Table of Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Preface ix
Chapter 1 Cinematic Charisma and Political Dominance in Tamil Nadu 5
Why Bollywood is not representative of Indian cinema! 7
Tamil Nadu and its cinema 10
Tamil cinema as cultural artefact 11
Tamil-ness in Tamil cinema 13
Politics and Tamil cinema 15
Ordinary Tamils, extraordinary celebrity devotion 25
Tamil cinema stars and Weber's charisma 28
Weber's charisma theory applied to Tamil cinema 36
Chapter 2 MGR: Saviour of the Masses 39
Nadodi Mannan: film summary 40
The MGR formula 43
The construction of MGR 44
Tamil nationalism 50
The politics of sentiment 52
Charisma of MGR 64
Summary 67
Chapter 3 Jayalalitha: Charisma of Complexion 71
Early life 73
Adimaip Perm: film summary 76
Chastity and misdemeanours 85
Colour, caste, and class 86
The MGR - Jaya relationship in cinema and politics 92
Charisma of Jayalalitha 95
Summary 98
Chapter 4 Rajinikanth: The Political Influence of a Mystical Sensation 101
Heterodoxy of Rajinikanth 102
Rajinikanth - Jayalalitha animosity 105
Padayappa: film summary 109
Characterisation 110
Social discourse 114
Conservative values 117
The politics of sentiment and superstitions 119
Charisma of Rajinikanth 123
Smoking, drinking, and Rajinikanth 125
Rajini's films as a source of hope 127
Summary 131
Chapter 5 Vijayakanth: The Black MGR 133
Vijayakanth, Rajinikanth, and MGR 134
Captain Prabhakaran: film summary 135
Charisma of Vijayakanth 137
Violence, weapons, and instant justice 140
Social discourse 143
Rape, chastity, and conservative values 147
The politics of sentiment 150
Landscape 152
Summary 155
Chapter 6 Sarathkumar: The Rural Rambo 159
Naattamai: film summary 162
Problematising Naattamai 163
Charisma of Sarathkumar 167
The politics of sentiment 171
Patriarchy, caste, and feudalism 173
Social discourse 178
Conservative values and superstitions 181
Summary 186
Chapter 7 Actor-Politicians: Past, Present, and the Future 189
Filmography 193
Bibliography 199
