The Hindu : A SONG AND DANCE FOR VOTERS

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 22, 2004

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

A SONG AND DANCE FOR VOTERS

MASS ENTERTAINMENT ON the political stage is a prospect thrown up by resourceful political India to compensate for the overlong, hot duration of the 2004 election campaign. As election fever rises and campaigns acquire momentum across the land, it is clear that Bollywood and the rest of Indian filmdom have a virtually inexhaustible supply of home-grown Schwarzeneggers and a variety of others — non-action heroes, villains, comics, playback singers, classical singers, and so forth — ready to step out and showcase their talent for political theatre and make-believe. Virtually every day these past few weeks, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress and some other political parties have been springing their catches on the media and a presumably eager electorate. The trend, which has also drawn in several sportspersons of yesteryear, is not exactly new. South India has had an enviable track record of political and film roles going hand in hand. But speaking for India as a whole, 2004 does seem to herald a new kind of ball game.

Showbiz glamour has turned daily events compered by party hacks into sheer entertainment and photo-op. The hope evidently is that the not-always-bright sheen of the villain, comedian and playback singer will rub off on political parties and leaders. In turn, the celebrities seek advantage by draping themselves in the ideological and political colours of their current political friends. What motivates this migration? And what drives the political parties other than an untested belief that mass cinema and sport are the opium of the masses? Party strategists and professional image-makers apparently believe that in an environment in which issues that matter are downplayed and personality-centred campaigns thrive, celebrities can make a real difference. Besides, celebrities enable today's newsmaker politician to make a fashion statement and, with some luck, headlines.

It might be unrealistic to demand that politics should remain untouched by glitz. The nonagenarian Marxist leader, Jyoti Basu, has called attention, in an interview, to the case of West Bengal: with its strong political traditions, this Left-ruled State remains unaffected by the trend. Malayalam cinema also seems to have opted out of any political ambition. But these are very much the exceptions. Most celebrities roped in for this Indian summer seem to be decorative campaigners but some heroes and villains must be nursing serious political ambitions a la the big time examples from South India — C.N. Annadurai, M. Karunanidhi, M.G. Ramachandran, N.T. Rama Rao, Jayalalithaa, Rajnikanth, and so on. For decades Hollywood has participated actively in American presidential campaigns. In the 1980s, one of its heroes bid for the White House and how. Ronald Reagan confirmed that showbiz capabilities had become an inescapable part of the American political repertoire. There are, of course, superstars who fail to make any kind of political impact. The short and unhappy parliamentary career of Amitabh Bachchan is a case in point. Gina Lollobrigida, despite campaigning through an Italian summer in high heels and figure-hugging dresses, failed in her maiden attempt to enter the European Parliament in 1999. The latest convert is Fernando Poe: not daunted by the action-hero-to-political-villain morality play starring Joseph Estrada and refusing to heed public appeals to turn himself from "a reel hero... [into] a real hero" by resisting political temptation, he has announced his intention to run for President of the Philippines. All this underlines the truth behind those wonderful Tom Lehrer lines (on George Murphy, a Senator from California between 1964 and 1970): "The movies that you've seen/On your television screen/Show his legislative talents at a glance/... Yes, now that he's a senator, he's really got the chance/To give the public a song and dance."

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