Acting, an easy route to enter politics in South

THE TRANSITION: Actors turning politicians is no longer news in South India.

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New Delhi: Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi is not the first southern star to make a political splash.

He follows the tradition of former chief ministers and superheroes MG Ramachandran and NT Rama Rao.

Actors turning politicians is no longer news in South India. It seems to be in their DNA.

Though only superstars finally emerge as national level leaders or even become chief ministers, the business of politics is tempting enough to attract comedians, villains and small time actors as well.

Among the four southern states, Karnataka has the highest number of actors turned politicians. It seems to be perhaps the easiest way to enter state assembly or Parliament.

Politics in Karnataka features veteran actors Ananth Nag, comedian Mukhyamantri Chandru, and even second rung heroes like Jaggesh, Kumar Bangarappa, CP Yogeshwar and B C Patil.

Though Kerala is the only state where film stars are yet to make a big entry into politics, even Malayalam cinema has an MLA and former minister in actor Ganesh Kumar.

Even the star-studded platform of Tamil politics includes names with a humble film background such as Tamil cinema's famous comedian Se Ve Shekher as an AIADMK MLA from Mylapore.

Few know that Tamil Nadu's Chief Minister M Karunanidhi was himself a scriptwriter.

In neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, it is film producers and distributors who use cinema as a passport to politics.

Former Union Ministers Dasari Narayana Rao and T Subbarami Reddy used their clout in the film industry as a springboard to enter politics.

However, the big difference between superstars and other film actors entering politics is the fact that it is only if one has the fan following of a Chiranjeevi, that one can float one’s own political party.