In the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the phrase hero-worship is taken literally. It’s not uncommon to see towering cut-outs of film stars being drenched in offerings of milk by devout followers, or indeed for such idols to become political leaders.
What is unusual, though, is the speed at which Joseph Vijay Chandrasekhar – known universally just by the name Vijay – has gone from silver-screen hero to chief minister of the entire state, having only launched his political party less than two years ago.
Vijay’s party won 108 of the 234 seats in Tamil Nadu’s state election results announced this week, one of a number of key polls that have significantly altered India’s political landscape.
In doing so, the film star has put an abrupt end to nearly 50 years of dominance in the state from two major regional parties, best known by their acronyms DMK and AIADMK. Both those traditional giants follow similar Dravidian ideologies, championing social justice and regional autonomy and strongly opposing the right-wing Hindu nationalism of Narendra Modi’s ruling BJP.
Vijay also opposes the BJP – but at the same time mirrors its successful core pledge to improve people’s lives through rapid economic growth. He has pledged to turn Tamil Nadu into a $1.5tn economy over the next decade.
Tamil Nadu already has a long history of screen icons leveraging their appeal and fan bases to build political careers, including actors MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa of the AIADMK and screenwriter M Karunanidhi of the DMK. All three stars went on to serve as chief ministers too.
Nonetheless Vijay, known as Thalapathy or “leader” by his fans, was seen as an outsider, able to ride a wave of growing public dissatisfaction with outgoing chief minister MK Stalin and his DMK. In a stark reminder of the shifting political current, Stalin lost even his own seat in the DMK stronghold of Kolathur to a candidate from Vijay’s TVK.
“Despite its welfare schemes, the DMK government was plagued by dynastic rule, rampant corruption, poor service delivery, law and order issues,” says Kannan Rajarathinam, author and political analyst, claiming that its economic pitch “failed to touch the aspirational youth, a majority of whom had to look for jobs outside the state”.
Vijay, in contrast, “is a superstar who quit acting for a public career”, Rajarathinam tells The Independent. “He is younger and communicates easily.” This is why, the analyst argues, Vijay succeeded where other popular actors failed.
Kamal Haasan, one of the most popular actors in Tamil Nadu, for example, had to give up on his bid to lead the state after failing to mobilise enough support.
The difference with Vijay is that he translated his massive fan base into a more structured and organised party following, as well as charming women voters with promises of welfare handouts and appealing to the youth to convince their parents to vote for his party.
Rahul Gandhi, the national leader of the opposition who has broken his Congress party’s alliance with the DMK to partner with the TVK after the election, declared that Vijay’s victory “reflects the rising voice of youth, which cannot, and will not, be ignored”.
It helped that Vijay’s onscreen persona, built around the incorruptible, justice-dispensing angry young man, read less like a character and more like an extended political proposition. He also appealed to the working class by playing an unemployed youth, a fisherman, a baker, and an honest police officer in his films, though some of them drew criticism for glorifying the male saviour figure.
The 2018 film Sarkar saw Vijay step into the murky waters of electoral politics, where voter fraud, manipulation, and the fragility of electoral identity were highlighted.
Although he launched TVK formally only in 2024 after quitting acting, he had begun mobilising workers decades ago. Vijay burst onto the Tamil cinema scene as a teenager in 1992, but it was in 2009 when his widespread fan clubs were consolidated into Vijay Makkal Iyakkam.
The group initially framed itself as a welfare and service network, but the organisation gradually built local presence through relief work, educational support and local civic interventions.
In the 2011 election, it openly backed the AIADMK-led alliance, marking Vijay’s first explicit electoral alignment. In the 2021 local body elections, Vijay Makkal Iyakkam’s candidates took a majority of the seats they contested.
Vijay positioned prime minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party as his ideological adversary and the DMK as the immediate electoral rival, providing the voters a fresh narrative to choose from.
Analysts say voter fatigue with the entrenched DMK-AIADMK duopoly played a key role in the TVK’s win. “Voters under 40 saw hope in the newcomer and chose to challenge the status quo politics,” says Rajarathinam.
While Vijay’s party is the largest after the election, it still faces the immediate challenge of building a coalition to reach the majority mark and form the government.
Vijay met the state’s governor and submitted his claim to form the government on Thursday but he could not take oath as the chief minister as planned, after failing to secure the number of MLAs needed.
“Tamil Nadu’s politics has, for a second time, a credible third player outdistancing the first two. In 2005, actor Vijayakanth appeared as a third alternative, albeit until 2011,” says Rajarathinam.
“It remains to be seen whether Vijay’s party will slowly eat away at the AIADMK and turn the state’s electoral politics into a bipolar contest again.”
His campaign had to endure restrictions after at least 41 people were killed in a crowd crush at one of his party’s rallies last year. The restrictions did not affect the popularity of his campaign, which moved online.
Vijay turned 85,000 fan clubs dedicated to him into “virtual warriors” using holograms, virtual rallies and AI to target the youth and first-time voters. He urged young voters to help their “Vijay mama”, or uncle, by convincing their parents to vote for him.
“It worked because people trust content more when it comes from friends, family and communities rather than direct brand messaging. In a way, the audience becomes the medium,” Hariharan Gandhi, digital marketing specialist in Madurai, told The Times of India.
“Conversations spread without him having to rely on paid promotions. He used social media threads, WhatsApp groups, local conversations. It’s what marketers call organic amplification.”
Vijay’s campaign promises included welfare commitments, such as eight grams of gold to women at the time of marriage and monthly cash transfers of Rs 2,500 (£20) to women heads of households until the age of 60.
Other assurances included a “baby welcome kit” containing essentials, additional gold in the form of a ring, and free travel on state-run buses. His proposal to provide six free LPG cylinders annually to each family also drew attention amid the fuel crisis caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Industrialists worry that these measures would make a dent in the state’s coffers despite its rapid growth. Tamil Nadu’s economy grew by nearly 11 per cent in the last financial year.
People may be looking to Vijay as a new hope of hope for Tamil Nadu, but he now faces the burden of delivery in the absence of tested policy and governance experience. The people of Tamil Nadu are awaiting the release of Vijay’s last film, Jana Nayagan, as well as a new dawn in governance.
