ELECTION DAY HIGHLIGHTS - 304

         ELECTION DAY   2021                       HIGHLIGHTS

Save for the men manning the booths of the candidates and helping them out with the booth slip or the location of the polling station , there is not a soul in this wide world to take notice of you or your desire to exercise your franchise on this the polling day of 6 th April 2021 .

Contrast this with the scene in Chennai . Actor Vijay revving it up on his Highend Bicycle to the polling booth to cast his vote . The visual as also the print  media are quick to attribute this ride to the perceived anger of Actor Vijay on the ever increasing  high fuel prices . The point conveniently missed out was that there were Hundreds of fans , mediamen and police who followed him on their motorbikes , scooters or cars and with their mobile camera and  burning precious and  costly fuel for a shoot with their star, This  just goes to prove the awe of a Cinema/ Star Crazy  mass of people that we have all become .  

The next incident where Actor Ajith is  involved made the scene all the more gripping. Here was actor Ajith trying desperately to make his way to the polling booth and a huge crowd trying their best to get a selfie on their mobile with their star to show to their friends and family .  Poor Shalini , the actors wife also had to face many an anxious moment before being thankfully  whisked away  by the security personnel . The whole sequence almost reminded me of many a movie where Ajith does a rescue act to save his damsel in distress from the villain and his henchmen.

 The media lost no time in alluding this to the fact that the BLACK MASK WITH THE RED EAR STRING was a sign for the masses to vote for a particular party that has a special affinity to these two colours . 

   I however felt that it was a signal to vote for the other prominent party in fray . The actors pepper white hairdo in line with the white figure in the middle of their party flag seems to have missed the media goons .

I do not want to be judgemental  on either the Actors or their  Fans , but close to five decades of the rule by personalities who have been associated with the Film Industry does seem to have made a large proportion of the  population totally Star Centric.

A picture in stark contrast is that of the situation in our neighboring Kerala on the very same day  . The masses seem to take no notice of Malayalam Superstars Mamutty and Mohan Lal waiting in the queue as one amongst them to cast their vote . They seem to be totally unfazed by the fact the superstars in flesh and blood are amidst them. 

I THINK THIS IS A FIT TOPIC FOR SOMEONE TO REASON THIS CHANGED PERSPECTIVE SO VERY CLOSE TO EACH OTHER GEOGRAPHICALLY BUT SO VERY  FAR APART IN THIER MIND SET .