Author – Tanoj Meshram*

(Some disclaimer at the beginning itself: I am not a films fan, I hardly watch movies. Neither I am a film critic or analyst. My interest in this subject comes from two reasons: One, my long involvement in and concern for socio-political movement and second, my five years stay (2004-09) and work in the anti-caste movement in Tamil Nadu and therefore a concern for any regressive development in Tamil Nadu (TN) politics.)

(Acknowledgements: For writing this article I would like to thank friends in media, film industry and anti-caste socio-political movement in TN with decades of experience for providing important information and having discussions.)

In any democratic society, the creative freedom should allow and welcome any film actor to work with any director in purely professional relationship irrespective of their individual identities and/or ideologies, provided none of the party makes or intends to make political capital out of such relationships. The moment one or both of the parties intend or likely to make political capital out of filmy capital, right political questions need to be asked about such political-film ventures.

Kabali-Kaala appears to be such a case where right questions need to be asked. Tamil Nadu is a state where film personalities have ruled the state by converting their filmy capital (resources, fans network, socio-political messaging in their films and consequent popularity) into political capital. Following observation by a researcher based on her fieldwork in TN is noteworthy:

“Cinema and politics have a long history of mutual involvement in South India. Parties and movements have converted films into propaganda forms by inserting political ideologies, symbols, and allegories. Cinema personnel have built on their reputations to become elected leaders. While few overtly political movies have appeared since the late 1960s, the use of cinema as a political springboard has continued into the present and has been most sustained in the state of Tamil Nadu, where the last five chief ministers have had film connections. Despite critics’ misgivings, cinema is, in fact, extraordinarily well suited to promoting political leaders.” (Sara Dickey in The Politics of Adulation: Cinema and the Production of Politicians in South India, 1993, p.340)

MG Ramachandran and Jayalalitha are two powerful examples of the phenomena Dickey talks about and it needs to be noted that even Karunanidhi started his career in film industry. All the three were Chief Ministers of the state.

For many years, and not just last year, Rajnikanth has been fueling the speculation about his entry into politics (first time after his highly successful movie Padaiyappa in 1999,  as per Ramchandran, 2012 in Nakassis 2017; see here.)

His ideological leanings are also not unknown to the people who keep a tab on TN politics (including Pa Ranjith). Often he confessed that past and present editors of Tuglaq-a pro-RSS Brahminical magazine-Cho Ramasamy and S. Gurumurthy are his Gurus and he makes a point to regularly attend its readers meet (news about his latest attendance and praise of Cho). His “spirituality” in personal life and his intention to bring “spiritual politics” (watch here its interpretation by BJP Spokesperson in the embedded video by India Today TV)  in Periyar’s rationalist milieu is not a naïve statement but a well thought out project to bring Hindutva (read Brahminism) from the back door. The imagery he used while announcing his entry into politics points to his proximity to RSS and BJP (Read what Political Analyst Senthilnathan says) After his announcement last year to enter politics, RSS/BJP leaders have announced that he is welcome to join BJP and if he doesn’t, they will help him in building his party. (Read)  and also Gurumurthy’s advocacy piece here.

Why suddenly Rajnikanth announces an entry in politics? TN has been alternately ruled by two Dravidian parties led by Karunanidhi and Jayalalitha cornering around 70% of votes among them. Their politics didn’t allow Congress or BJP to make a dent in TN. Whereas Congress has finished a vote share of 6.4 %, BJP even in so-called Modi wave, couldn’t cross 3% vote share in TN in 2016 assembly elections (see the vote shares here). Does that worry BJP, it must be; not being able to make a dent in a state which apparently takes an open anti-Brahminical stand and has the highest percentage of reservation for SC/ST/OBC must be very discomforting to party traditionally perceived as endorsing Brahminical ideology and which took stand against reservation to OBCs under Mandal commission. So what can it do? The best thing it can do is support a proxy who will finish DMK and AIDMK and implement its political designs. What could be the best time than this when Jayalalitha is no more and Karunanidhi is too old and successors of both don’t have their predecessors’ charisma. In such a scenario, especially when AIDMK is already broken and is at the mercy of ruling BJP, how do RSS and BJP defeat DMK? By bringing/supporting most popular filmy personality of the day who can eat into a significant portion of DMK’s votes: Rajnikanth whose charisma none of the existing filmy/non-filmy political personalities can match. (India Today hypothetical poll predicts that if elections are held in 2018, Rajnikanth can get 16% votes making it third largest party after DMK and AIDMK.)

But how to launch Rajnikanth? There is a tried and tested path; through their political-film ventures because “cinema has the ability to launch politicians who can tap into new political identities and alliances and overcome more established ones” (Dickey, 1993, p.370). And this time it should help them to make a dent into a vote bank of the largest social segment- Scheduled Castes (or “Dalits”) which are 20% of TN population and this is also the segment which BJP is trying to influence nationally and many states. That is what MGR and Jayalalithaa did, by breaking a portion of SC votes from DMK. How to do this? Well, through films which will create Rajni’s pro-“Dalit” (and pro-poor) image so that even one third dent in SC votes can negatively affect DMK (AIDMK, in any case, should be an ally) and to some extent VCK (that’s why Thirumavalam who gets about 1.5% vote share, is said to be now not happy with Rajni and Ranjith both). But what is the guarantee that the pro-Dalit and pro-poor image will help in getting success in politics? Dikey (1993) helps us to answer this question:

“In trying to comprehend the ways cinema works in politics, it is important to remember that cinema in southern India is a medium of the lower class. This helps explain why, even where all structural factors are equal, certain film stars are more successful than others in using film stardom for political gain: it is most advantageous to appeal to the poor, who constitute the bulk of both film watchers and the electorate”.

There is another reason why the focus should be on SCs. For last few years section of SC in TN have started feeling that Dravidian parties have not given them their due and in fact are responsible for their current problems (which is true to some extent). There is a school of thought which even portrays Periyar as anti-“Dalit” and holds him responsible for what Dravidian parties are doing. Ravikumar-a politician within VCK (which surprisingly allies with “Periyarist” DMK) is one such representative of this school. For years, activists say, RSS has been trying to capitalize on this sentiment and break whatever socio-political comity prevails between SCs and OBCs in TN using its resources and media power so that it can corner the spoils of the game.

It is in this context that Kabali and Kaala need to be situated. Pa Ranjith also subscribes to this school of thought. He portrays himself as Ambedkarite and doesn’t subscribe to Periyar’s ideas. (Read this interesting interview of an activist-writer Stalin Ranjangam giving an ideological background of Ranjith and making a case for “Dalit” representation in Tamil films) Stalin also observes that Dravidian intellectuals were asking Ranjith why he did not show Periyar in Kabali, a significant omission given the importance Periyar holds in TN society and politics, which led to an apology from Ranjith. (Ranjith tries to rectify this mistake in Kaala).

According to film and media sources, Pa Ranjith is an upwardly mobile Director who happened to know Rajnikanth’s daughter Soundarya who is reported to have arranged a meeting with Rajini and Ranjith. (Source) When Rajnikanth’s movies are not making money for almost a decade and when he wants to create a launching pad for politics (which Stalin interprets as “aging superstar trying to reinvent himself”- Rajni is 67 years), Ranjith approaches him with a lead role in Kabali with the politically appropriate story and what’s next? To an experienced Rajnikanth- who always works with established director and crew and who in normal course probably would not have agreed to such a new/unestablished director/story writer and his crew-this movie provides a good quid-pro-quo: a political capital for Rajni and filmy capital for Ranjith. Isn’t that the reason why first time in last two decades Rajni has accepted a completely new director and his crew? It is also interesting to note that TOI reports that Ranjith approached Rajni with two stories one on Kabali, the political film and another a story on sci-fi film and Rajni chose the political film! (Source)  Kabali it appears was made to woo SCs from northern TN- the Paraiyars or Adi-Dravidars who constitute about 60% of SCs by projecting a northern SC as a lead character settled in Malaysia. The result, as planned, SCs (not only in TN but also outside) wholeheartedly welcome Kabali and popularize Rajni-Ranjith duo. The 37 year old Ranjith now becomes an “Ambedkarite” role model in the creative world and does every right thing that a good Ambedkarite should do “symbolically” so that s/he not only gets community support but such work qualifies him for politico-film partnership with ideologically opposite powerful non-Dalit film actors and producers whom the likes of Ranjith called oppressors till date. Emboldened by Kabali, Ranjith and Ranji duo launch second political-film venture Kaala produced by Rajni’s son in law-Dhanush (rare to find a second consecutive film by Rajni around a similar theme with the same director with a budget of Rs. 140 Crores). And this time to woo southern Tamil Nadu SCs-the second largest segment among SCs-who might have got disappointed by Dr. Krishnasamy’s politics. The story revolves around Southern SCs settled in the largest Mumbai slum, Dharavi, and their leader Kaala. Non-suspicious SCs and most importantly Ambedkarites, eagerly wait for Kaala to watch and show all possible praise for Ranjith- an SC and apparently Ambedkarite film personality should get and promote the film on social media among Ambedkarite/social networks. Kaala appears to make designed target group happy and also does a good business; earns Rs. 230 Crores before release and Rs. 100 Crores within three days of release.

So what is the problem? This “film-political nexus” (Dikey, 1993) poses certain ethical questions? Should an apparently anti-caste director help a right wing pro-Brahminical actor to prepare a political launch pad to further his own creative and commercial interest? What is the social cost and benefit of this relationship? Who is getting the private benefit and what public is likely to lose? No doubt, besides entertainment, films should have socio-political messaging but should innocent caste-oppressed viewers be emotionally coaxed into the political machinations of Brahminical organizations and should an apparently Ambedkarite film personality (not so naïve to understand the political undercurrents of the day as he makes movies on current socio-political issues) should facilitate that? Should such film personality become the role model of Ambedkarite community and get out of course support?

If Tamil Nadu falls into the trap of RSS through Rajnikanth, history will never forgive Ranjith. Some people in the anti-caste movement give benefit of doubt to Ranjith. They say his ideological credentials cannot be doubted. Fair enough but how do we know what is the real motive of this unusual politico-film partnership? Will Rajni tell his plans to woo SCs to Ranjith and use his films as a political launch pad and if at all Ranjith knows it, will he tell SCs-who are his prime concern- that I am making films to trap you into the political machinations of ideological apparatus you don’t like? Information available in public domain and discussions with sources on the ground can help us unpacking the motive. Ranjith needs creative and commercial success (in a good faith let us assume for making radical and socially useful movies in anti-caste domain) and for that, he needs community support (gone are the days when anti-caste movies were taboo and bad business idea; Fandry and Sairat transcended those barriers) and therefore he must show that he is having a “purely professional” relationship with ideologically opposite Rajni and he is furthering anti-caste tradition through his films. Rajni needs wider political acceptability (though his statement on Tuthukodi killings is completely opposite or perhaps true to his real ideology) for which he needs to shed the image that he is close to RSS in “real life” and this can be effectively done through his “reel life” by portraying him in the company of Buddha-Ambedkar-Periyar in addition to (surprisingly) Marx-Lenin and “Dalit-Dravidian symbolism” in Kaala. Dickey’s (1993, p.342) research supports this argument. According to her “the image created by cinema-which can be tightly controlled by successful actors-often corresponds with the types of images that have traditionally been necessary to the South Indian leader who emphasizes concern with the physical, spiritual, and material well-being of his or her constituents”.

If the designs of RSS-Rajni doesn’t succeed and Ranjith proves to be credible and right and I along with many worried Ambedkarite-Periyarists in and outside TN will be happy to be proved wrong and will keep on enjoying such movies without worrying about their political fallouts. For that, the anti-caste effects of Ranjith’s work must exceed the pro-caste benefits to Rajni. Only future will tell the results. The risk is huge.

*The author, an alumnus of IIM-Ahmedabad, is a former civil servant, social activist and currently a doctoral candidate in Social Policy at Brandeis University, USA.

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