Behind TVK Vijay’s rise is a generation drawn to “cinematic politics” amid a growing crisis of purpose

TThere was an unmissable atmosphere of restlessness and frenzy among young voters in Tamil Nadu during the last election season. Most of the youth, who have the largest share in the vote bank that saw actor-turned-politician Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) win over 100 seats, seem to be looking at the elections as something that will bring about “a change”.

Of course, Tamil Nadu also got its share of the youth revolution in politics. The Dravidian government that Mr. Vijay defeated was built by a student political movement more than six decades ago. However, unlike the 1960s, this new “change” was not built on protests against an oppressive power; It emerged in the minds of young people, largely on social media, amid an epidemic of political apathy.

A story of change

During the election campaign, two statements largely reflected netizens’ opposing perspectives on Mr. Vijay’s TVK; the first being “Vijay doesn’t understand that politics is not cinema” and the second being “We need Vijay because we need a change.” There is much more to these statements than meets the eye. The question is not whether politics is cinema or not, but how politics should become cinema, as Mr. Vijay understands. What about change? Young people don’t necessarily have a desire for change; What they desire is a narrative; a purpose that empowers them with direction.

From a sociological perspective, life can no longer become routine for a state youth in 2026. They work nine to five and are constantly scrolling through various social media platforms. Beyond personal goals, life does not allow one a purpose, let alone an extraordinary vision for revolution. But cinema does this. Cinema offers an augmented reality where purpose is celebrated. That’s why we live in a time when escapist cinema is so crazy and political news consumption is decreasing.

During the election season, a large portion of TVK followers were repeatedly criticized as follows: “tharkuriIt means ‘imbecile’ due to their lack of political insight or their inability to articulate why they want to vote for Mr. Vijay. [older brother] “It will benefit us,” they said. How or with what? They didn’t care at all, as evidenced by the many videos that have gone viral. However, it would be unfair to blame these young people, because we see political indifference and political ignorance resulting from the state’s failure to educate young people in their own language. Depoliticized campuses have long been the cause of this hatred towards politics.

This lack of purpose is why propaganda on social media and movies works; audiences need to feel they have won, and cinema provides a narrative. And what the politician in Mr. Vijay – a face they often see serving them for a purpose – presents to them when he comes on stage and calls the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government “Sana Sakthi” (evil power). The narrative was clear. Mr. Vijay had to win and it didn’t matter why the DMK had to lose.

Need for dramatic change

This need for purpose through narrative has reshaped politics as we now know it. Mr. Vijay seems to have learned this from his decades in the film industry; For an actor to win, politics must become his playing field; Politics should turn into cinema. So Mr. Vijay’s election campaign, which ranged from encouraging children to ask their parents to vote for TVK to repeatedly symbolizing the DMK as the bad guy, seemed like something out of the climax of a summer blockbuster. On the contrary, the DMK lost not to a player selling dreams but to a strategist who offered the satisfaction of a social media campaign. That’s why Mr. Vijay’s victory felt so personal to many voters. What they actually did was to defeat the power that was unofficially declared invincible.

Politics needs to become more prevalent in order to sustain the interest of these young ‘audiences’ in politics. They need to see diversity in politics, and stability can seem boring. Development should not only develop on one thing; It must destroy something that already exists, because lack of dramatic ability is tantamount to death.

There must be improvement, but through a constant supply of ‘something different’. Because “we need change.” In fact, this statement of TVK supporters adequately explains the crisis of ‘purposelessness’. For example, many TVK supporters wanted a change of government due to crimes committed against women in the last five years. This is one of the definitions of ‘change’ that they endorse. Now, all that needs to be done to check whether this is a real concern is to see whether similar social media campaigns hold TVK accountable in case of crimes committed against women during their reign. If not, perhaps like most election manifestos today, ‘change’ is just a pre-election commodity. Crimes against women need not just a change of government, but a government that accepts the deep-rooted patriarchy in society and takes steps to eliminate the socio-political factors that lead to sexual assaults. Until then, there will be no concrete change in this regard.

It remains to be seen how Mr. Vijay and TVK will define this victory and manage it in the coming years. For the social media warriors who voted for them, this victory means respite from the punishing sun. Who cares if it’s happily ever after? We are not interested in what happens to the hero after he reaches the climax.