Politics, film stars make a heady cocktail in India

POLITICAL STARS: While some stars failed to register their star power in electoral terrain, others managed to win elections.

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New Delhi: From Nargis to Jayalalitha, from MGR to Amitabh, the entertainment industry has time and again made its presence felt in India's political scene.

More often than not, politics and the film world have been strange bedfellows in India.

While some stars failed to register their star power in electoral terrain, others managed to win elections. And then there were some, who just went on to become political leaders.

The best example is the stupendous success of the MGR-Jayalalitha duo in Tamil Nadu and NT Rama Rao in Andhra Pradesh. While Sivaji' Ganesan gave politics a go, Annadurai and M Karunanidhi, scripted their way to political success.

Even superstar Rajinikanth lent his star status to the campaigns of various political parties. While in the 1998 Lok Sabha elections, Rajinikanth supported the DMK-TMC alliance, in 2004 Lok Sabha elections he decided to support the BJP-AIADMK alliance. However, Rajini's star power failed to bring any luck to his political picks.

While Rajini was not able to deliver a hit at the political box office, south Indian actors have comparatively found greater success in politics than their Bollywood counterparts.

Electoral success for many Bollywood stars never really translated into real political success. The real heavyweight was Amitabh Bachchan, who swore never to return to politics after the Bofors scam. However, 2007 UP assembly polls saw Amitabh return to the political fore in support of Mulayam Singh. Nevertheless, even after all his efforts, Samajwadi Party could not pin down Mayawati.

Though, film stars and politics may be a heady cocktail across the country, there seems to be a very clear divide on the consequences in the north and the south.