With Tamil actor Joseph Vijay’s new movie Sarkar all set to release today (6 November), colourful posters and cutouts have come up in various parts of the Tamil Nadu hailing him as the state’s next Chief Minister. The actor’s fans have attempted to whip up a frenzy over the movie and believe that it is a precursor to their hero’s imminent plunge into politics.

The posters splashed across walls in Chennai received flak for depicting the images of all those who earlier served as Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister with Vijay shown as the next in line to the CM chair.

The trailers of the movie suggest a plot with strong political overtones. Vijay is apparently essaying the role of an NRI CEO who returns to Tamil Nadu to create a political revolution.

Directed by A R Murugadoss, Sarkar stars Vijay, Keerthy Suresh, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar among others. Murugadoss and Vijay earlier collaborated for Thuppakki (2012) and Kaththi (2014).

During the audio release function of the movie, Vijay dropped tantalising hints about his entry into politics in a speech which took his fans by surprise.

When asked if he had any plans to become the chief minister, the actor responded by claiming that “If I become the Chief Minister, then I won’t just act like one, but will do my job with sincerity”. The actor also said that he would root out corruption in the state if he did become CM someday.

The actor also made a loaded remarking saying that “People will contest in the elections to form the government but we have already formed our sarkar (government) and now we are going to contest in the elections.”

The run-up to the release of Sarkar was marked by a plagiarism row after a writer Varun Rajendran accused Murugadoss of lifting his plot. Eventually, both arrived at a compromise when the case came up for hearing before the Madras High Court.

Varalaxmi Sarathkumar

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