'Captain' Vijayakanth: From angry young man to stardom and political plunge

Actor-turned neta Vijayakanth, who launched his Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) in 2005 as an alternative to the dominant Dravidian majors, DMK and AIADMK, came close to achieving it, but learnt the hard way that film charisma alone was not enough. Coupled with the good will that he had earned through philanthropy and an enviable huge fan base, the party secured close to 9 percent vote share in its very first electoral foray in 2006, making it the third force. But, it has dwindled to below one percent and with his demise, the party will have to battle for its electoral relevance. Writes ETV Bharat's MC Rajan.

Chennai: From the temple city of Madurai a young lad landed at Kollywood in the late 1970s to try his fortunes in the dream industry. Black in complexion, considered unconventional for a hero, initially he was cast as a villain and had to wait for his time. But, once he touched stardom, there was no looking back for Vijayakanth Naidu aka 'Captain'.

It was his hugely popular action role of an angry young man in 'Sattam Oru Iruttarai' (Law, a dark room) that propelled him as a selling hero in the film industry. The director was none other than SA Chandrasekhar, father of reigning Kollywood monarch, Vijay. Then, it was his 100th film, 'Captain Prabhakaran', a runaway hit which earned him the sobriquet 'Captain' and an iconic status. And, like most successful film stars, the next step for him was the political plunge. For, it is no exaggeration that politics and films are Siamese twins in the Dravidian heartland.

Known for his philanthropy, carried out through his fan clubs, he decided to float his own party rather than join any of the established parties. Earlier, there was expectation that he might join the DMK, given his rapport with the Dravidian patriarch M Karunanidhi, who had penned the script for a few of his movies and graced his marriage. The DMDK was launched at a massive conference on September 14, 2005 at Madurai as a counter to the DMK and AIADMK. As the name indicates, the new outfit while retaining the Dravidian tag, had the nationalist prefix.

The fledgling party contested all the 234 seats in the 2006 Assembly election with Vijayakanth alone winning from Virudhachalam in the OBC Vanniyar-dominant Cuddalore district. Helped by Viajaykanth's filmy charisma, the party was able to garner a vote share of 8.38 percent, a record for a new entrant in Tamil Nadu's political history. It had helped the DMK to return to office, though it could form a minority government.

Analysts pointed out that the DMDK had poached the votes of the AIADMK besides a significant slice of the anti-incumbency vote and linguistic minorities. It also became clear that the support base of the DMDK and that of the AIADMK were similar – rainbow coalition of the poor.

After the 2006 defeat, Jayalalithaa was focused on reclaiming the significant chunk of the party's support base poached by the DMDK. In the 2011 assembly election, she teamed up with Vijayakanth and the alliance swept the polls. With the DMK pushed to the third place and DMDK with 29 legislators emerging as the second, Captain became the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly. According to observers, it was this alliance that enabled the AIADMK to regain lost ground and it proved to be the 'Dhrishtra embrace' for Vijayakanth. Faced with rebellion in the ranks of the MLAs with eight of them resigning, Captain stepped down as Leader of the Opposition during the fag end of the Assembly's term.

The 2014 Lok Sabha election, in which the DMDK was part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, saw the party losing all the 14 seats it had contested, signaling the steady erosion in its support base. It was the 2016 assembly election which turned out to be a severe blow for the party and Vijayakanth, whose health had also deteriorated. The DMDK was a constituent of the Peoples Welfare Front, comprising the VCK of Thirumavalavan, the Left parties, and the MDMK of Vaiko, taking on both the AIADMK and DMK. But, the party's vote share plummeted to 2.3 percent. Ploughing a lonely furrow in 2021, it had come down further to 0.43 percentt, bringing a question mark over its electoral relevance.

It is in this context that Vijayakanth's wife, Premalatha had been elevated as the party's general secretary. A pale shadow of her hubby, it remains to be seen whether she could resurrect its fortunes.

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