A 'fun' superstar stuns rivals and reshapes politics in an Indian state

In the weeks since voting took place, Vijay has been carefully crafting his public image - not on screen, but by visiting prominent temples and churches.Images of these visits have flooded TV screens and mobile phones. In a state where modern politics was shaped by rationalist thought and the Self-Respect Movement - which envisioned a society where marginalised castes would have equal rights - the visible turn to faith feels deliberate.The Indian superstar taking a shot at political greatnessTamil Nadu has long been attuned to political theatrics, where cinema and power often blur into one continuum. From Ramachandran to his successor J Jayalalithaa, film stars have entered politics and gone on to lead the state. Vijay steps into that lineage, but at a different political moment.Analysts say he is entering a landscape still dominated by the DMK and the AIADMK - a duopoly that mostly appears stable on paper, yet shows signs of fatigue on the ground. That, they argue, is opening space for new political experiments - and for figures like Vijay to test how far star power can translate into durable political authority."Vijay's timing as a politician is immaculate," says Visvanathan. "He arrives at a moment when established leaders are seen as jaded. He represents youth - and a new interplay of memory and messaging in how voters imagine their leaders."AFP via Getty ImagesTVK members blow a whistle, their party symbol, and hold a cut-out of Vijay as they celebrate the resultsVijay's road to political triumph has not been that smooth. He suffered a serious setback last year after dozens of people were killed in a crush at his party's rally. But despite criticism over his immediate reaction, voters seem to have forgiven him.His film Jana Nayagan (People's Leader), which was set to be released in January, was meant to be Vijay's final outing on screen after he announced he was moving to full-time politics. But the film ran into trouble with India's film classification board, with makers even moving court to get it released. It's still not clear when Jananayagan will hit cinemas.Vijay formally launched his party TVK only in 2024. Yet his political decisions stretch back much longer. As early as 2009, he began reorganising fan clubs into the Vijay-makkal-iyakkam" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="122402" data-entity-type="organization">Vijay Makkal Iyakkam - a welfare network that worked at the neighbourhood level, offering relief, education support and local assistance.By 2011, it was already testing its political reach by backing an AIADMK alliance, checking whether fandom could translate into votes. Over the next decade, Vijay's film events took on an increasingly political tone as he spoke to younger audiences about exam stress, unemployment and corruption, and later criticised the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act in 2019. When he eventually stepped away from acting after nearly 70 films to enter politics full-time, the message was clear: this was not an extension of stardom, but its deliberate conversion into political capital.TM Krishna, prominent Indian vocalist, author and social activist, says: "Elections are about stirring imagination. This is not a verdict against Dravidian politics. It is something else. Vijay offers a new imagination."In Tamil Nadu, Dravidian politics - led by the DMK and AIADMK - which is rooted in social justice and welfare, has dominated for decades. It has also delivered: the state recorded 11.2% growth in 2024-25, with solid manufacturing gains and some of India's strongest social indicators.Yet performance has not dulled the appetite for change. Stability, analysts say, can breed its own restlessness - particularly among younger voters less invested in legacy narratives and more drawn to renewal.That helps explain the contrast with other superstars like Rajinikanth who also dabbled with politics but stopped short. Even Kamal Hassan, who launched a political party, has not been able to create an impact on the ground.AFP via Getty ImagesThe surge towards Vijay is most visible among younger voters and womenVijay has cast the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as his ideological adversary, and the incumbent DMK as his immediate political rival - a positioning that reflects Tamil Nadu's long resistance to the BJP's expansion, rooted in language politics and a strong regional identity, as well as a promise of freshness.But not everyone is convinced. Author and analyst Nilakantan RS points to the thinness of TVK's policies. "There is an absence of any original position on real issues," he says. "Virality has become the currency of his actions."