The politics of ‘Thalapathy’: How Vijay’s films became his campaign trail

For years, Vijay’s political entry was treated less as a possibility and more as an inevitability in Tamil Nadu. Not because he constantly spoke about politics in public, but because his films had already been doing it for him.

So when Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), a party barely two years old, swept into power in the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, the result may have shocked pollsters, but it hardly surprised his fans. They had spent over a decade watching Vijay slowly reshape himself on screen from a romantic hero into a figure who consistently spoke the language of justice, governance, corruption and public anger.

The political messaging did not arrive suddenly with TVK. It had been embedded in his cinema for years.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, Vijay’s image was built largely around romance and family dramas. Films like Poove Unakkaga, Kadhalukku Mariyadhai and Kushi established him as an emotionally accessible hero who connected strongly with younger audiences and middle-class families. At that point, there was little to indicate that politics would one day become central to his public identity.

But slowly, the nature of his roles began changing.

One of the earliest indications came with Thamizhan in 2002, where Vijay played a young lawyer fighting corruption and injustice within the legal system. The film presented him as someone standing up for ordinary citizens against powerful institutions, a recurring theme that would later define much of his cinema.

As the years progressed, Vijay steadily moved away from purely romantic characters towards larger 'mass hero' roles. Yet even within commercial entertainers, his films increasingly reflected social anxieties. In Sivakasi and Pokkiri, the politics remained subdued, but the image of Vijay as a protector of the common man was becoming stronger.

The transition became more visible in the 2010s.

Thalaivaa in 2013 now feels almost prophetic in hindsight. The film revolved around an ordinary man reluctantly stepping into a leadership role after personal tragedy. More significantly, it carried the tagline “Time to Lead”, which sparked immediate political conversations during its release. The film reportedly faced release troubles in Tamil Nadu amid political tensions, only adding to speculation around Vijay’s growing political undertones.

A year later came Kaththi, arguably the first major moment where Vijay’s political messaging became impossible to ignore. Through a mainstream commercial film, he addressed farmer suicides, corporate exploitation and water scarcity. The film’s emotional speeches about agriculture and the exploitation of rural communities resonated deeply with audiences across Tamil Nadu. Vijay was no longer just delivering punch dialogues. He was speaking directly about issues affecting people’s everyday lives.

That shift only intensified with Mersal in 2017. Wrapped inside a commercial entertainer were pointed criticisms of healthcare corruption and references to the GST regime, which triggered national political debate at the time. Suddenly, Vijay’s films were being discussed not just in cinema circles, but in political conversations as well.

Then came Sarkar in 2018, the clearest indication yet that Vijay’s screen image and political aspirations were beginning to overlap openly. The film centred on electoral malpractice and voter fraud, with Vijay playing a man who transforms into a political challenger after discovering that his vote has already been cast illegally. The imagery, the speeches and even the framing of his character carried unmistakable political overtones.

By this point, audiences had stopped seeing these themes as accidental. A pattern had clearly emerged.

What made Vijay’s evolution particularly effective was that his films did not portray him as a distant political figure. Instead, they consistently positioned him as someone emotionally accessible: a brother, son, friend or mentor who happened to stand against corruption and injustice. Unlike the invincible larger-than-life heroes often seen in commercial cinema, Vijay’s characters usually carried a sense of emotional familiarity. That relatability became one of the strongest foundations of his political appeal.

Even his later films continued reinforcing that image. Bigil focused on women’s empowerment and sports, while films like Master, Leo and The Greatest of All Time repeatedly returned to themes of morality, accountability and resistance against corrupt systems. The politics was not always direct, but the messaging remained consistent.

Meanwhile, Vijay’s fan clubs had already evolved into powerful grassroots networks long before TVK was launched. Welfare activities, public outreach and social campaigns steadily transformed fandom into organisation. By the time he formally announced his political entry in 2024, much of the groundwork had already been laid through years of cinematic image-building.

Even the symbols overlapped. The whistle associated with TVK immediately reminded fans of Vijay’s iconic gesture in Bigil, blurring the line between cinema and politics even further. His upcoming film Jana Nayagan, which translates to “people’s leader”, now feels less like a movie title and more like the final extension of a carefully cultivated public image.

That is perhaps why Vijay’s political victory feels unique. TVK may be just two years old, but the idea of Vijay as a political figure is far older. For more than a decade, his films had already been rehearsing the role he has now stepped into in real life.