There has always been a strong bond between acting and politics; afterall both are grand stages that require larger than life performances, albeit of different kinds. In India, the tradition is old enough as our independence itself.

At this years pre-election film parties and social evenings of any variety, actors bumping into each other would replace the usual queries of their upcoming films with ‘which party are you joining’? Acting makes for good training for politics and this season there was a mind boggling bevy of beauties, ageing stars and sundry actor types doing the rounds making it India’s’ biggest home production .

The very first Indian film personality to contest and be elected to a legislative assembly was KB Sundaramal who won in 1958. In the U.S. a 1920s Broadway and later movie star, Helen Gahagam, served three terms as a liberal Democrat before losing to Richard Nixon in one of his trademark dirty communist campaigns. He accused her of being communist (right down to her chaddhi) and called her ‘The Pink Lady’; she in turn called him ‘Tricky Dick’.

The political experience (of film stars) has been mixed to put it mildly. Some have burned their fingers badly. Rajiv Gandhis’ one time best friend, senior AB, got singed with Bofors after a heart warming entry from Allahabad, his wife changed allegiance but the experience remained essentially the same. Dharmendra got a good drubbing for the two wives/religious allegiance issue in Bikaner, probably why he refused to swim with the sharks in parliament itself barely making 1.5% attendance. Nargis, Prithviraj Kapoor, Rajesh Khanna, the list of who ‘touched and went’ is endless. Yet what makes the pull of the ballot so irresistible?

§ Social conscience? Perhaps the best and most oft quoted is the late Dutt sahib. He earned the respect and loyalty of people and party workers alike, the hard way. MGR, NTR, Annadurai have all ruled on the Dravidian self respect plank, pro-poor policies forming the basis of their never waning popularity.

§ Ideologues? Shotgun Sinha claims to be just another famous admirer of Jayaprakash Narayan, a man inspired enough to enter politics to follow that ideology. Any other desi names fail me but agendas and ‘what he/she stands for’ are very often repeated reasons by Hollywood stars to endorse their favourite candidate.

§ Power over glamour? As Shutrugan Sinha most aptly pointed out “Glamour has limited power, whereas power has unlimited glamour." Govinda, Hema Malini, Shirley Temple, Charlton Heston, Clint Eastwood……the list of glamour girls and boys goes on!

§ Stage Skills? Most good politicians have good stage skills e.g. Singh saab who makes for a poor politician because of absence of these said skills. MGR, NTR, Annadurai made fantastic politicians because they could make a grand performance both on and off the stage. MGRs’ protégé, Jayalalita probably is the best performer and dance master of them all. Ronal Reagan utilised his acting/radio broadcast skills to sway an entire nation and is still a much beloved ex-president.

§ Waning popularity? Well what else do you do to keep your flagging popularity on the up, up and away? Politicians are celebritiesand the public adulation multiplies manifold too. Poonam Dhillon, Jaya Prada, Raj Babbar have all shown that there is life after 40.