Cinema and Politics

Flower and bee, lotus and sun, salt and pepper, mop and detergent and now... Cinema and Politics.

OK! OK! I accept. Its not just now but since Arignar Anna masterminded this alliance. We have had Anna, Kalaignar, MGR, Janaki (correct me folks! was she ever a chiefminister) and Jayalalitha as our state heads - all of them with a cine background. Include, T.Rajendar, S.Ve.Sekar, Napolean, Sarath Kumar in the list of people representatives. And by no means is this a phenomenon pecuilar to Tamil Nadu - Sunil Dutt, Amitabh, Jaya, Raj Babbar, Arnold Schwazzerneger and Ronald Reagan being the other notables. Now Vijaykanth is an aspirant. Lets not even get started about Rajni. Rajni's leanings can topple governments. (maybe not now - but remember he could and he did)

Add to this the bandwagon of film/television personalities who actively participate in election campaigns and making considerable difference by their presence. Personally I have nothing against a Simran or a Nagma or even a Mumtaz campaigning - I mean it is a democracy and all. But the way cine industry has become a stepping stone to political glory is truly indigestible (remember Nassar in Avvai Shanmugi asking Kamal for a acting role so he can become the chiefminister).

I can well understand if Coke or Pepsi wants Vijay/Surya, Simran/Trisha to sell their products. Do our political parties need them? And what does it say of our political parties?

Its my humble personal opinion that cine artists are way too over-rated as election symbols and more so as politicians. While I admit a Vijaykanth may be no worse than a Thirumavalavan or Ramadas - I would be heaps happier if a Vijaykanth does what he is supposed to, first - entertain. This whole thing about a on-screen hero turning into a 'friend of the needy' points out how Tamil people have been drugged with fantasising. You don't agree????

Tamil Nadu Elections update

Lok Paritran has decided to contest in 12 seats in the forthcoming elections in the state, six of which will be in Chennai. No surprises here as they have a greater chance of wooing Chennaiites than say Vridachalam, where the erstwhile Captain is soliciting votes successfully if we have to believe Sudhish's account. LP is also contesting from Rasipuram in Salem district which is kinda surprising. Rasipuram, ofcourse is famous for producing State-Firsts year after year in the HSC exams. I wonder if that has got anything to do with LP's decision - a town that takes its education seriously is more likely to vote for a party like LP. I guess.

The alliances (some shameless and some merely oppurtunistic) and seat-sharings are behind us. Anyway with election promises varying from the outright silly (colour TV for all families) to unlikely (free electricity) to positively probable but incredibly difficult (interlinking of rivers within the state), the elections promise to be interesting. Chennai, especially will be interesting to watch.

Anyway I hope that all the political parties will involve themselves in debates of policy than mudslinging contests. Seriously ppl, we are not interested in how many people you or your kith/kin slept with, whether you are 'true' Tamil blood, your views on Kushboo's views or how many pairs of sandals you have/had.

The Tamil people have historically alternated between DMK and ADMK, swinging from one to another. However, there is a general optimism with Amma's performance at the helm of affairs that it is quite likely that she may return to power. But its too early to make any predictions. Lets wait and see what the opposition has up its sleeve. I do hope that Amma (or whoever comes to power) doesn't commit the same mistakes Mr.Chandrababu Naidu did - concentrating all the development work on one city, and do give us a well-governed prosperous Tamil Nadu.

Fool

Fools day was past and he was happy that no body managed fooling him. Keeping yourself locked in a closet helps. And as midnight stuck he came out of hiding, satisifed with his achievement. Checked his missed calls (none), angry messages (only one - from boss), etc. Logged on the internet, checked his mail and read a few blogs. And thats when he came across the Lazy Geek at rkram.blogspot.com. Ram, an old friend of his had written a blog review praising LG this and that. Curiosity is what killed the cat, you see, he wanted to see it for himself and came acorss this blogpost at LG. Google Romance it declared was being introduced. Readers may well know by now that this person was a big-time sucker (I mean who in the right mind would hide himself in a closet to stop others from making a fool of him) and immediately wanted to find his soulmate. He, needless to say went to the Google Romance website and tried uploading his profile (in which he was smart, handsome and sensitive). And this is what he found - 'Profile Upload Rejected'. He felt incredibly stupid and his only consolation was that he wasn't fooled on the 1st of April (like being fooled on other days doesn't matter). Too bugged to go to sleep he switched on the tele to watch the late-night news. The pretty newsreader announced, "Daylight savings came into effect today. Viewers are reminded to set their clocks an hour back. The ACT Emergency services recommends that batteries are changed in all smoke alarms today. The time now is 5 minutes to midnight..." He didn't hear the rest.