ISSUE DATE: February 22, 2021
UPDATED: February 13, 2021 17:19 IST
India Today issue, February 22, 2021
For over half a century, every election in Tamil Nadu has unfolded against the backdrop of its towering political personalities. The state’s politics has been intertwined with its film industry unlike in any other Indian state. The century-old Dravidian movement used the charisma of popular stars like MGR and scripts by M. Karunanidhi and C.N. Annadurai to further its ideology. The movement combined Tamil identity and language to oppose caste, temple worship and rituals. This combination worked spectacularly in a cinema-obsessed state where the lines between stardom and idol worship often got blurred.