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Greasepaint to governance

Ambareesh. Click for bigger pic!

M D Riti

Naaniruvudu nimagaagi," [I am here for you...] cried cult figure Dr Raj Kumar, on the stage at an entertainment programme organised by the Kannada film industry at Kanteerava Stadium in Bangalore in aid of Kargil.

Then a bulky, evening suit-clad figure loomed up behind him, raising his hands in a gesture of support and solidarity. The few political watchers in an audience consisting mainly of film fans knew what ageing film star Ambareesh's frequent display of his raised hand and fist on stage could mean.

And they were right: Ambareesh has just hopped back from the Janata Dal to the Congress, and might contest the election from a constituency in his home district of Mandya.

If he does, it won't be an easy ride for him. When Ambareesh went to offer prayers as per tradition at the Cauvery river last week, he had to face a large number of angry fans from Mandya. The incident was reminiscent of the footwear and abuse he was greeted with when he first contested the assembly election five years ago.

Anant Nag. Click for bigger pic!

Only, this time, the fans were not against him, just upset by his party-hopping and his impending return to the Congress, the party which had first brought him into politics and then sidelined him, motivating him to hop to the Dal.

Karnataka, unlike its neighbours Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, has never voted for film stars because of their screen appeal. But the election scenario this year is certainly star-studded, with the BJP, followed by the Lok Shakti, having the maximum number of stars in the fray. Interestingly, though, none of the top billed stars are contesting, only the second rung or ageing heroes and heroines, and the character actors.

The Dal will, of course, field Anant Nag, who has belonged to the party for over a decade and is now a general secretary of the Yadav faction. Nag, who, as a minister in the Karnataka government, has just completed his first term as an MLA, after losing earlier.

Mukhyamantri Chandru. Click for bigger pic!

After a gap of a couple of years, Nag has now co-starred with Shivraj Kumar in a new film Vishwa, which is about to be released. His plans of acting in a film with Girish Kasaravalli have temporarily been shelved with approaching elections. It remains to be seen whether Nag will contest from Bangalore or from his hometown region of Dakshina Kannada.

The Dal's ally, the Lok Shakti, will field environmentalist, film-maker and actor Suresh Heblikar, probably for the assembly, from his hometown region of Hubli and Dharwad. Heblikar, who has been known to use cinema as a platform to promote the cause of ecological preservation, would certainly enjoy having some political clout to further his favourite concerns.

"There are a lot of environmental issues causing concern in that region, and this is possibly why they want me to contest from there," says Heblikar, who is awaiting the release of his suspense thriller Gup Chup and working on his next Kannada film, a social film with his usual overtones of psychiatry.

Suresh Heblikar. Click for bigger pic!

The Congress, of course, will probably put up former chief minister S Bangarappa's film star son Kumar, possibly from Shimoga. Vasant -- that is is Kumar's real name -- is now a first time MLA, elected three years ago with a better margin than his father ever had from his father's hometown constituency of Shimoga. "The real winner was my father, not me," confessed Kumar to this writer (who has known him from college days) at that time.

"I was never interested in politics and knew nothing of it."

Kumar filled his father's seat when Bangarappa vacated it because he was elected to the Lok Sabha. Before that, he was one of the Kannada screen's less popular heroes, after being launched over a decade ago by the Raj Kumar group in Vijayotsava.

Ramakrishna Hegde. Click for bigger pic!

Kumar has acted in over a dozen movies so far including an English martial arts film called Blue Crystal made by a Hong Kong-based producer.

The BJP boasts of numerous star candidates, including comedian and character actor Mukhyamantri Chandru, television actor and film comedian Sihikahi Chandru and now, their most recent entrant, ex-hero Srinath. H N Chandrashekar, better known by his screen name of Mukhyamantri Chandru, loves to proclaim that he has raped more than 50 women on screen. He was defeated at the last assembly poll from Malleswaram in Bangalore, which is now Anant Nag's constituency. He had won as MLA once before from Gauribidanur.

Srinath, who now partly owns the popular Udaya television channel, might stand from Basavanagudi, which is a part of Union Aviation Minister Ananth Kumar's Lok Sabha constituency. It remains to be seen where heroine of the yesteryear Jayanthi will contest from, and for which House.

Kumar. Click for bigger pic!

The trend of film stars becoming politicians is actually a two way street in some cases. At least one politician turned briefly to cinema, but only as a lark, he says. Lok Shakti leader and Union minister Ramakrishna Hegde acted in two Kannada films, both with the same producer Chidamber Shetty, who was subsequently killed in a rather gory manner for not paying his debtors. The first film, Lok Shakti, was quite a badly made affair, bringing Hegde few accolades though the second was a little better.

Meanwhile, yet another star politician, although not from Karnataka, is partly responsible for the temporary stalling of Rajakumar's comeback film Shabdavedi, which is now under production. Telugu actress Jayaprada, who co-stars with Rajakumar in this film, is finding it increasingly difficult to provide dates as she is busy with her campaign. This duo have had a couple of very successful films a decade ago: Huli Haalina Maevu and Kaviratna Kalidasa. It remains to be seen whether they can again generate the same magic on screen -- and in politics.