There is an anecdote floating around in Tamil Nadu for some years now: if all those aged below 18 have the right to vote, actor Vijay will be the Chief Minister. Can sheer charisma, or in this case, screen presence, alone help win elections?
Welcome to Tamil Nadu, the land of Dravidians, where politics and cinema have been the bread and butter, or to be culturally correct, the idli and sambar, of normal life; where charisma has met charisma on the battlefield for years. Over the past five decades, just two parties — the DMK and the AIADMK — have shared power in the State. For the better part of five decades, elections have been the contests between former DMK president M. Karunanidhi and two other charismatic leaders: his friend and darling of the masses M.G. Ramachandran and then MGR’s protégé Jayalalithaa.
