Parasakthi on January 10, originally planned to be a Pongal screening. Vijay fans, now turned TVK party followers are fretting and fuming over this sudden change. Is Sivakarthikeyan throwing his gauntlet in the popularity ring? As it is, fans and fierce loyalists of Vijay drum beat about no suitable successor to fill his slot. But Sivakarthikeyan is super confident about moving into any slot. Kongara is canny enough to buy insurance …just in case. A very novel and creative promo event was staged at Valluvar Kottam, Chennai’s not-to-be missed Dravida symbol tourist spot. Sudha Kongara’s team built a full exhibition of Parasakthi sets, props and visuals that took fans on a Time Travel into the 1960s retro world of Parasakthi. The response from the public was overwhelming. Kongara said emotionally “For Gen Z it was a time machine that transported them to an entirely different cultural ethos of the 60s”. The antiquated train and the vintage Chevrolet were super draws, with AI providing thrill experiences to the visitor. But wait… is the old iconic Parasakthi film (a watershed joint venture of Shivaji Ganesan as hero and Kalaignar Karunanidhi as the script writer) being challenged by this new yet old Parasakthi?

On Republic Day, Vijay’s last film’s title and first look were announced — Jana Nayagan (hero of the masses) cracking a whip with the tagline Naan Aanai Ittal. Besotted MGR fans, even 37 years later were intended to be captivated hook, line and sinker by this iconic song and MGR’s cult charisma. TN’s DNA is conjoined twins — cinema and politics, a   predictable, popular combo that has enthralled the cinema hungry and politics punched denizens of this state. Vijay who floated his party TVK in 2024 to harvest the votes in 2026 has it all planned. Or so it seems. This popular actor was launched by his father S A Chandrasekhar in 1984. After 68 films, Vijay now considers himself worthy of the crossover to TN’s throne, a charismatic Lord of the rings. There was a time when Vijay cannily shifted his MGR style to clone superstar Rajinikanth … .action, style and mass appeal, of course with a watchful eye on the box office take. If imitation is the best form of flattery, then it has to be acknowledged that Vijay reaped rich rewards in terms of fan following. So his last film is planned to carry a significant payload…MGR’s legacy as the cult Samaritan, forever ready to wipe the tears of the poor and pull them up from mired poverty. For which Vijay needs power, endorsement and legitimacy. He has carefully trained his virulent guns on the DMK so far, not pricking the AIADMK. Soothsayers say, at best he can divide and divert votes from both the behemoths. Can Vijay take an MGR incarnation?