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Wednesday, June 10, 2026

NEWS TODAY 10.06.2026

The Vijay phenomenon enters research circles as hot topic

Kamini.Mathai@timesofindia.com 10.06.2026

Chennai : “Good morning, Professor. Can we study Vijay today?” When Congress leader and visiting Ashoka University professor Praveen Chakravarty walked into class after C Joseph Vijay assumed office, he was greeted with songs from the actor’s hit films, whistles and a barrage of questions about Tamil Nadu’s new chief minister.

“This was a university in Haryana with students from all parts of India, and yet there was such an interest in Vijay’s rise to power,” says Chakravarty, who had met Vijay before the 2026 Tamil Nadu assembly elections and is now TVK govt’s Rajya Sabha nominee.

“I teach political economy, but I spent the first part of class answering questions about the ‘Vijay phenomenon’. I’ve never seen this level of interest before.” Barely a month after Vijay occupied the hot seat, he has become a hot topic in college classrooms and research circles across the country, spanning disciplines from political science and anthropology to cultural studies.

“My university will likely have a case study on him next year,” says Chakravarty, adding that he has received invitations from Shiv Nadar University and Krea University to speak on the topic. “Academics failed to predict it. It suggests a knowledge gap,” says Bengaluru-based political anthropologist Nisar Kannangara, studying Vijay’s rise.

Many scholars, he says, believed cinema-driven politics in TN was fading after Kamal Haasan’s unsuccessful political foray and Rajinikanth’s decision to stay out of active politics. “Few anticipated the scale of support Vijay would mobilise. I know researchers who moved away from studying cinema and politics. Now they are returning to the subject.”

At the French Institute of Pondicherry, anthropologist A S Arun Kumar is revisiting his PhD thesis on cinema and politics. “What interests me now is what Vijay reveals about the changing relationship between cinema, stardom and politics. We’ve studied film star chief ministers such as M G Ramachandran, N T Rama Rao and, more recently, Chiranjeevi. But something different is happening now.

The charisma of the matinee idol is giving way to a vigilante hero in politics.” Research papers have been popping up online too. Ramu Manivannan, former head of department of politics and public administration at University of Madras, believes Vijay’s rise is a case study not in celebrity politics but in tech-driven mobilisation. “Traditional explanations like cinema stardom alone are not sufficient,” he says

Mannivannan, a visiting professor in Southeast Asian colleges. “Vijay’s TVK had no clear ideology, unknown candidates, and mostly only virtual interaction with people. Politically, it should have been a disaster. Yet, tech turned it into a wonder, made it viral. It must be studied; how else would you develop an antiviral?”

STAR POWER: Across disciplines, scholars and college students are intrigued by the actor’s rise to power