Election fever has already gripped the State and the bonding between cinema and politics is inseparable in the State. Some of the prominent leaders in Tamil Nadu have been associated with the cine industry one way of the other.
While former Chief Ministers MGR and J Jayalalithaa were artists on the screen, former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has written stories and dialogues for several movies.
Though there are several political movies that are made in a serious tone, there is also the political satires which have a huge reception among the audience. Let us take a look at some of the most popular political satire movies in Tamil cinema.
Amaidhi Padai:
The movie which was released 25 years ago is still considered to be relavant to the present day politics. Written and directed by Manivanna, Sathyaraj played a dual role as father and son in the film, with Ranjitha playing the female lead.
The story revolves around an ordinary man who builds his political career through short routes. The political statement the film makes was quite ballsy for the time and it has remained relevant even today. The scene where Ammavasai (Sathyaraj) grows confident with each announcement of his increasing margin of lead is an iconic one. As a reflection of his confidence, he sits progressively comfortably in the chair: from the tip to fully laid back with one leg on another. The dialogues from the movie were a huge hit as well
Annanuku Jey:
‘Annanuku Jey’ is a political satire film directed by Rajkumar and produced by Vetrimaaran. The film stars Dinesh and Mahima Nambiar in the leading roles.
Despite the premise offering the opportunity to narrate this story as a gritty action drama, Rajkumar chooses to tell it in a lighter, satirical vein.
This is what makes ‘Annanukku Jey’ different. But where the film scores the most is in the subtle ways in which it takes a dig at politics. More importantly, it doesn’t take the easier route – use contemporary political developments as reference to make its point. Instead, it focuses on the absurdity that can be observed in politics at the grassroot level. Rajkumar wants to say that in the larger scheme of things, the guys in the lower rungs are totally disposable.
LKG
‘LKG’ opens with Lalgudi Karupaiah Gandhi aka LKG (RJ Balaji), who is about to be sworn in as the Chief Minister, getting shot. The film then goes back in time to narrate how LKG, a councilor in the small town of Lalgudi, managed to get elected as the chief minister.
‘LKG’ is mostly a satisfying political satire and inarguably the best among the recent crop of political films. Its success lies in how efficiently it manages to strike a balance between idealism and cynicism, and reflects the attitude of the common man towards politics.
The movie has elements of a masala movie, with a cat-and-mouse game between the protagonist and the antagonist, relationship drama in the form of a father-son angle, and the ideal of a social awareness movie. But even the preachy monologue in the end comes with a wink.
Maha Nadigan
‘Maha Nadigan’ is the story of how a common man who goes to become a cinema star and then the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
Sathya (Sathyaraj), an junior artiste manages to get an chance to act as a hero in a movie. His popularity increases, as he becomes a superstar. Arivanandham (Vasu), a corrupt politician and the leader of a major political party requests Sathya to contest in the assembly elections, to which Sathya accepts.
Arivanandham makes Sathya the Chief Minister candidate. Arivanandham’s party receives a brute majority due to Sathya’s popularity and wins the assembly elections. Sathya becomes the CM. After becoming the CM, he jails all the ministers including Arivanandham.
In the climax Sathyaraj dismisses all the corrupt ministers and selects many youngsters as ministers. He resigns and names Devika (Mallika), an IAS officer who has done much service as the Chief Minister and walks away, as the film ends.
Saguni
Kamalakannan (Karthi) comes to the city with hopes of meeting the railway minister in a bid to save his ancestral mansion from being pulled down to make way for a railway line.
Thwarted and disgraced by wily Chief Minister Boopathi (Prakash Raj), who sanctioned the project only for the sake of Vasundara (Kiran), his party worker and concubine, Kamal decides to use politics as his weapon to bring Boopathi down. The movie shows both local body elections and State Assembly elections.
By Naveen
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