Click to play videoUttar Pradesh is heading for a blockbuster election early next year. Will actor Amitabh Bachchan throw his weight behind Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh to win the box office for Mulayam in the UP elections? Amitabh Bachchan says he will not join politics but Amar Singh still seems to be singing the song My name is Anthony Gonzalves.
Samajwadi Party (SP) and Amitabh Bachchan go a long way. He’s campaigned for the party earlier but the bigger question is whether in India film stars and politicians always go together.
Do film stars make successful politicians? Can Amitabh Bachchan deliver a hit for Mulayam Singh Yadav in the UP polls? That was the big question of debate on the CNN-IBN show India 360 with Sagarika Ghose.
On the expert panel were historian and professor of History at Madras Institute of Development Studies, A R Venkatachalapathy, MP of SP, Mohan Singh and senior journalist, Ambikanand Sahay.
Sagarika Ghose: Today is Mulayam Singh Yadav’s birthday. If Amitabh Bachchan puts his weight behind him, will it be the perfect birthday gift for him?
Mohan Singh: Amitabh Bachchan has been with him for a long time.
Sagarika Ghose: But are they forcing him to be with them? Amitabh Bachchan keeps saying that he does not want to get into politics.
Mohan Singh: There are two things. First, if you involved in politics actively. Second, he is just using his goodwill to help him. If he was in politics, there would have been no need to send Jaya Bachchan to the Rajya Sabha. He would have gone himself.
Sagarika Ghose: But does he need political support?
Mohan Singh: The way he has been scrutinized for long he would need the support.
Amitabh Bachchan and politics |
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Amitabh's political innings started in the wake of the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984. He agreed to contest the Lok Sabha elections on the advice of his close friend Rajiv Gandhi.
Sagarika Ghose: If he campaigns for SP, would he be able to make a difference to the sagging fortunes of the party?
Ambikanand Sahay: I don’t think so. Amitabh Bachchan himself might not like to do so. Firstly, after his stint in politics, his film career went for a spin for 12 years. Secondly, UP is politically conscious state. So what can he do for Assembly elections?
Sagarika Ghose: So it’s a sign of the desperation of SP when no other issue is working. In North India, film stars have not really been able to make a political career for themselves as they have in the South like MGR and Jayalalitha.
A R Venkatachalapathy: Film stars in Tamil Nadu have had a long association with politics dating back to the 1930’s and it predates even the Dravidian movement. MGR was part of the DMK right from the beginning. But not everyone was as successful as him in DMK probably because they were not as ambitious.
Sagarika Ghose: Film stars were ideologically tuned to certain parties and therefore they were politicians first and film stars because of their political beliefs.
A R Venkatachalapathy: Absolutely. Rajnikant was a failure in politics because he has not been able to be ideologically committed to any cause except for mouthing populist slogans. The contrast is Vijaykant. He is far from being a superstar but he has consciously built himself as an alternative to DMK and AIADMK.
Southern Stars |
Southern film stars in politics |
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Sagarika Ghose: Why is Amar Singh holding out the threat of Amitabh Bachchan to the Congress? Is he trying to use Bachchan in the battle against Sonia Gandhi knowing the rivalry between the Bachchans and the Gandhis?
Mohan Singh: There is nothing like that. Amar Singh and Amitabh Bachchan have had a long-time association since the times that he had good relations with the Nehru family though now the ties are broken.
Sagarika Ghose: So is Amar Singh exploiting the broken relation?
Mohan Singh: The question of exploitation does not arise. Amar Singh is just doing his job as a friend.
Sagarika Ghose: So he is being friendly but he is also setting up a Bachchan vs Gandhi battle. How did Amitabh Bachchan do in the election he fought against H N Bahuguna which he won?
Ambikanand Sahay: After one and a half to two years after he won the elections, he literally ran away from Allahabad. Sant Baksh Singh, V P Singh’s brother, floated a story in the media that a tall man with brown eyes and a strong voice is lost. It meant that he was totally disenchanted with politics.
Sagarika Ghose: Do you think that the Indian voter still enamoured of film stars or have they become a little more demanding of their politicians?
A R Venkatachalapathy: They want to see film stars but that does not translate into votes. Conversion of votes happens only if the film stars have organizations. MGR had DMK and then fan clubs. Subsequently, Vijaykant has proved that he can do it as he has strong network of fan organizations. On the other hand, Karthik, a film star, son of another film star, despite backing from All India Forward Bloc could not manage to create even a ripple in the TN elections. It is all about organization, idealogical orientation and picking the right enemies, fighting them and projecting yourself to succeed to a certain extent.
Sagarika Ghose: To sum up, a film star must have party machinery, organization and ideology. A film star just being a film star is not enough to succeed in politics. Our parting shot for the debate is from A R Venkatachalapathy. He says, “In the South, stars survive because they represent political ideology. In the North, just a star can never be a successful politician.”
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