B Suman, 40, an autorickshaw driver and a devoted fan of actor “Thala” Ajith, had planned to vote for the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in the Tamil Nadu elections. But inside the polling booth on April 23, he remembered his daughter’s instructions: “Appa, vote for whistle!”
On Tuesday, as he waited for the traffic light to change outside the Police Headquarters along Chennai’s Marina beachfront, Suman was less certain about his choice. The day before, C Joseph Vijay, the Tamil movie superstar and chief of the Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam had pulled off a stunning victory in the state elections.
The Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam or Tamil Nadu Victory Federation became the largest party in the Tamil Nadu assembly, winning 108 seats in the 234-member house.
“Let’s see what happens after a few months,” Suman said with a grin, glancing at his passenger in the rearview mirror as he drove towards Vyasarpadi. “I’m an autorickshaw driver, I don’t know how to drive a car. Similarly, he’s an actor, and I don’t know how he will be as a chief minister. Maybe in a few months, Stalin will be the one laughing.”
MK Stalin, the Tamil Nadu chief minister and leader of the ruling DMK, lost his seat to a member of Vijay’s TVK.
After an election result that broke the six-decade-long dominance of the Dravidian duopoly of the DMK and the All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Chennai felt like a movie set waiting for the Vijay next action scene.
“People will now watch the evening news eagerly to see what he achieves,” Suman said, as he headed towards the Perambur constituency, where Vijay polled over 12 lakh votes. “When he enters [the administrative offices of] Fort St.George, someone might have to guide him around since he won’t know where to go.”
He added, “I also wonder how he will pick his ministers.”
Suman said his vote was influenced partly by his daughter, and partly by actor Ajith, whom he believes supported his friend Vijay.
He was convinced Vijay’s victory rode largely on the rasigar (fan) vote. “Women came out in large numbers, and many persuaded their families to vote for him,” he said. “Some wives even threatened to go back to their mother’s home if their husbands didn’t vote for Vijay!”
Like Suman’s daughter, children, too, played a role. During his final campaign speech on April 21, Vijay urged children to pester their parents into voting for TVK.
That was the case with Kalaivani, 38, who works as a housekeeping staffer in Vyasarpadi. “My teenage daughter ‘tortured’ me into voting for him,” she said, laughing, as the two waited for a bus. After watching Vijay receive his winning certificate on Monday night, they celebrated by cutting a chocolate cake and bursting crackers.
“I used to vote for the AIADMK, but after Jayalalithaa’s death, the party hasn’t had a proper leader,” Kalaivani said. J Jayalalitha’s death in 2016 had sparked a power struggle in the AIADMK.
Like many others, Kalaivani described her vote as one for “maatram” or change without citing a specific policy reason. “Even if he’s inexperienced, he deserves a chance,” she said. “And it’s better than voting for a party like the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party]. If parties from Tamil Nadu aren’t doing enough for us, how can we trust someone from outside?”
For Kalaivani, a hardcore Vijay fan, it also meant seeing her hero differently: from a rasigar or fan to an anna or older brother. “I used to have romantic feelings, he is so handsome,” she giggled. “But now I have to think of him as an older brother. It wouldn’t be right to think of a chief minister any other way.”
Half a kilometre away, conservancy worker Bhuvaneswari was stripping plastic off a discarded scooter seat. A daily wage worker who earns Rs.23,000 a month, she said neither of the Dravidian parties had improved her life. “By giving Vijay a chance, maybe things will change for my children,” said Bhuvaneswari. “That’s the hope anyway.”
Bhuvaneswari hopes her contractual work will be made permanent under the new government. “We saw how Stalin’s government treated conservancy workers who went on strike last year,” she said. “They were dragged away and detained. After that, how could we vote for the DMK?”
Her colleague Muthulakshmi said she voted for Vijay because he promised to make the streets safer for women and the state drug-free. “When we clean this area, we see many young people using drugs,” she said. “I am confident that Vijay will address this problem.” But more than anything else, Muthulakshmi sees MGR in Vijay – a hero and a chief minister who supports the working class.
Across Chennai, the TVK swept all but two of the 16 assembly constituencies including Kolathur, which Stalin contested. In Perumbur, Vijay’s seat, the mood was celebratory. Nearly every person to whom Scroll spoke had voted for him, from Karthi, a 21-year-old student, to Jerina Begum, 49, who sells kerchiefs and caps, to Kousalya, 63, a street vendor who sells leafy greens.
Veny, a watermelon seller and long-time DMK supporter, admitted she was saddened by Stalin’s defeat. “I can’t understand how he lost after doing good for five years,” she said. But Kousalya welcomed the change. “The same people shouldn’t govern forever,” she said. “New faces should enter the fray. More importantly, it is our duty to vote.”
Kousalya described how her neighbourhood, near Chennai’s Red Hills, erupted in celebrations with motorbikes, flags and whistles. “My son cut a cake,” she said.
At the end of March when Vijay launched his election campaign from Perambur, 19-year-old Siva was in the crowd. “My first ever vote went to Thalapathy,” he said, sitting with friends on the steps of a supermarket where they work as delivery staffers. “There is a reason Vijay Anna chose to contest from Perambur. It’s the constituency that needs the most work in Chennai.”
Siva’s friend Senthil chipped in. “There is a saying in Tamil that goes ‘grinding the same batter over and over’ so we chose fresh batter to make dosas,” he said with a laugh, explaining his choice to vote for Vijay’s TVK instead of the old guard.
Senthil likened the elections to Vijay’s 2018 film Sarkar, in which his character returns to Chennai from abroad to vote only to find his vote has been stolen. When he tries to investigate, two corrupt politicians try to block his path. “Basically, what’s happening now is seeing the Sarkar film in real life,” Senthil said. “Sarkar has been re-released!”
Unlike his friends who are hardcore Vijay fans, 23-year-old Bharat, is a fan of actor Dhanush. But supports Vijay politically and believes will stand up to the BJP, too. “He will protect Tamil culture,” said Bharat. “There is no doubt. Just look at the name of his party, it begins with ‘Tamilaga’…”
For Siva and his friends, rumours about Vijay’s personal life and doubts about his inexperience barely matter. “Maybe an older generation will be bothered about his marital life but we are not,” he said. “We have faith that he will come through for us.”
Siva added that he was eagerly waiting for the release of Jana Nayagan, the political action thriller starring Vijay, mainly so he can read the title card. “It will read: Muthalamaichar [Chief Minister] Thalapathy Vijay!” he said, smiling widely.
Sowmiya Ashok is a journalist in Chennai and author of The Dig : Keeladi and the Politics of India’s Past.
