TN Polls: Film world at the mercy of politicians

T R Jawahar of News Today talks about the interlinkages between Film world, media and politics in this insightful article:

Poll time is the season to call those favours. But this election, if filmi grapevine, is to be believed, the pressure on filmstars to perform on political stages has been immense. Parties are in a frantic bid to grab any filmiface, be it a screen sensation or a sloppy sidekick. For many, it has come as a blessing because they get paid for the meetings that they address. But even reluctant artistes, the middle level ones primarily, it is learnt, are being bullied into political roles. The threats often come from film financiers, who in turn are benamis for political masters. The unseemly behind-the-scene manipulations are playing havoc with filmdom's fragile relationships. The sad reality is that just two of their fraternity are in the fray; the rest are just use & throw showpieces, parroting scripts here too. Ironically, the leader of Nadigar Sangham and the latest political adventurer from filmdom has not a single filmi name on his political rolls. The Captain's natural army appears to have deserted him.