Rajinikanth is realising that being in politics is much tougher than doing the cigarette flick. And he is not giving up. After coming under attack from both DMK and AIADMK for different statements, the 69-year-old superstar last week met the Rajini Makkal Mandram forum district secretaries in Chennai to show that he is serious about launching a political party. With Kamal Haasan already in the fray with his Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), and Rajinikanth expected to make an announcement in a few months, Tamil Nadu will be carrying forward its legacy of crossover politicians from the tinsel world. And this, soon after the death of J Jayalalithaa and M Karunanidhi, which many thought would mark the end of the politics-cinema tango.

The difference, however, would be that the new stars on the political stage are novices in public life. While MGR and Karunanidhi straddled the two fields simultaneously, often finding a symbiosis, Jayalalithaa apprenticed in politics for seven years under MGR before taking over the reins of the party in 1989. Kamal, who launched his party in February 2018, has already showed his commitment to go with the grind. MNM polled just 3.72% votes in its electoral debut last year, but proved to be a force to reckon with in cities, garnering more than one lakh votes each in Chennais three Lok Sabha constituencies.

Despite their relative inexperience in politics, the two actors are seen as potential alternatives to the two Dravidian parties that have alternated in government since 1967. While Kamals centrist position that promises to look at issues impartially has an audience, Rajinikanths spiritual politics may find takers in a land where parties that took birth from rationalism are filled with god-fearing men and women. For the citizen, they hold out the common promise of rooting out corruption. Which may make them worth trying out.

This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.

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A star promise: Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan may find politics harder than doing the cigarette flick - Economic Times