Action, Vijay

Actors should never say never

Did Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay quietly breathe a sigh of relief? His new movie, ‘Jana Nayagan’, has started well at the box office. If it had flopped after he won a big election, it would have been embarrassing. People might even have started doubting his star power. Now he can focus on running the state, just as he promised.

But will he stay away from films forever? Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan also said he was leaving movies, but he returned to acting within a year. Things have been different in the past too. N.T. Rama Rao became Andhra Pradesh’s chief minister in 1983 but continued acting for about 10 more years. In contrast, Tamil Nadu leader M.G. Ramachandran stopped acting after becoming chief minister in 1977, although one of his films came out the next year.

So what will Vijay do? In northern India, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has stopped acting. Ronald Reagan, the famous Hollywood actor who later became US president, also never acted again after entering the White House.

Still, many actors find it hard to stay away from the camera. Fred Thompson, who was a lawyer, a US senator and an actor, once joked that after eight years in politics he missed the “realism” of Hollywood. Arnold Schwarzenegger also made small appearances in films while serving as California’s governor. If Donald Trump gets the chance after 2028, he might enjoy making a few cameos too.

In the end, Vijay will have to decide what matters most to him. If he misses acting, he may one day return to the movies.

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