The Week India — November 12, 2017

THE WEEK Š NOVEMBER 12, 2017^65

the film industry would get into active

politics as long as he was alive,” said

Chandrasekharan. “But, these days,

politicians lack that belief. Insecurity

is the reason. An actor coming up like

MGR, with a strong fan base, causes

this insecurity.”

Mersal ran into controversies

because of Vijay’s dialogues on GST

and demonetisation. In this mov-

ie, too, he is projected as a middle

class man rooting for change. The

film opens with Vijay doing push-

ups. In the background are his own

childhood photos, and one of MGR.

Vijay plays a triple role—as a father

and his two sons. Director Atlee has

portrayed all three as change agents

in their own way. Thanks to the con-

troversy, Mersal grossed over 0200

crore in the box office, a big number

for a Vijay film.

All the same, Vijay knows that

politics is a hard road. To borrow a

dialogue from a Vijay movie: “It takes

a year for a child to be born, three

years for a graduate to come out, but

it takes an era to make a leader.” ◆

ers say the prospect of his entry into
active politics is one of the reasons
why his movies have courted con-
troversy. Kaavalan, Thuppakki and
Puli ran into trouble. Even an average
film like Sura, in which Vijay plays a
fisherman who fights a corrupt poli-
tician, courted controversy.
Chandrasekharan shrugged and
smiled when THE WEEK asked him
if politicians in Tamil Nadu feared
Vijay/Rajini/Kamal entering poli-
tics. “When MGR was around, he
strongly believed that no one from