Vijay’s party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), is untested in elections, but its vote share could determine who forms the next state government. - Photo: Reuters
BENGALURU, (India): Like many of his peers, taxi driver Pradeep Devasudan from Chennai missed a key ritual during this Pongal festival: watching his favourite Tamil movie star Vijay’s film.
Jana Nayagan, which is Tamil for “People’s Hero”, is possibly the 51-year-old actor’s last movie as he makes his political foray into Tamil Nadu, where state elections are slated for April or May.
The movie release, initially expected to take place on Jan 9, ahead of the harvest festival, was postponed indefinitely after India’s Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) halted its certification, citing issues with the use of religiously offensive content and state emblems without clearance.
Facing a legal dispute and mounting losses, KVN Productions, which spent around four billion rupees (S$57 million) making the movie, approached the judiciary to seek its release on schedule. The Madras High Court is scheduled to hear the case on Jan 20.
Vijay’s fans – possibly in the millions across India, Sri Lanka and other countries with sizeable Tamil populations such as Malaysia and Singapore – were disappointed by the postponement. Some had queued for tickets for hours to watch the first screening.
“I feel like someone has stolen a vadai (an Indian snack) from my mouth,” snapped 28-year-old Mr Pradeep, using a Tamil phrase to say he felt cheated.
In addition to troubles with the film’s release, Vijay is also under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) over the September 2025 stampede at his election rally in Karur, Tamil Nadu, which killed 41 people.
He flew to New Delhi in a private jet on Jan 12 for an hours-long interview with the CBI. He might be called back to the Indian capital for further questioning from Jan 19.
The unexpected movie delay and the ongoing investigation have fuelled speculation that India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is using political pressure to negotiate an alliance with the actor for the Tamil Nadu election. The BJP has been keen to make political inroads into the major southern state, one of the few it has never governed.
To defeat the incumbent Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), a professed secular and rationalist party which the BJP has accused of being anti-Hindu, the BJP has allied with Tamil Nadu’s main opposition party and is attempting to consolidate all anti-DMK parties into one camp.
Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), Vijay’s party, formed just two years ago and is untested in elections, is a wild card. While the party’s electoral prospects are uncertain, its vote share could be crucial in deciding who forms the next state government.
Vijay has said that his real “political enemy” in the state is the DMK, while the Hindu nationalist BJP is an “ideological enemy”. Mr Narayanan Thirupathy, the Tamil Nadu BJP spokesman, denied that his party was involved in the certification delays, but admitted its interest in allying with the TVK.
“We may be parties of different ideologies and various stances on different issues, but the first goal is to remove the DMK from power,” he told The Straits Times. “We must come together. The votes against them should not be split.”
But Vijay, a Christian and Tamil nationalist, has refused to ally with the BJP. On Jan 12, his party’s deputy general secretary Nirmal Kumar said: “There is no change in TVK’s ideological stand.”
Blockbuster politics
Vijay’s film seems to carry strong political messaging and undertones. The three-hour-long movie is about an ordinary man who becomes a powerful leader as he fights a corrupt system. His character, with the initials TVK, is an obvious reference to his political party. In the trailer, he looks straight at the camera and says in English: “I am coming.”
To fans such as Pradeep, the thrilling “massy dialogue” heralds his hero’s thunderous arrival in Tamil Nadu’s political arena. In his political speeches, Vijay offers a new, clean politics that will end the reign of Dravidian legacy parties, which have ruled the state for more than 60 years.
If released, the movie could help the TVK build momentum ahead of the election. But if further certification delays embroil Vijay in time-consuming litigation, the movie could turn into a liability, potentially weakening the party’s preparation for the polls.
The movie reportedly passed initial CBFC scrutiny, which led the producers to arrange for its release on Jan 9, but just days before its release, fresh objections stalled it. “By law, unless you have the certificate, you do not announce the release date,” said film industry analyst Sreedhar Pillai.
“But a lot of film-makers do announce dates before they get the certificate in hand, and the CBFC does not care. So, technically, Jana Nayagan’s makers are in the wrong, but this issue clearly has political dimensions,” he added.
While the TVK has not directly blamed the BJP, a party representative called the certification obstacle a “deliberate sabotage”.
Leaders in the Indian National Congress and the DMK blamed the BJP government for the movie’s certification delay.
Screen hero to commander in real life?
While a hero to his fans, some political observers are sceptical about Vijay’s political acumen and leadership. The film star’s hurried departure from Karur, where the stampede took place, and what many see as his failure to take accountability have cast doubts on the political novice’s leadership.
The investigation was transferred from the Tamil Nadu police – which faced criticism of not doing enough to manage the rally crowd – to the CBI in October 2025, following a plea by Vijay’s lawyer for an independent probe.
A few days after the stampede, he contacted the bereaved families through video calls and subsequently transferred two million rupees to each family as compensation. Shankavi Perumal, 28, whose husband Ramesh was among those who died in the stampede, returned the money, disappointed that the actor “never visited Karur to offer his condolences”.
Critics have pointed to TVK’s lack of strategy or coherent ideology, but political scientist S. Anandhi identifies a potent base: young Tamil men. “Vijay has whipped up a new rhetoric about the ruling government’s inability to address the growing disgruntlement of young men – it has many takers,” Dr Anandhi said.
“The young men placing faith in Vijay are also those facing serious crises of unemployment, a sense of disempowerment, loss of privilege, and a dangerous crisis of masculinity as they feel the (DMK) government is more focused on women’s employment and welfare.”
Vijay’s greatest task is to find political strategies to address the discontent, but his immediate challenges lie in skilfully navigating the legal and administrative cases stemming from the delayed movie release and the Karur stampede.
For now, his political identity mirrors his on-screen persona – an ordinary man taking on the establishment.
Pillai, the film industry analyst, said: “The more he is pushed to the corner, the more this halo will glow.” - The Straits Times/ANN
