New Delhi: The road to power in Election 2019 is liberally sprinkled with stardust as celebs from Bollywood and beyond appeal for votes, either as campaigners, candidates or simply camp followers, emphasising once again the close connect between cinema and politics.
The newest entrant to the select club of showbiz stars trying to find political relevance is Bollywood’s very own action man Sunny Deol, who joined the BJP this week and will contest the elections from Gurdaspur in Punjab. Following in the footsteps of his famous father Dharmendra, who was a BJP MP from Bikaner from 2004-09, Sunny joins several actors from India’s various tinsel towns tentatively testing the political waters this time.
His Dillagi co-star Urmila Matondkar is the Congress candidate from Mumbai North and stepmother Hema Malini, the BJP’s sitting MP from Mathura, is contesting again. There are several others who are not contesting but are making their presence felt. Akshay Kumar created a splash with his “non political” interview with PM Modi on Wednesday.
Many of his colleagues, including Shah Rukh Khan, have put out messages encouraging people to cast their votes after Modi’s call to them increase voter awareness. The party lines cut every which way. The BJP has fielded veteran Jaya Prada, who joined it just recently, from Rampur and the Congress has put Shatrughan Sinha in the fray in Patna Sahib.
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It’s a family show for Sinha, who left the BJP to join the Congress, with his wife Poonam Sinha contesting as a Samajwadi Party candidate from Lucknow. Then there is Raj Babbar, who entered politics as a member of the Janata Dal in 1989 and joined the SP till his suspension in 2006. Two years later, he joined the Congress and now heads the party in Uttar Pradesh.
Bhojpuri superstar Ravi Kishan has also shifted his allegiance from Congress to BJP and is now contesting from Gorakhpur.
Deol said joining BJP is like being a part of another family. “The way my father was attached with Atalji, today I have come to join Modiji… I won’t talk, I will show you through my work,” Deol said. Matondkar also promised to bring about positive change.
“I am not approaching this whole thing as a star with my star image. I am trying to get to the grassroots and connect to the people,” she said. In Chandigarh, Kirron Kher, the BJP MP from the constituency, is contesting again from the party. It is a star spangled show in West Bengal too.
Moonmoon Sen is trying to win the Asansol seat on a Trinamool Congress ticket against singer Babul Supriyo, the incumbent BJP MP. The TMC is fielding actor Nusrat Jahan from the South Bengal seat and Mimi Chakraborty from Jadavpur. Down south, superstar Kamal Haasan, who has formed his own political party MNM, has fielded 40 candidates though he himself is not contesting.
