In 1992, when 18-year-old Vijay debuted as a lead actor in the Tamil movie ‘Naalaiya Theerpu (Tomorrow’s Verdict) directed by his father SA Chandrasekhar and produced by his mother Shoba Chandrasekhar, the response from the reviewers and a section of the public was not what the family expected. Many reviews not only panned the movie, but personally attacked Vijay for his looks and wrote him off.Over three decades later, the teenager would transform into one of the most bankable superstars of Tamil cinema. He would take a plunge into politics with the first political rally of his party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, that saw the biggest gathering of a largely organic crowd in recent memory.An actor entering politics, however, is no news in Tamil Nadu, where every Chief Minister since 1967 has had an association with cinema, except for AIADMK’s O Panneerselvam and Edappadi K. Palaniswami. Even Chief Minister MK Stalin tried his luck as an actor in at least two movies. The benchmark for all Tamil actors wanting to enter politics is of course set by AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran, (MGR), who captured power in the first Assembly elections his party fought in 1977, setting in motion the duopoly of politics between the DMK and the AIADMK. After being indecisive for more than two decades, “superstar” Rajinikanth, whose successful film career comparable to that of MGR raised the expectation that he may be able to repeat the latter’s success in politics. A notable milestone in Vijay’s journey was when he reorganised his fan clubs as “Vijay Makkal Iyakkam (Vijay People’s Movement)” in 2009. It followed Vijay’s transformation from playing largely romantic hero into an action-packed mass hero, notably after the movie Thirumalai in 2003. Vijay met Rahul Gandhi after the launch of Vijay Makkal Iyakkam at the latter’s invite. However, he has faced friction with the DMK, AIADMK, and the BJP during the release of his movies in the past. The latest instances being BJP, which stresses his birth name Joseph Vijay to underscore his Christian identity.A blend of Dravidian ideas, Tamil nationalism: Actor Vijay outlines TVK’s ideologyVijay’s first conference organised in Vikravandi in TN’s Villupuram district has raised the expectations. While some observers have termed it a success in terms of the crowd, others have blamed him for being vague.He identified freedom fighters Velu Nachiyar and Anjalai Ammal, Dravidian icon ‘Periyar’ EV Ramasamy, father of India’s Constitution BR Ambedkar, and late Congress leader and Chief Minister K Kamaraj, known for his simplicity, as the guiding forces of the party.Discerning observers have, however, not missed the representation of the numerically dominant castes of Tamil Nadu in this pantheon.In the conference, Vijay identified the “divisive” BJP as his “ideological enemy” and the DMK, whose anti-BJP stance and “Dravidian model” governance is a mask to hide its “corruption” and “dynastic politics” according to him, as his “political enemy.”Vijay’s assertion that “Dravidianism” and “Tamil nationalism” are like “two eyes of the Tamil soil” has also attracted criticism, especially from Naam Tamilar Katchi that espouses Tamil nationalism and considers Dravidianism as being antithetic.According to Vijay, his party stands not for reservation for “proportional representation” for all castes, which many say is not only impractical but would also not help in eradicating caste-based differences, which the actor said as one of his party’s motives. While embracing Periyar, the actor underlined that his party does not stand for the leader’s atheistic principles but instead endorsed the moderate stance of DMK founder CN Annadurai’s slogan that “Ondre kulam, oruvane devan (all are one, God is one).”It is likely that the key battle in 2026 will be between actor-turned-politicians — Udhayanidhi and Vijay. While Udhayanidhi lacks the mass appeal of Vijay, he enjoys the strong backing of a 75-year-old political organisation. It is Vijay’s ability to compensate for his lack of a battle-tested party structure that will decide what “Naalaiya Theerpu (Tomorrow’s Verdict)” of Tamil Nadu’s people is going to be.DMK says actor Vijay’s party principles ‘copy,’ AIADMK says ‘old wine in new bottle’
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