Can Vijay bet on his fans for political success? Analysts, fans weigh in on his future
‘Thalapathy’ Vijay's schoolmate, political analysts and fans weigh in on the future of his political career with Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam.
When Vijay was growing up, he was a big fan of pop star Michael Jackson. He loved to dance and perform to Jackson’s songs. In fact, more than his studies, that’s what he was popular for in school and college as well. And it was natural that his father, producer and director S A Chandrashekar, wanted his only son to become an actor and top Tamil star one day. (Also Read: 10 actors turned politicians from Tamil Nadu before Vijay: MGR, Kamal Haasan to Jayalalithaa, Khushbu Sundar)
Chandrashekar introduced him in the lead role at the age of 18 in Naalaya Theerpu in 1992. Today, 32 years later, Vijay has become a top star in Kollywood and has his eyes set on becoming the future Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu thanks to his political party Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK). However, he owes a large part of his success in cinema now in politics to his fans who have supported him unwaveringly for decades.
What makes Vijay special to fans
Interestingly, Vijay’s fan base consists mostly of youngsters (read boys) whose age ranges from 10 to 30. Most of these youngsters see themselves in Vijay – someone who doesn’t have Greek God looks but is more a regular boy-next-door who can dance superbly and belt out a song or two as well. In fact, in his initial acting years, he was criticised for his looks but that dies down when his films turned out to be superhits.
Most of the characters he has played right from the age of 18, showcase Vijay as a young man who can romance a pretty girl, do some action, elicit a lot of laughs with his comedy and play the family man as well. His characters have added on new dimensions with his age and his fans too has grown up with him along the way. In fact, they see in him their reflection and live vicariously through him.
A classmate of his from school tells HT, “In school, Vijay was very popular with the girls but he never used to pay much attention to that. He loved performing on stage and his friends were those who came from all walks of life – from the rich to the poor. He was a very nice person and he has a charm that you see still exists today.”
Vijay’s charming demeanour and his smile is enough to send his fan boys into a tizzy as can be seen with the fan selfies he has posted over the last few years on social media. Vijay Karthikeyan, who added the prefix Vijay as he is a Vijay fan, is crazy about his hero and idol.
His profile clearly reads ‘Forever, Thalapathy Vijay Fan’ and when you ask him why he loves the Tamil star, he replies, “Right from my childhood days, I have liked him and been a fan. I’ll definitely support whatever he does and whatever decision he takes in politics. I love his dedication towards his passion (cinema and now politics) and this is an inspiration for millions. I am proud to be his fan.”
Karthikeyan is not the only fan who echoes this sentiment. Vijay is seen as very humble and even in public wears a short and jeans like most of his fans and keeps a low profile too. He may own the most luxurious cars but as we saw, he went to cast his vote on his son’s bicycle and this endeared him to his fans more. Vijay has always portrayed himself as ‘one of the boys’ and this has worked in his favour. Most of the people who are his fans today have grown up watching his films and they are the ones who are batting for Vijay in politics too.
The Nanban star’s fans have stood by him through thick and thin and this political journey of his will be incomplete without them. They are the driving force and his biggest strength when it comes to talking about the party and doing the grassroot level work for TVK. On Thursday, Vijay’s manager Jagadish, wrote on X (formerly Twitter), posting pics of the GOAT star at the launch of TVK anthem that it “feels emotional, powerful and motivated”.
Vijay’s fan, DP Karthik says, “As the TVK flag soars high, I take pride in knowing that the future of Tamil Nadu is secure and in capable hands.” Another fan, Kavi Kannan, vows not to let down his Thalapathy and says, “The happiness and glow on his face is real (at the flag launch). He’s not going to regret his decision. The Tamil Nadu people are not going to let him down!”
How will Vijay fare in politics?
It was only in 2009 that Vijay officially launched his fans club called the Vijay Makkal Iyakkam (VMI). His political ambitions were out in the open in the last decade but at that time the VMI supported the AIADMK in 2011. As his fan club membership grew larger, it engaged in a lot of charity work and Vijay encouraged his fan base to do more community work. He brought in ‘Bussy’ Anand, a politician from Puducherry, as his confidante and adviser for the political arena. The Beast star was not one to talk about politics openly but he tested out waters in 2021 when TVK contested the local body elections.
Over the last few years, Vijay has held numerous fan club meetings talking about politics and his ambitions and getting his fans on board with the idea. After all, they are the ones who would carry him to victory or defeat in this arena. Numerous events, including felicitating school toppers, were held to promote Vijay and he constantly thanked his fans for their support.
And in February 2024, he officially launched the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) and on August 22, unveiled the flag and symbol of the party. As known the General Secretary of TVK is Bussy Anand and the Treasurer is Venkatramanan and the party work is done under their supervision. The state-level conference that Vijay announced on Thursday will be his show of strength when it takes place.
Right now, Vijay’s TVK reportedly boasts over 10 lakh members (exact numbers not released by TVK). In a membership drive the TVK launched in March 2024, the aim was to enrol two crore cadres. The party used technology – a QR code – and social media apps to get people to register as a TVK member. As of now, only the district and assembly constituency in-charges have been appointed by the party. Till now, TVK has held its cards close to its chest revealing as little as possible.
Political commentator Sumanth Raman tells HT, “It is way too early to comment about Vijay’s political fortunes since he has not released the party ideology and what TVK stands for. The anthem he has launched for TVK is quite catchy though. In today’s political scenario, a large fanbase alone will not be enough to sustain any star in the long run – it is only a starting point.”
Another political analyst told HT that decades ago when MG Ramachandran came into politics, there was only Sivaji Ganesan who was seen as his rival star. “Now, there are many Tamil stars and all have their own separate fan associations. Most of Vijay’s fans are between the ages of 15 to 35 and are male semi-employed semi-literate youth. How many fans of his are women? His fans below the age of 18 have no voting power as well. Hence, one can’t really rely on the fan base to translate into votes in elections,” he added.
Right now, the DMK doesn’t appear to be enthusiastic about Vijay’s political entry and he is seen as a direct competitor to Udhayanidhi Stalin and could split the DMK’s votes. The two parties to be most affected by Vijay’s TVK would be the DMK and Seeman’s Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) due to the overlapping demographics, add political analysts. Also, if Vijay talks about Tamil nationalism on which Seeman’s NTK is founded, then it could impact NTK tremendously.
Political analyst Bharath Kumar explains, “This is the right time for Vijay to start his political activities but how far he’ll succeed is a big question. No doubt, he’s the Tamil star with the biggest fan following but not all fans are potential voters and converting this to votes is going to be really tough. Plus, you already have well-established parties like the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which has won 10 elections in Tamil Nadu and you have the AIADMK.”
He adds, “Vijay has to defeat both these parties and the BJP to succeed. BJP has grown from 4% voteshare in Tamil Nadu to 11% voteshare today. The BJP itself found it tough to fight the established DMK like we saw in the last elections. And we have Seeman and NTK too. Vijay will have to fight these four parties and we don’t know if he’ll form any alliance. And he is also yet to spell out his ideology which will have a big impact too.”
When one talks about Vijay’s political entry, the other actor who comes to mind is Vijayakant who acted as messiah of the masses on screen and successfully entered politics. During Vijayakant’s time there was no social media but today, if there is one negative news then popularity goes down drastically and Vijay is quite aware of this.
Adds Bharath Kumar, “Vijay is very successful in cinema and he has to be able to convince people that he has left cinema to serve the people and get them on his side. There will also be comparisons with Kamal Haasan who people troll for launching a party and then happily joining the DMK for his personal benefit. If Vijay needs to be successful in politics, he has to fight against the BJP central government and the DMK state government and project TVK as the perfect alternative – and that’s a huge task for him and TVK.”