Chennai: The entry of superstar Rajinikanth marks a tectonic shift in Tamil Nadu's political scenario and is likely to hurt the entrenched players.

With former chief minister Jayalalithaa's death and the incapacitation of nonagenarian DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi, the state has been suffering a political vacuum.

Most analysts have called Rajini's move a "masterstroke" by the matinee idol, who enjoys as much adulation as legendary film star and AIADMK founder M.G. Ramachandran, who ruled Tamil Nadu for 10 years till his death.

There are several similarities and dissimilarities between Rajini and MGR.

Both are "outsiders". While MGR happened to be a Malayali, Rajini is a Maharashtrian who spent the early part of his life in Bangalore. Even Jayalalithaa was a Kannadiga by birth.

Both MGR and Rajini have a huge mass following with thousands of fan clubs. Rajini has 23,000 registered fan clubs. He says the "unregistered" clubs are over one and a half times more.

In the past two decades, Rajini has been the richest Tamil star and his films have notched up head-spinning numbers.

He has acted in over 150 films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Bengali. Writing for Slate magazine, Grady Hendrix had called Rajini the "biggest movie star you've probably never heard of".

While MGR had thespian Sivaji Ganesan as his rival in the film industry, Rajini has Kamal Haasan. MGR and Rajini are, however, far more popular than their rivals.

The similarities between the giants end there.

MGR had been with the DMK close to two decades and it helped his progress in the film industry too. He became a colossal leader in the party before his expulsion in 1972. He then floated the ADMK, which later became the AIADMK.

Rajini has never been with any party. When MGR was expelled, thousands of his fan clubs became his mass base and he had a "readymade" cadre base of several lakhs. Rajini's current physical strength is his fan clubs alone. His main weakness is his failure to espouse any important cause of the Tamils.

But political analysts predict Rajini's political plunge could infuse new life into Tamil Nadu, which has been ruled by two Dravidian parties since 1967.

Rajini's biggest trump card is the "ill-will" and "disrepute" earned by both the DMK and the AIADMK. Both have been branded "corrupt".

While Karunanidhi is alleged to have worked only for his "family", Jayalalithaa was accused of furthering the cause of the "Mannargudi family" thanks to her long-time live-in aide V.K. Sasikala Natarajan.

While Karunanidhi's "modus operandi" was called "scientific corruption" by the Sarkaria Commission, Jayalalithaa was convicted by the Supreme Court in a disproportionate assets case.

In spite of being highly advanced in education, industry, health and several other spheres, the common refrain in Tamil Nadu is that "only money speaks".

Rajini is likely to hit the bull's eye on the corruption plank alone, the analysts feel.

Rajini's major advantage is a virtually "rudderless" AIADMK, which has been waging an internecine war with T.T.V. Dinakaran, the nephew of the sidelined Sasikala.

But for the fact that it is the ruling party, the AIADMK could have imploded because of the splits it has witnessed since the death of Jayalalithaa last December.

Dinakaran, who won the RK Nagar bypoll amidst allegations of bribing voters, has claimed the government of E.K. Palaniswami will fall within three months. With 111 members in a House of 234, that looks unlikely.

Jayalalithaa's niece Deepa Jayakumar has also floated a forum, staking claim to the legacy of her aunt.

The situation in the DMK, the main Opposition party, looks only slightly better. M.K. Stalin, the third son of Karunanidhi and working president of the party, is facing a fusillade from his elder brother M.K. Alagiri.

Alagiri, former Union minister and ex-south zone in-charge of the party, has been openly calling for a "change" in the leadership, dubbing it the "root cause of the debacle" in the bypoll to RK Nagar, Jayalalithaa's seat before she died. The DMK candidate lost his deposit, the party's worst-ever performance in an election.

Alagiri has predicted that the "DMK will not win anywhere as long as Stalin continues to be at the helm of affairs". Alagiri has enormous clout in the southern districts and can rock Stalin's boat.

It is being keenly watched how Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi, Rajya Sabha MP and DMK women's wing secretary who has been acquitted in the 2G case, reacts to the developments.

The condition of the national parties such as the Congress, BJP, CPM and the CPI is nothing to crow about.

The Congress does not have any noteworthy leader in Tamil Nadu. Election after election its condition has been deteriorating and it has only eight members in the Assembly now. The other national parties do not have any representation at all.

Parties such as the MDMK, DMDK, VCK and the PMK have only a nominal presence in the state. Both the VCK and the PMK have cadres only from particular castes. The MDMK looks like a sinking ship with its general secretary Vaiko's wavering stand on various parties. A four-party front he led in the Assembly polls drew a blank.

The local body elections, which have been delayed by more than a year, looks unlikely anytime soon. But Rajini himself has announced that his party will not contest the civic polls because "time is short".

It is doubtful whether he will take the plunge even in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Tamil Nadu has a history of voting only for national parties in parliamentary polls and favouring regional outfits in Assembly elections.

All that Rajini is likely to have on his radar is the 2021 Assembly elections. However, whether the AIADMK government will last that long is a million-dollar question.

If the Assembly elections are held in 2021, Rajini will be over 70 years old. His health has been a big question mark for long.

Rajini's foremost task will be to form a party as it will be impossible to function with an amorphous structure of just fan clubs. He started enrolling members just a day after announcing his entry into politics.

While disgruntled elements in all the parties might gravitate towards Rajini, an important issue he will have to confront is Haasan's imminent entry into politics.

Rajini has also not announced the name of his party. Besides, he would have to overcome strident opposition from Seeman, chief of the Naam Thamizhar Katchi, a fringe outfit that claims to champion the cause of the Tamils.

Rajini's call for "spiritual politics" is another issue he will have to clarify.

The people are without a doubt for change. But except for MGR and his protégé Jayalalithaa, no other film star has succeeded in Tamil Nadu politics.

Several big stars such as Janaki MGR, Sivaji Ganesan, K. Bagayaraj, T.R. Rajendar and Karthik failed miserably. Sarathkumar manages to cling on to his lone seat. Vishal is waiting in the wings.