India: Actor Kamal Haasan set to step into politics
The actor made his first movie appearance as a child in 1960 and has since acted in more than 200 movies in many Indian languages, winning several prestigious national and international awards. Photo: Getty Images
(Web Desk) – In the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the stage is all set to witness the arrival of a new political leader Kamal Haasan, who unsurprisingly is also a film star like three of Tamil Nadu’s chief ministers from the recent past.
The 62-year-old, popularly known as ‘Ulaga Nayagan’ literally meaning ‘hero of the world’, has said that after entering the politics he will work towards becoming the chief minister to ‘right the wrongs’ of corruption and communalism in the state, reported BBC.
Given that the southern state of India has been wracked by political uncertainty since the death of its previous chief minister Jayaram Jayalalitha last year, Haasan has also said that the people of Tamil Nadu must change and become more socially and politically aware.
Tamil Nadu has been wracked by political uncertainty since the death of its previous chief minister J. Jayalalithaa in December 2016. Photo: Getty Images
While Hassan s announcement regarding him joining the politics has led to an intense speculation, he is expected to float his own party and revive the decayed politics of Tamil Nadu.
If the state held assembly elections in "the next 100 days I will be there", said Haasan, who has been meeting politicians across the country in the last month.
According to BBC, Haasan s public persona has been that of a right-thinking individual in a state rife with corruption and sectarian and caste hostilities. His profile as a liberal, who challenges caste orthodoxies on public platforms and in his movies, and his call for humanism over religion in his films, marked a cultural shift from the cult of hero worship that stars such as Rajinikanth and MG Ramachandran enjoy.
Unlike the reigning superstar Rajnikanth, who has more than 50,000 fan clubs, and a larger fan base that also constitutes a vote bank, Hassan s fan base of about 500,000 is seen as a lesser but well-organised, community-minded task force. And given the current vacuum in political leadership, Haasan s foray into politics has not been unwelcome despite what people say.
While experts familiar with politics in Tamil Nadu point out that Haasan is also known to be a blunt speaker, often lacking the diplomacy that the tricky world of politics demands, others have said that Haasan is yet to list his ideas about how he would work on education, economics and employment in the state, or even clarify his plans to float a party of his own.
Haasan has been meeting politicians across the country, including state chief ministers. Photo: BBC
According to BBC, Haasan hails from an upper class Tamil Brahmin family of lawyers which has already thrown up two other National Award winning actors - Hassan s elder brother, Charuhasan, and his niece, Suhasini Maniratnam.
Skilled in Indian classical dance and music, Haasan who is also a poet and writer, in the last 50 years has proved his extraordinary talent. He made his first movie appearance as a child in 1960 and has since acted in more than 200 movies in many Indian languages, winning several prestigious national and international awards.
Alternately been called a genius and an obsessive maverick, Haasan s films have often courted controversy owing to their explored themes from the war against terror to Muslim identity and humanism to the question of faith.
