Poll stars!

Star-studded would perhaps best describe the 15th Lok Sabha elections that draws to a close today.
It���s official ��� film stars do pull in easy crowds. But is that reason for them to get into politics? A look back at India���s political history reveals the obvious: over the last two decades, the number of film stars who have flirted with politics has been steady.
Very few of these star-turned-politicians have however, been actually able to deliver as people���s leaders (according to popular estimates only three per cent of stars-turned-politicians have been successful), yet undeterred by the track record of their predecessors, film stars have joined the political fray, drawing in huge crowds at their various road shows, grabbing eyeballs and reams of newsprint space and prime time news television slots as they furiously campaigned.
Making their first political bow this year are Shekhar Suman (Congress, Patna), Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi (who���s started the Praja Rajyam Party), Roja (contesting an assembly seat on a TDP ticket), Jayasudha (contesting on a Congress ticket), Junior NTR is all over the place and so is his actor-uncle Balakrishna.
National award-winning Kannada star Tara has just joined the BJP and Kolkata���s Shatabdi Roy and Tapas Paul are contesting on Trinamool Congress tickets. Add to that veterans Shatrughan Sinha (BJP, Patna), Vinod Khanna (BJP, Gurdaspur) and Jaya Prada (Samajwadi Party, Rampur) and the starry register is quite full. Ironically, apart from N T Rama Rao, who rode to political stardom, Tamil superstars M G Ramachandran and Jayalalitha there were very few stars who tasted phenomenal success in politics. So what makes stars join politics?
Filmmaker Mani Shankar says, ���I���m eagerly awaiting the poll results to see how many of these stars will make it and how many will lose their deposit. I feel that fans are less inclined to be stupid about stars these days because they are more aware and educated, unlike the fans in the 70s and 80s who blindly voted for their idols. If MGR and NTR breezed through the elections it was because of their fans.���
Legal eagle and union minister of state for science and technology, Kapil Sibal however, disagrees, ���MGR and NTR were political icons. They are classic examples of actors who succeeded in politics.��� But isn���t governance a different ball game?
Don���t leaders need a different skill set to do their jobs well? ���It���s the human connect that works,��� feels Sibal. Agreeing with him is M Shashidhar Reddy, Congress MLA when he says, ���I have been educated abroad, but that isn���t enough to help me. I need to connect with the crowd. Being a popular and recognisable face helps. Whether this initial advantage can be converted into an opportunity, depends on the individual. Our term is just for five years, so we���ve got to perform in that time frame. Sometimes even after we���ve done a good job, people say ���thank you, but we prefer change!���
Actress Jayasudha chips in, ���I had no formal training in acting but I���ve done 300 films! Now, I have a desire to serve the people and I think joining politics is the best way to do something for the people.���
In the end the choice of a leader depends on the individual who���s voting. You have the late Sunil Dutt, who worked as a party worker for many years before contesting, and you also have an Amitabh Bachchan who tested (political) waters and retreated, realising it was not his cup of tea and was honest enough to admit it.
In India, where stargazing is a national occupation, it is natural for actors to court a career in politics. And if some of them manage to connect with the masses and wins the election, there will be more starry followers in the political arena. After all, they say, each country deserves the leader it gets!