When actor Vijay was planning his political entry in early 2024, this column hoped he would declare DMK as his primary opponent. He, a debutant promising to be an alternative, has followed common sense to identify the incumbent as his main rival. In fact, Vijay has kept DMK so much in his crosshairs that the other parties, especially AIADMK and BJP, rarely find mention in his speeches.

And he clarified: “Why should I attack others when the battle is between TVK and DMK? Why should I target parties that people have deleted?”

That does make sense, but Vijay sparing – well, mostly – AIADMK and BJP is also a deliberate style, a strategy of ignoring them to deny them space in the collective mental space of voters. It’s like what happened in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu. After AIADMK and BJP parted ways in Sep 2023, as polls approached, then BJP state president K Annamalai kept attacking Stalin, who responded in kind. And DMK and BJP remained locked in a perpetual verbal duel, leaving AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswamy virtually on the sidelines, at least in terms of optics and decibels. The result, as we know, however, was a sad defeat for AIADMK and BJP.

Vijay is trying to repeat Annamalai’s narrative. “Theeya Sakthi,” Vijay hollers at DMK during most of his outings. He calls the party in power a corrupt and dynastic dispensation. He vows to be the people’s promise, a messiah of the masses. And what does Stalin do? Mostly ignore Vijay. While some of his ministers and junior leaders respond to Vijay’s taunts, the chief minister has been behaving as if the political novice is not worth his words. Instead, he acknowledges EPS as his main rival. The logic is the same: Choose a known enemy and keep the relatively unknown one off the centre court.

This is where EPS sometimes finds himself a bit lost. In between his strident criticism of the Stalin govt, the AIADMK leader finds time to throw a barb at Vijay, but he rarely gets the actor’s attention. Stalin does engage him in debates, but EPS feels being ignored by Vijay who pulls big crowds doesn’t augur well for his party which may be silently losing its anti-DMK voters to TVK. At the end of it, it may well turn out to be a DMK-AIADMK contest, but in the triangular choose-your-rival campaign game, being left out of the high-wattage exchanges isn’t good for a leader who strives to fight the incumbent and a new challenger.

Vijay’s popularity is unmatched, but that popularity is anchored in his filmy background. Frenzied crowds never seem to have enough of their star (and we saw this taking a tragic turn in Karur where 41 people died in a stampede on Sep 27, 2025), and Vijay plays well to this gallery. If the audience roars every time he mocks the chief minister, “Stalin saar … ”, it’s because the film star is performing – live. Even when he speaks politics, it’s the star mouthing a political dialogue.

Vijay has said the yet-to-be-released ‘Jana Nayagan’ would be his last movie. If he keeps his word, we will see in due course whether he transforms from a tinsel town darling to a relevant politician. When people listen – with or without cheering – and take him seriously on matters of sociopolitical importance – agreeing or disagreeing with him – is when antics give way to articulation and the ‘show’ moves beyond the six-inch screens of mobile phones to the complex reality of electoral politics.

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