Ifs and buts and Kamal Haasan's lack of guts

If politics were cinema, Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth would have been vying with each other for the role of Hamlet. For, both have not been able to decide to be or not be in politics.

After dithering for months, making big promises and throwing darts at Rajinikanth for ironically doing the same, actor Kamal Haasan backed out of the poll race on Sunday. While releasing the manifesto of his party Makkal Needhi Maiam in Coimbatore, Haasan announced he would contest neither the parliamentary polls nor the by-elections for the Tamil Nadu Assembly. “I have a lot of work to do. I will work towards the success of my candidates,” he said.

The veneer of altruism couldn’t hide the real reason behind his reluctance to enter the poll fray. Like Rajinikanth, Haasan too lacks the guts to enter a battle that’s not scripted or fought on the screen. Both the actors are scared that unlike in the films, where they are destined to win, the ending of a poll battle may not be perfect.

Two years ago, when both the actors announced their plans to enter politics, they may have been swayed by the success of MG Ramachandran, M Karunanidhi and NT Rama Rao, J Jayalalithaa actors who started their careers in politics with a big bang. Rajinikanth especially would have entertained dreams of a bumper opening on the political box office because of his huge fan base. But, unfortunately for them, both announced their new projects without a script, not knowing what to do next.

Rajinikanth first flirted with the idea of going solo. Calling his entry into politics a “compulsion of time”, he announced plans to contest the assembly polls. Then, he dropped veiled hints of a tilt towards the BJP, in the process making supporters of the saffron party dream of an electoral bonanza in Tamil Nadu, a state where its leader Narendra Modi has the lowest popularity ratings in India. Then, he swayed in the opposite direction, saying if the entire opposition were critiquing the BJP, there must be something dangerous about the party, only to clarify later that this was not his opinion. Since those flip-flops, he has been quiet, preferring to work on his films and watch the political action from the sidelines.

Haasan did slightly better in comparison. He announced a political party, gave it a name, put together an organisation, highlighted his secular credentials and tried to join the UPA led by the Congress. When his advances were snubbed by both the Congress and the DMK, he reached out to TTV Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, but failed to strike a seat-sharing deal. Unable to find an ally, he finally entered the fray alone.

Encouraged by his own bravado, Haasan even mocked Rajinikanth by saying: “After oiling one’s body and slapping of thighs, one should not back out from the wrestling field saying he would come the next day.” But, his latest decision shows Haasan too was merely oiling his body, perhaps to slither out of the electoral akhara (ring).

It is apparent that both the actors have become prisoners of their success. In spite of the burning desire to enter politics, they just can’t afford failure or quit cinema. So, they have been acting as part-time politicians, thus revealing lack of conviction and the courage to go through the grind of politics.

Ironically, both the actors failed to realise that the time is just right to enter electoral politics. Politics in Tamil Nadu is in a flux after the demise of J Jayalalitha and Karunanidhi. While the AIADMK is leaderless and riven by infighting, DMK chief MK Stalin is also yet to prove his popularity. Both the actors could have stepped into the vacuum.

Perhaps, they kept waiting for someone to say, lights, camera, action.