The teaser for Rajinikanth's next film Kabali has raked up more than a million hits on YouTube within two days of its release, but in poll-bound Tamil Nadu it also got mired in a political controversy.
Soon after it was released on Sunday, an anonymous enthusiast dubbed the teaser to target Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's AIADMK and uploaded it on the internet.
The meme starts with the villain, shown as the AIADMK, asking "Who is DMK!!??"
What follows is a political spiel dubbed over Rajini's criricises the AIADMK government over how it handled the Chennai floods and also on how the DMK is a party with self respect.
At the end of the video there are file pictures of Rajinkanth with DMK leaders Karunanidhi and MK Stalin.
After it went viral and created a political outcry hosts WhackedOutMedia was forced to block the content.
DMK refused to comment on the issue, but sources said off the record that the party had nothing to do with it.
In Tamil Nadu, where cinema and politics go hand in hand , this is hardly surprising. Says Radhakrishnan, a political observer, “In a state where there's virtually no distinguishing line between cinema and politics, it's hardly surprising that the Rajnikant's latest movie teaser, Kabali, was also used to reach the voter. Which party used - and later retracted or deleted the video - is only of academic importance. This is not an act of desperation, but in line with the political culture of the state."
Most of the mainline leaders in Tamil Nadu have a pronounced background in cinema: Jayalalithaa was a successful actor, Karunanidhi is an acclaimed writer, Vijayakant, who is the fulcrum of the Third Front, is still acting, MK Stalin tried his hand at acting, and Congress party's leading campaigner Kushboo is there only because she has been in the movies.
Rajinikanth has been staying away from politics since 2004, but his name always comes up during every poll season. This time for instance, DMDK leader Vijaykanth attacked Rajinikanth at an election rally saying he is not afraid like Rajini. This statement backfired for him.
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