Politics and Tollywood has had a longstanding relationship.
It started off with NTR who took the political plunge at the peak of his film career, to become the chief minister within six months of launching his political party.
Since NTR, other Tollywood stars like UV Krishnam Raju, P Jayaprada, Dasari Narayana Rao, M Mohan Babu, D Ramanaidu,G Krishna,K Jaggaiah,N Harikrishna, Vijayashanthi, Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam, Kota Srinivasa Rao and Roja joined politics at the peak of their careers.
About eight of them went on to become members of Parliament and two even became Union ministers. In the history of Andhra Pradesh, this election will also go down as a star-studded affair. Barring Mahesh Babu, Venkatesh and Nagarjuna (except for his endorsement of some ruling party’s policies) Tollywood’s most happening stars wore political colours. The political campaign saw Gen Z actors NTR Jr, Ram Charan Tej and Allu Arjun at their fiery best as they unleashed their starry charm to woo the junta.
Leading the brigade was NTR Jr, whose whirlwind road show was cut short by an accident, but it failed to dent his spirit as he continued to elicit support from his hospital bed and home. “I plunged into politics only to revive the glory of my grandfather’s party,” he said. Despite receiving overwhelming response for his maiden campaign trail, he isn’t considering politics as an alternative profession.
“He is passionate about acting. Besides, he has one film on the floor and talks are on for three more films” says his confidant M Prasad.
Not to be left behind, even Praja Rajyam Party, unleashed the young turks of their family, Ram Charan Tej and Allu Arjun, to capture young voters and received a warm response.
“It was a wonderful experience,” says Ram, who hit the campaign trail because, “dad gave me everything in abundance. Campaigning was my small contribution to his big efforts.” By making such politically correct statements, is he hinting at a political career? “No way! For the next 25 years I will be pursuing acting — my first love,” he says emphatically.
On his buddy and kin Allu Arjun, Ram says, “Allu also wanted to contribute in his own way and he is also happy being an actor.”
Watching the young stars creating ripples, the Congress Party too, tried to rope in some of them. It is reliably learnt that a Congress leader approached Trisha but she declined the offer. “My political entry is news to me. I don’t know how such baseless rumours crop up,” clarified Trisha.
Other leading ladies like Anushka and Ileana were also approached to campaign, but neither were willing to jump onto the political bandwagon. Even Nayantara, Hyd Times learnt, was offered Rs 1 crore for campaigning. “I don’t want to don political colours, so I am not interested,” she said when she was made the offer.
Well, for the moment it looks like the stars are playing it safe and happy adding the glam quotient.
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