Celluloid Pied Pipers

 

 

Box Office in a Ballot Box

Some senior journalists at The Sunday Indian have enjoyed the privilege of getting a ringside view of history unfolding. Our Executive Editor Ranjit Bhushan still has vivid memories of a chilly day after the 1984 Lok Sabha elections in Allahabad, where a crestfallen H.N. Bahuguna looked as if he had actually been ‘poll’ axed! Even seasoned pundits and journalists had not expected the outcome. The reigning superstar of Bollywood, Amitabh Bachchan, had humbled the diminutive ‘giant’ of Uttar Pradesh and Indian politics, Bahuguna, by a mind- numbing margin. Bahuguna – who had quit the Congress party – never recovered. Ironically, his daughter Rita Bahuguna now heads the decrepit, ramshackle and forlorn Congress in Uttar Pradesh. And the then ‘poster boy’ of the Congress, Amitabh, now has extremely strained relations with the party.

Even the current prime ministerial candidate of the BJP, L.K. Advani, had once narrowly escaped being engulfed by the tidal wave of Bollywood. His opponent was yet another former superstar, Rajesh Khanna, who became his rival for the New Delhi constituency in 1991. By then, Advani was already a towering giant of the rapidly growing Hindutva movement and Rajesh Khanna was someone whose glory days had long faded away. Yet, it was only by a whisker that Advani escaped a humiliating loss.

Our other Executive Editor, Sharad Gupta, has witnessed even more bizarre events in recent times. In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the Samajwadi Party sprang a surprise by nominating actress Jaya Prada for the prestigious Rampur seat. Her rival was the revered Begum of Rampur, Noor Bano. In a Muslim dominated locality in Rampur, Gupta waited with tens of thousands of people for hours, awaiting a glimpse of Jaya Prada. Her rally continued almost till midnight, with local cops telling Gupta that they dare not enforce the 10 PM ban on loudspeakers because it would lead to stone pelting! Of course, Jaya Prada humbled and humiliated the aristocratic Bano.

On the face of it, there is no doubt that film stars project their charisma and popularity even onto the electoral arena. In fact, if you look at the South, four people intimately involved with movies have become chief ministers. They are MGR, Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu and NTR in Andhra Pradesh. And don’t be surprised if the Telugu super star Chiranjeevi joins that list in the near future. If Indian democracy can be called a functional anarchy, then surely this breed can be called pseudo Pied Pipers!

Many pundits also contend that this habit of film stars winning effortlessly is a reflection of how immature our democracy still is; that it reveals how voters get swayed more by fantasy than reality. To an extent, this is true. But as a lawyer might argue, it is not the whole truth! Barring the late Sunil Dutt, no personality from Bollywood has commanded stature, respect and recognition as a ‘serious’ politician. Amitabh quit politics in disgust; Rajesh Khanna faded away, as did the TV stars who acted in the serials Mahabharata and Ramayana. Govinda seems to have gone back to David Dhawan, and there are posters in Bikaner that announce an ‘award’ for missing local MP Dharmendra. And we all know what the Supreme Court did with the dreams of Sunjay Dutt.

Remember that dictum about how you can't fool all the people all the time? Well something similar has happened with the other gods in the Indian celebrity pantheon – star cricketers. Read this interesting package for celebrities’ incongruous, and often unsuccessful, love affair with electoral politics. Dharmendra and Hema Malini

‘Paaji’, as he is fondly known in Bollywood (not to be confused with the other veteran paaji Kapil Dev) was an astounding choice made by BJP for the Bikaner Lok Sabha seat in the 2004 elections. Never had he shown any interest in politics, unlike many of his fellow film stars. Nor had his second wife Hema Malini for that matter. But then, Malini became a Rajya Sabha MP and Dharmendra won a thumping victory in the Lok Sabha elections. But the original Bollywood hunk clearly did not have his heart in it; and even voters and locals realised as much when they stuck ‘missing’ posters of Dharmendra in the constituency. Nobody got to know what exactly he did in the 14th Lok Sabha for five years. And now, the grapevine says that even wife Hema Malini is uninterested in a Lok Sabha contest. Shatrughan Sinha

Another once upon a time ‘rival’ of Amitabh Bachchan on the silver screen, this star has managed to stick it out with the BJP despite frequent frustrations with the leadership. In fact there were strong rumours this time around that the original ‘Bihari babu’ might join the Mulayam Singh outfit and contest the Lok Sabha elections. He is now the official BJP candidate from Patna Saheb in Bihar. Though by no yardstick a flash in the pan kind of politician, and considered to be a veteran now, there has always been a sense of disappointment around Shatrughan Sinha. Most feel he could have done better as a politician than just issue smart one liners. Raj Babbar

This man’s political trajectory is more like that of a modern day politician than a film star. His baptism in politics was in the heady days when V.P. Singh rode high on the platform against corruption. Singh faded into oblivion, but Raj Babbar remained a staunch supporter of the ‘Janata’ cum ‘socialist’ ideology where the Congress was the enemy. He did win Lok Sabha elections from Agra and proved that he was no mere upstart by winning again. Babbar became a senior leader of the party headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav. But then, this is politics in India. The ‘villain’ of Insaaf Ka Taraazu revolted against Amar Singh and parted ways with Samajwadi Party. He is now a Congress candidate from Fatehpur Sikri. Vinod Khanna

There were many twitters and guffaws when the BJP-Akali Dal alliance nominated former Rajneesh devotee and film star Vinod Khanna to take on Congress heavyweight Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder from Gurdaspur. He surprised them all by winning comfortably. Many called it the ‘typical’ one night stand between a Bollywood celebrity and the electorate. But surprise, surprise. Vinod Khanna won again and yet again. The man who once gave even Amitabh a run for his money in the race to super stardom is now a seasoned politician who has been in the Lok Sabha continually for more than a decade. He also managed to become a Union Minister in the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Chiranjeevi

He has set out to do what the original super star of Telugu cinema, NTR, achieved more than 25 years ago by humiliating the Congress in assembly elections and becoming Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. But Andhra now faces a three horse race where Chiranjeevi and his party Praja Rajyam have to contend with both the Congress and the Telugu Desam, now led by Chandrababu Naidu, the son-in-law of NTR. There is no doubt that Chiranjeevi is immensely popular and could well be the preferred choice of backward caste voters. But no pundit is yet willing to say with confidence that he will be the next Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Way back in 1983, no pundit was willing to bet on NTR becoming the Chief Minister. He must be hoping that history repeats itself. Jayalalithaa

She is now touted as one of three ‘leading ladies – along with Mamata Bannerjee and Mayawati – who could well decide the contour of the next government. Mentored by the legendary MGR, Jayalalithaa has been written off many times to emerge again as a stronger Chief Minister. For the last two decades, she and her bitter rival Karunanidhi have ruled Tamil Nadu with an iron hand. In 2004, her party was wiped out in the Lok Sabha elections. She is all set to make a strong comeback this time. Never shy of controversies and speaking her mind, she will remain in history books for pulling down the Vajpayee government in 1999. Ambareesh

Karnataka is quite different from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh when it comes to worshipping film stars and crowning them as kings and queens. The rebel star of Karnataka, M.H. Ambareesh, is an example. Originally in Janata Dal, Ambareesh has won three Lok Sabha elections and was even in the Union Cabinet in the Manmohan Singh government. But for now, he seems to have just faded away. Mohammed Azharuddin

From a career that started gloriously with three consecutive Test centuries on debut to an inglorious end because of match-fixing allegations, the wristy star Azharuddin has seen the best and the worst. He was rudely snubbed by one and all during the match-fixing saga, when he insinuated that he was being targeted because of his religion. Now, his religion will probably play a role since he has been airlifted from hometown Hyderabad to Moradabad in UP as the Congress candidate. Madan Lal

Along with Roger Binny, Madan Lal was the quiet and efficient utility all rounder who was always overshadowed by Kapil Dev. Yet his Viv Richards wicket during the 1983 World Cup final will always remain etched in memory; though more people remember it for the spectacular catch that Kapil Dev took! Madan Lal has now picked up the fight of his life. He is the Congress candidate from Hamirpur in Himachal and his rival is Anurag Thakur, the son of Himachal Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal. Kirti Azad

He is famous for a swashbuckling one- day knock that helped India trounce Pakistan. But Kirti Azad is different from other cricketers; in that he has a formidable political legacy. His father, Bhagwat Jha Azad, was Chief Minister of Bihar. After dabbling in Delhi politics as a BJP loyalist, Kirti Azad is now the BJP candidate from Darbhanga in Bihar. It looks like going back to his roots might revive his political career! Chetan Chauhan

Apart from Kirti Azad, he was perhaps the first well known cricketer to emerge as a politician of some note by winning Lok Sabha elections from UP on a BJP ticket. But those were glory days for the BJP in the state, when it was encashing the Ram Janmabhoomi cheque. But as the BJP’s fortunes declined, he started losing and now faces a formidable rival in Sandeep Dikshit, the son of Sheila Dikshit and sitting Lok Sabha MP from East Delhi. His losing streak might just continue. Navjyot Singh Sidhu

From a ‘strokeless wonder’ to an alleged murderer to the most voluble cricket commentator to laughter show judge, Navjyot Sidhu has donned many hats. But the one that has defined his life in the most telling way over the last decade or so has been that of a politician. In successive elections, Sidhu has managed to beat Congress heavyweights and might just pull it off this time again.