chennai stardom no doubt gives film heroes an edge in political race but by riding the two horses of movies and politics rajinikanth and kamal haasan may be performing the toughest stunt of their livesnothing could be a better example than the recent controversy where prokannada groups demanded a ban on rajinikanths film kaala in karnataka over his statement urging the state to release water to tamil nadu after the karnataka polls moral of the story being an actorpolitician isnt easy especially if you are in tnobservers say when actors with political aspirations straddle the two fields they are vulnerable to be hit sometimes below the belt and their films become sitting ducks in the face of engineered protests if rajini experienced only a mild problem with kaala in karnataka kamal had a much bitter taste of the game during the launch of virumandi in 2004 and vishwaroopam in 2013 and those were much before he entered politicsmakkal needhi maiam leader and actor kamal haasan says politician or not he has never shied away from voicing his opinion and has lived with the consequences picking a soft target like a film is political dadagiri besides the high profile that cinema offers is too tempting for the less popular politician who cannot even afford his own podium said kamal haasanthe difficult part of the twin job is to stay decent amidst political mudslinging once the actorpolitician participates in the slugfest his political statements appear to lack conviction his promise to be the harbinger of change hollow in the 1970s when mgr left dmk to start his own party it was initially called nadigar katchi actors party mgrs persona was such that he could continue to act after launching admk and taking its mantle but once he became the chief minister in 1977 the actor took a bowmany see rajini associating his name with another movie after 20 and not yet naming his party as a sign of indecisiveness rajinikanth has promised to give tn an mgrtype rule if he comes to power but one has to work towards being an mgr says senior journalist sudhanganmgrs biographer r kannan says not much has changed from mgrs time political opponents continue to target movies of actors who are also politicians earlier rajinikanth was criticised for keeping silent over critical issues now see what happens when he started speaking mgr kept his ulagam sutrum valibans release a secret fearing that the administration would upend his plans but that worked to his advantage and the movie went placessudhangan notes that actors those days needed political backing it was all rosy for mgr in the dmk until he asked the partys financial balance sheet the next moment he was shown the door and his movie faced release issues but mgr fought all odds and attained political peak kamal and rajini on the contrary are not deft decisionmakers they havent completely committed themselves to politics he saysall india samathuva makkal katchi leader r sarathkumar believes if opinions