As members of national parties, Sandalwood stars rarely get leadership positions. They are tapped only for their vote gathering abilities and then unceremoniously dumped
As members of national parties, Sandalwood stars rarely get leadership positions. They are tapped only for their vote gathering abilities and then unceremoniously dumpedu00a0
Kannada film stars have rarely launched their own political outfits, preferring instead to join mainstream parties.
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Mandyada Gandu: The Congress is keen on fielding Ambarish this time but the star is reportedly not keen |
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No laughing matter: Jaggesh had won the previous election on a Congress ticket but he quit the party and joined the BJP |
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Uninterested: Vishnuvardhan's name is routinely bandied about before every election but the actor is not keen on a career in politics |
While they have ventured into the hurly-burly of electoral politics, they show a marked preference for the 'less risky' Council route.
In contrast, M G Ramachandran (MGR) and N T Rama Rao (NTR) founded hugely successful political parties in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi launched his political party Praja Rajyam a few months ago while Tamil superstar Rajnikanth is believed to be mulling the possibility of forming his own party for sometime now.
Depicted as messiahs of the poor, they cash in on their screen image and script their political career usually at the fag end of their film career to capitalise on public goodwill.u00a0u00a0
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In active politics: Umashri |
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Unsuccessful: Dwarakish had contested the earlier elections from Hunsur on a Kannada Nadu ticket |
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Yella ok, politics yaake? Uppi's name has been doing the roundsu00a0 but the star doesn't want to take the plunge, say sources |
But Sandalwood stars have failed to create poll magic. Political watchers explain that the stars have rarely nurtured their constituencies after winning from them. As a result, many of them even fail to be re-elected.u00a0
As members of national parties, they rarely get leadership positions and remain on the fringes. They are tapped only for their vote gathering abilities and then unceremoniously dumped.u00a0
But in other parts of South India, riding on the strong support of their fan clubs, film stars aspire to and are successful in charting a smooth transition from cinema to politics.
Dr Raj factorThe only person with iconic status in Kannada film industry who could hold sway on the masses was Dr Rajkumar. But he kept a fair distance from politics. Though he was ready to plunge into any movement that espoused the Kannada cause, he did not nurture political ambitions. When the Gokak movement, started by the writers and litterateurs, failed to gain momentum, they appealed to Rajkumar to spearhead the agitation. Many people thought that Rajkumar would enter politics and ride on his popularity wave following this. In fact, when Indira Gandhi contested elections from Chikmagalur, post emergency, the Janata Party tried their best to pit Rajkumar against her, in vain.
Ambarish, who also has a sizeable fan following and is popularly known as Mandyada Gandu ('Man from Mandya'), made a mark in politics. But some say his political career suffered a blow when he refused to be drawn into the Cauvery agitation. He contested the assembly polls from Srirangapatna constituency but lost, last year.
Mukhyamanthri Chandru, MLA from BJP for one term, is now chairman of Kannada Development Authority.
The other actors who tried their luck but failed to make it big in politics include Ananth Nag, Shashikumar, Jayanthi, Ashok, Doddanna, Rajesh, Dwarakish, Sai Kumar, S Mahendar, Jaggesh, Rama-krishna, Sandesh Nagaraj and Umashri.
Luck by chance?
Like in every election, political parties are knocking on the doors of film stars and trying to rope woo voters.
Ambareesh may try his luck from Mysore constituency instead of Mandya this time. Actor-producer C P Yogeshwar, who has raised a storm by openly supporting the BJP despite having not resigned from the Congress, is seeking to contest polls from Bangalore Rural on a BJP ticket. Karnataka Film Workers' Federation president Ashok will contest from Tumkur as a BSP candidate.u00a0 The names of other top actors like Vishnuvardhan, Upendra, Sudeep, Ramya and Rakshitha are also currently doing the rounds in the political circles. But these actors have reportedly made it clear that they aren't interested at least for now.
