Real life does imitate reel life, and that seems especially true in the case of 51-year-old C Joseph Vijay, actor and founder of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), who has thrown the electoral calculations of the Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu out of the window with a blockbuster performance in his debut elections.

In the 2018 movie Sarkar, Vijay played a corporate honcho from the US who comes to India to vote, only to find out that it has already been cast. Aggrieved, he goes to court over his vote, later takes on the ruling party and contests the elections with his motley crew of students and professionals, ending up winning 210 seats.

Though the TVK did not win as many seats in real life, its unprecedented victory — with several heavyweights from both the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) losing to mostly first-time candidates — has clearly established his sway.

A wake-up call

The verdict also marks a generational shift from the duopoly of the regional parties and the much-touted ‘Dravidian model’, and provides them a much-needed wake-up call that perhaps the youth want real change and do not lean toward the ‘cash for votes’ model that their parents are so used to. Youth and professionals also dominated TVK’s candidate list, a strategy that reaped rich dividends at the hustings.

Launched just over two years ago on February 2, 2024, the party relied solely on the crowd-pulling power of Vijay and the disillusionment of the people against the Dravidian parties.

Despite being one of the highest paid actors, Vijay, son of veteran director-producer SA Chandrasekhar and singer Sobha, said he would quit movies and concentrate on politics full time, saying the people of Tamil Nadu were yearning for change.

His last movie Jana Nayagan ran into a row with the Censor Board and is yet to be released, though an unofficial version found its way to the Internet just before the elections.

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Though many film actors and personalities in Tamil Nadu harboured political ambitions, only a few like M Karunanidhi, MG Ramachandran, J Jayalalithaa and Vijayakanth, were able to make a mark, while others like Sivaji Ganesan and Rajinikanth withdrew gradually.

Initially dismissed by the mainstream political parties, Vijay went about building his party, drawing huge crowds wherever he went and slowing attracting career politicians like Bussy Anand, Aadhav Arjuna and KA Sengottaiyan into his fold.

Surmounting initial hiccups around permissions to hold meetings and rallies, the fledgling TVK faced its biggest challenge on September 27, 2025, when over 40 people were killed in a stampede while they were waiting for Vijay to arrive to address a rally.

The party drew flak for negligence in organising the meeting and Vijay came under attack from other political parties for leaving the site of the tragedy soon after. A Supreme Court-mandated probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation is on.

On October 27, 2024, during the party’s first State-level conference in Vikravandi, Villupuram district, Vijay had offered to share power with any political party that was willing to ally with the TVK. Though no party allied with him prior to the elections, it now remains to be seen if alliance partners of the DMK or AIADMK join hands with the TVK to form a government.

Published on May 4, 2026