It is all about illusions. And about pleasing people while creating the illusions. The popular Indian film does both with remarkable success. But politics does it too, if not so obviously, presumably because the declared aim of politics is somewhat less frivolous. No wonder that the relationship of give and take between the film world and the political stage has always been thriving: the film world gives and the political stage receives. There was Nargis, of course, and Sunil Dutt, followed by many senior stars over the years, Rajesh Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha, Vinod Khanna, Jaya Prada, Hema Malini, Dharmendra — the list can go on. Some come to show their faces and draw the votes, others stay on to join the party and maybe even take a minister’s chair. In the South, the relationship is even more intimate, more substantial, since stars and scriptwriters have become some of the most powerful party leaders and chief ministers there. What is exceptional about the glittering pageant of stars and models flaunted in turn by the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party before this year’s Lok Sabha elections is precisely the glitter, there is too much of it. Both parties seem to be hoping that popular faces will improve their chances of winning: evidently they think the voter is an ass. The stars may be checking out an alternative career when the going is good, while doing their patron parties a favour. One good turn deserves more than just another in those worlds. It is difficult to think of Asrani, Yukta Mookhey, Namrata Shirodkar or Moushumi Chatterjee coming to politics in search of a way to social action, like Shabana Azmi or Vanessa Redgrave did, or even for pure politics, as Ms J. Jayalalithaa did.
India may be exceptional in the numbers, but not in the phenomenon. The actor, Fernando Poe Jr, plans to run for the presidential elections in the Philippines, a few years after Mr Joseph Estrada, another actor-turned-politician, resigned under a cloud. Mr Arnold Schwarzenegger in California is carrying on a tradition at least as old as Mr Ronald Reagan and his star wars. Ilona Staller, the star known also as “Cuddles”, decorated the Italian parliament but lost a mayoral race. Turkey and Egypt have been found to like their bit of glitter too. Social scientists have pointed to skills common to both worlds: looking good, appealing to an audience, presenting a persona. Charisma can make up for the lack of good leaders. But theories notwithstanding, Mr Estrada’s profound piece of advice to Mr Schwarzenegger from his prison cell in Manila is probably more to the point: in the movies it is just acting, in politics, it’s real life. This wisdom could be useful to the Congress and the BJP. Perhaps they think they will get away with “just acting”.
