February 16, 1998

A galaxy of top film actors criss-cross the state campaigning for major parties like the TDP and the BJP but an NTR-like wave is clearly missing.

By Amarnath K Menon

Zoom in on any election rally in Andhra Pradesh and the chances are high that you might spot a film star. Only four of them -- the TDP's three-time Urvasi Award winner T. Sarada, Kaikala Satyanarayana and N. Sivaprasad and the BJP's U. Krishnam Raju -- are in the race but there are a host of others criss-crossing the 42 constituencies campaigning for the ruling TDP and the BJP.

Leading the colourful pack is "collection king" Mohan Babu, who has been running a heated campaign against Chief Minister and TDP boss N. Chandrababu Naidu ever since he was removed from the party last year. He has been on a barnstorming tour through most areas of the state, including Naidu's native Chittoor district. The TDP, on the other hand, has been making a mark with the ravishing Jayaprada, whom Naidu made a Rajya Sabha member and the TDP's women's wing chief last year. Both superstars set aside their shooting schedules to start early and are out electioneering for three weeks before the final phase of polling on February 22.

The Congress, surprisingly, has not drafted any film star. But the BJP is outdoing even the TDP. Besides Naidu's bete noire Mohan Babu, the saffron party has on its campaign roll "box-office queen" Vijayashanti, well-known artistes Gautami and Krishnam Raju, comedian Kota Srinivasa Rao and lesser lights like Sivakrishna, Giribabu and Prasad Babu. The star-studded campaign is giving the party a big boost and there is every possibility that the BJP will not go unrepresented from the state in the next Lok Sabha.

"Jab sitare dharti par utar aate hain, ujala aanewala hain (when the stars descend to earth, there will be light)," was how BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee gauged their impact in Hyderabad recently. However, not many parties share that feeling. The BJP's poll partner, the TDP(NTR), for one, is keeping aloof. "When they have people like Mohan Babu and Vijayashanti, they don't need me," says party chief Lakshmi Parvati, virtually boycotting the BJP though she continues to oppose Naidu.

None has been more effective than Mohan Babu in capitalising on the people's reverence for film stars. "We are witnessing a tug of war between the BJP and the Congress. The TDP is a spent force and Naidu is the fountainhead of corruption," observes the villain-turned-hero during his campaign stops. No sooner do these comments get him a round of applause than the actor, dressed in black trousers and a shirt with sleeves rolled up, dwells at length on the various schemes initiated by Naidu and terms them "a camouflage for his corrupt practices to fool the people".

In stark contrast, the TDP's star campaigner Jayaprada, who plans to travel to all the 23 districts, is focusing on how "a young chief minister has been working hard to change the face of Andhra Pradesh". She moves about in an air-conditioned car and makes short, sober speeches before small groups of people. However, the TDP's other star campaigner Jayasudha, who had initially planned to join the BJP, has hardly made an impact. Naidu took her on his visits to Medak and Mahbubnagar districts but as she preferred to read from a prepared script, she drew little applause.

The TDP's stars have their task cut out since some of them are contesting the elections. Sarada, the sitting MP from Tenali, travels between villages and meeting venues on a Tata Mobile fitted with a loudspeaker and a mini-fridge stocked with chilled water. "A vote for the TDP is a vote for you and your family's future," is her battle-cry. Kaikala Satyanarayana, another TDP star, is facing disgruntled voters in Machilipatnam who allege that he has been "a guest actor" in the constituency since he got elected in l996. "I act only in about 15 films though I get twice as many offers," he says in self-defence. Satyanarayana has roped in veteran character actor Gummadi Venkateswara Rao to campaign for him. Sivaprasad, the other TDP star contestant, is in the election race for the first time.

The BJP's Krishnam Raju is trying his luck again after losing the Narsapur seat in 1991 on a Congress ticket. "Naidu is adept at misrepresenting facts but is speaking the truth when he says that the Congress will be wiped out," he says, optimistic of piggybacking on the growing appeal of the BJP to enter the new Lok Sabha. Other non-contesting star campaigners use a mix of stage skills and Telugu one-liners to woo the masses. "The Congress is synonymous with hawala and the TDP with diwala (bankruptcy )," says comedian Kota Srinivasa Rao. "The BJP will convert runa Bharathi (debt-ridden Bharat) to swarna Bharathi (prosperous Bharat)," mouths Gautami, who joined the party "inspired by its values, ideals and discipline" barely a month before the polls. Like Vijayashanti, she plans to use her multilingual skills at rallies in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

But for all the colour and fun that they add to the campaign, neither the film stars nor the politicians who project them are clear about the impact the celluloid hearthrobs will have on the electorate. The film industry in Andhra Pradesh has a wide appeal because it pays big sums to top stars, makes more films a year and has more theatres than any other state in the country. As sociologist P. Jayaprakash of Osmania University puts it, "The films have come to symbolise the mass, modern folk culture and the stars are here to stay as the icons of entertainment and relaxation for the poor." But, with television spreading fast into the countryside, there's no NTR-like wave in sight.

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