The first time a cine celebrity helped defeat a political heavy weight was in 1962 when India's first prime minister Pt Jawaharlal Nehru took Balraj Sahni's help
If you thought film stars joining politics is a relatively new phenomenon, think again.
The first time a cine celebrity helped defeat a political heavy weight was in 1962 when India's first prime minister Pt Jawaharlal Nehru took Bollywood big gun Balraj Sahni's help to get Atal Bihari Vajpayee humbled at the hustings by a relative new comer Subhadra Joshi.
Of course, many years later Vajpayee too became the country's premier, not once but twice, the first time for only 13 days and the second time for the full term of the Lok Sabha, but back in the early sixties, star power got the better of him.
"In order to defeat Vajpayee, the candidate of Bharatiya Janasangh, Nehru fielded Joshi (a resident of Delhi). He had sent legendary actor Sahni along with me to campaign for her and ensure her victory," eminent Urdu poet and former member of Rajya Sabha Bekal Utsaahi said.
"Balrajji stayed here at my home for two days and the result was history - a political novice defeated a sitting MP," he said, adding "He helped to pull in the crowds."
"When former senior Congress leader Shashi Bhushan Bajpai came to address an election rally here, he was surprised to see a gathering of more than 15,000 people in a tiny place like Balrampur."
"It was Balrampur that added a new dimension to Indian politics with film stars campaigning during the elections for the first time. Since then many actors and actresses have been roped in to either be candidates or help in campaigning for
political parties," Utsahi said.
"Congress has roped in Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna and Sunil Dutt, while the BJP has banked on Shatrughan Sinha, Vinod Khanna, Dharmendra and Hema Malini to improve its electoral fortunes," he said.
The Samajwadi Party is now using the cineastes Sanjay Dutt, Jayaprada and Manoj Tiwari to boost its chances in the coming Lok Sabha polls, the former Rajya Sabha member said.
Asked what are the strengths of star power during elections, Utsahi said, "The larger than life images of these stars help the political parties to expand their existing base and foray into unexplored vote banks. They also help in gathering crowds during election rallies."
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