Polls 2004. The Movie

Election Time India can be such a big mela that you wonder what the fuss is all about when movie stars and cricketers enter the fray. In fact, the anxious race by political parties to recruit ‘‘celebrities’’ makes for an entertaining sideshow. Eternal Dream Girl Hema Malini and Faded White Shoes Jitendra have joined the BJP, so the Congress cannot afford to fall behind in wooing Wit Number One Govinda. Sidhu the Wordmeister is in the BJP, so rumours swirl about a country cousin joining the other side. Father of the Hero Suresh Oberoi signs up for the BJP, so it’s anyone’s guess whether the other star father, Sunil Dutt’s presence in the Congress camp will suffice as adequate defence. And to show all of them the possibilities ahead are two Union ministers who transitioned from villains to good guys during their celluloid days, Shatrughan Sinha and Vinod Khanna.

There is certainly nothing new is this meeting of filmdom/cricket and politics. What is different, however, is the dynamic between “celebrity” and political party. A sprint down memory lane provides telling examples. The various Dravidian parties have provided Tamil Nadu with many chief ministers with a film background; indeed a pillar of the Dravidian movement, C.N. Annadurai, was a screenplay writer. Decades ago, Palwankar Baloo, Dalit hero of Bombay’s Pentangular cricket tournament, was the Congress’s candidate against B.R. Ambedkar. Even the doughty Krishna Menon harnessed the crowd-pulling appeal of Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand when he contested a Bombay Lok Sabha seat. For many of them, it can be argued, political statement came before the plunge.

But if today movie stars appear more comfortable providing smiles rather than speeches, don’t rue the death of ideology. Instead scan the changed rules of campaigning. With media reports threatening the political rally as a primary source of electoral buzzwords, movie heroes ensure ‘‘earned media’’. In an ornamental culture where only the overlap between news and entertainment is deemed interesting, a retired cricketer’s soundbites boom over more measured political discourse. In a fragmented polity, with a near closed group of national leaders, popular heroines can lend that tiny bit of continuity to a campaign. So, roll on. Let’s cut to the next rally.