#KarnatakaElections2018: Lights, camera, pack-up!

He shot to fame in the mid-1990s with Om, a movie that glamourised the Bangalore gangland. After a decade of acting in Kannada, Telugu and Tamil films, he turned director with the multilingual Super, which established Upendra – his fans call him Uppi – as one of Kannada film industry’s most successful actor-directors.

Then he got bitten by the political bug. In 2017, he started a political party. The Karnataka Pragnyavanthara Janata Paksha was launched in typical filmi fashion. The journalists, who covered the event, were placed on the stage as Uppi and his fans, wearing khaki uniforms as auto-rickshaw drivers do in Karnataka, unveiled the humble three-wheeler as the party symbol.

Uppi’s party did attract a fair amount of attention because of its stated objective of espousing complete transparency, with plans to launch a government-owned TV channel for live coverage of governance, digitisation of government work and so forth.

But in February this year, Uppi suddenly resigned from his own party, citing “internal issues”. He told his fans that he would be launching a new party called Prajakeeya once the Election Commission approved the name. Prajakeeya, he said, will contest the May 12 Karnataka Assembly polls. But with the elections just a week away, Uppi is in Malaysia, shooting for the Kannada film Home Minister.

Asked about the future of his party, Uppi told this correspondent that he would not comment on his short-lived political foray. Narendra Kumar, an Uppi fan, said: “We were outwitted by the politicians who did not want another competitor.” Narendra is contesting as an independent candidate from Bengaluru’s Byatarayanapura constituency.

Unlike in neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, Kannada actors have rarely been able to make a mark in state politics. The only actor who could have probably replicated the success of actors-turned-politicians such as MGR, Jayalalithaa and NT Rama Rao was thespian Rajkumar. But he scrupulously stayed away from politics all his life.

Moderate success for megastars

There have been some moderate successes though – well-known Hindi and Kannada actor Anant Nag and Kannada film industry veterans Ambareesh and Umashree.

Anant Nag had joined the Janata Dal and was minister of state for Bangalore Development when JH Patel was chief minister in the late 1990s.

Ambareesh, currently a Congress MLA, was elected MP from Mandya, and briefly served as Union minister of state for information and broadcasting before resigning and returning to state politics. He has opted out of the current contest citing ill health, much to the glee of Congress social media head Ramya, or Divya Spandana, who is a fairly successful film actress herself. Ramya became an MP from Mandya for a short while after winning a bypoll there.

Most actors currently in Karnataka politics are in it more for the glamour quotient they provide to the principal parties than their ability to convert their filmy popularity to votes.

Among the current crop of actors, former chief minister S Bangarappa’s son, Kumar Bangarappa, is among the few success stories. He was a minister in the Congress government but is nowhere in the political picture now.

Charm alive in campaigns

Kannada actors may not have made a giant impact in politics, but there has always been a clamour among parties to use them for campaigning. Sudeep and Darshan, wooed by both Congress and BJP, are good examples of the trend. Interestingly, on the day that newspapers splashed the news about Congress supposedly wooing Sudeep, the actor, it turned out, was busy courting the JD(S).

Producer wife Shilpa’s husband, the ‘Golden Star’ Ganesh of Mungaaru Male fame, is staying away from politics.  But she is campaigning for the BJP, which has also roped in actress Shruti. SA Ramdas, a BJP candidate and former minister, roped in actor Yash, known for his good looks, to campaign for him in Mysuru and other areas as well.

Rakshmita Prem, who has retired from movies, and feisty actress Pooja Gandhi had both joined the BSR Congress of B Sriramulu who is now back with the BJP. But while Rakshita followed Sriramulu to the BJP, Pooja Gandhi has joined the JD(S) campaign.

Another filmy JD(S) campaigner is Geetha Shivrajkumar, the wife of reigning Kannada superstar Shivarajkumar, thespian Rajkumar’s eldest son. She contested and lost in her native Shimoga district to BS Yeddyurappa in 2013. Now she is supporting her brother, Madhu Bangarappa, in the Sorab seat.

Overall, the BJP seems to have more film personalities contesting and campaigning for it. CP Yogeshwar, popular for a film he produced called Sainika (soldier), is now the BJP candidate taking on JD(S) state president and chief ministerial aspirant HD Kumaraswamy.

Yogeshwar’s first electoral victory came from Channapatna Assembly constituency on a Samajwadi Party ticket. Malavika Avinash, disappointed at being denied a BJP ticket from Mysuru’s Krishnaraja seat, is a BJP spokesperson who defends her party on television and has acted in Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil tele-serials and a few movies. Another BJP filmy connection is Jaggesh, a comedian-turned-hero, contesting from Yeshwanthpur in Bengaluru.

The Congress has its share of filmi personalities too. Mukhyamantri Chandru, an actor who became famous for his role as Mukhyamantri and was made an MLC by the BJP, is now with the Congress.

Then there are actresses such as Jayamala, an MLC and party campaigner, and Umashree, an MLA and minister of state for Kannada and Culture and Women and Child Development in the outgoing Siddaramaiah ministry. She is contesting from Terdal in Bagalkot district for the second time.

There’s also Sashikumar, who had won for Congress the Davanagere Lok Sabha seat. He was in the JD(S) earlier as was actor and police inspector BC Patil who won from Hirekerur in Haveri district in 2004 as a JD(S) candidate and in 2008 as a Congress candidate. Now a full-time politician, he is again contesting from Hirekerur on a Congress ticket.

And not to forget, multilingual actor Prakash Raj (earlier Prakash Rai) who seems to have a one-point agenda – to oppose the BJP wherever and whenever he can, now pushing his agenda in Karnataka. Not surprisingly, he was greeted in Bagalkot by angry BJP activists carrying “Go Back” placards.

(With inputs from  Maheswara Reddy)

Anil Budur Lulla is a Bengaluru-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.