There’s a new sense of anticipation in the air. Jai Ho!

The politics of tamasha might not be finding too many buyers any longer Perform or perish, that seems to be the present mood

Vinod Khanna and Shekhar Suman lost the elections, Govinda didn’t get a call, Dharmendra and Hema Malini backed out, Sanjay Dutt had to back out, and Rakhi Sawant wasn’t even considered. With the electorate becoming more discerning and demanding, I suspect the era of actors-turned-politicians might be coming to an end. Or rather, let’s say the politics of tamasha, of exploiting a star or a situation only for its speculation-value, might not be finding too many buyers any longer. Cut the crap – the message is loud and clear.

That’s not to say that film stars are not capable of becoming good politicians or leaders but I think capability and sincerity will be the key whatever the status, class or profession. Perform or perish, that seems to be the present mood.

Although it’s not just the political parties which look for mileage through this association; the film stars get to go on a trip too. The starched cotton kurtas, the pallu on the head, the sun glasses and the joined hands… I remember a senior journalist once telling me about the time when Reena Roy decided to support a political party floated by Dev Anand and Vijay Anand. The party, apparently, never got off the ground but it created quite an excitement within the film industry while it did. Reena Roy was a case in study on the day of their first (and only) rally at Shivaji Park. Dev Sa’ab had invited most of his colleagues for support which, perhaps mistakenly, Ms Roy took for an invitation to stand for elections. “At least it seemed like that to us. Straight from her feathers and plumes she got into a white cotton sari, plaited her hair, put her pallu on her head, sat in her white car and took off towards the venue,” the bemused journalist narrated. “Throughout the half hour drive, right from her house till she reached Shivaji Park, Reena Roy had her hands joined in a namaste to the junta on the roads even though nobody could see her through the dark glasses of her car! She was tripping on her neta number!”
The best was apparently when she was asked by Dev Anand to take the mike at the rally. “We were in splits,” revealed the scribe. “By then she was so deeply gone into her avatar that she probably forgot she was a star who’d just got off an expensive car. She started saying things like ‘Humare ghar mein gas nahin hai, mitti ka tel nahin hai, anaaj nahi hai…’ You should have seen the puzzled look on the crowd’s face and the embarrassment on Vijay and Dev Anand’s faces. We wanted to crawl out and disappear!” Jeez!

Well! Being fair to Reena Roy, our Parliament has definitely seen worse! From what I hear and know, Reena Roy was a fairly competent and successful actress in her time, which is more than one can say about 80% of our parliamentarians. But hopefully things are changing on both sides. That’s what I started out to say in the first place. There’s a new sense of anticipation in the air.

Jai Ho!