JUST SPAMMING | Hero Worship, A Bane To State Politics

Rajendra Prasad, a veteran actor in the Telugu film industry, had to publicly apologize for a statement he made at the awards ceremony in Hyderabad last week. The 68-year-old actor’s remarks were interpreted as offensive by several film personalities in Tamil Nadu as he had said that former Chief Minister and matinee idol MG Ramachandran (MGR) was intimidated by veteran Telugu actress Tadepalli Lakshmi Kanta Rao’s on-screen performance. MGR passed away in 1987 and Kanta Rao passed away in 2009. While it is remarkable that even today these actors have their fans, it was sad to see how much hero worship continues to dominate political discourse in Tamil Nadu.

Tamil film personalities who took up the baton on MGR’s behalf pointed out that MGR was a leader who ruled the state for a decade. They found Rajendra Prasad’s statement praising Kanta Rao insulting because MGR was not just an actor but a leader. Whatever is said about the episode, which was closed with a clear apology, what was striking was the lack of tolerance for criticism of political icons. It was just a case of an actor praising a former actor from his own State and saying that even a famous actor from the neighboring State was intimidated by his performance.

Instead of dismissing it as a subjective opinion, MGR’s fans objected to this remark. So, does this mean that just because MGR was popular among the people of Tamil Nadu and even put him on the throne until his death, no one has the right to speak critically about him? This is what these movie personalities said, which of course is the modern trend because hero worship has made followers and fans feel that no one has the right to have an alternative opinion. Such blind hero worship prevents fans from taking an objective view of their icons in film and politics (and sometimes both).

The latest trend, as everyone knows, is that actor and Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) founder chairman Vijay’s fandom has turned into a political following. The actor’s blind hero worship gave birth to a cult-like political party whose ideology, principles and agenda remain as fantastical as celluloid fantasies. But it is not right to blame Vijay or his TVK for encouraging hero worship, which was so prevalent in parties like DMK and Congress in the past. Later, when the AIADMK came under the leadership of an actor, the boundary between the political and celluloid worlds became completely blurred.

Adhering to this tradition, contemporary politics now develops with no room for anyone to distinguish between truth and reality. Thus, hero worship reached a point where no one could be criticized or questioned, no matter what they did. The rise of hero worship in the film world has come at the expense of appreciation for artistic excellence. The art lost its beauty as people began to appreciate movies not for their cinematic excellence or the talent of the actors or filmmakers, but for the stars who starred in them. Similarly, politics is losing its original weight as the defender of democracy based on principles and ideology, as cinema transcends its basic concepts.

If movie stars have been playing a dominant role in politics from the beginning, they have to play by the political rule book. This means that actors who enter politics double as politicians, and most people can recognize the political personality in the actor. But excessive hero worship has blurred the line where people now talk and prepare themselves to vote for the actor and not the politician in the same person. This tendency has caused the State to lose the political acumen it has had since independence. Tamil Nadu became the first State to assert itself based on linguistic pride, rationalism and an ideology distinct from the rest of the country, giving minimal priority to hero worship.

But even criticism of past leaders is no longer taken lightly by those who claim to follow them. The advent of social media, where anyone can express their views without any disruption, has helped many faceless people defend their icons with nasty comments. But sometimes even politicians feel that no one has the right to say something offensive about someone they admire, even if it stems from the truth. One such instance where a group of Congress leaders in the state took hero worship to an extraordinary level was when they thought they were defending the memory of K Kamaraj but ended up with eggs on their faces.

When a prominent DMK leader speaking at a meeting said that former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi had installed air conditioners in State guest houses after Kamaraj needed a cooling facility at his accommodation due to health reasons. Angered by the suggestion that Kamaraj stay in air-conditioned rooms, several MLAs in the Congress, in an unabashed show of heroism, opposed the DMK leader, saying their past leader had lived a modest life, only to be rebuked by the fact that the last air conditioner used by the great leader was displayed at his memorial, his last residence.