As Tamil Nadu is scheduled to vote on April 6, all the political parties and their leaders are trying to woo voters.
And to do that it is an impossible task for politicians to campaign everywhere, which is when lookalike artists come to the rescue. Also, election season is business time for lookalike artists.
One such artist is Kamal Senthil, who is a lookalike of DMK chief MK Stalin. He has been booked for four days for this job this week. Senthil, who has been performing as a lookalike for Kamal Haasan for the past 32 years, is interestingly, also a member of Kamal’s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM).
Lookalikes of stalwarts MGR, Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa can also be seen at many of these election rallies apart from those of Stalin and Rajinikanth. They stand and perform like these leaders and make the audience feel like they are in the presence of their beloved leaders.
Another such artist is Rajani Mani. He is superstar Rajinikanth’s lookalike. For over 25 years, Mani has been involved in stage shows, posing and acting like Rajinikanth. This election season, he had high hopes of getting more work before Rajinikanth announced he is stepping back.
“Around 50 to 60 artists like me are actively involved in acting like Rajini but his announcement of not entering politics has caused a huge dent for us,” says Mani.
He adds, “Politically, there were high expectations of Rajinikanth entering politics, but him not joining politics due to medical reasons is disappointing. We wish him good health. The livelihood of artists like us is dependent on stars and we hope the government will recognise us and help us.”
The lockdown and restrictions on crowd gathering have affected these stage artists severely. The elections have given a ray of hope to some. But the number of working days is few. Some of these artists get paid between Rs 2,000-5,000 depending on the hours they have to work, according to India Today.
Which parties are popular in Tamil Nadu?
Tamil Nadu’s politics has been dominated by the state’s two leading parties, DMK and AIADMK, for the last 50 years.
In this election, AIADMK is led by the incumbent Chief Minister of the state Palaniswami, while DMK is led by MK Stalin.
Apart from AIADMK and DMK, the other political parties that will be contesting the Tamil Nadu assembly elections are Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress party.
The BJP will contest as an NDA partner with the AIADMK on 25 assembly seats. The Congress has sealed the deal with DMK and will also contest on 25 assembly seats.