When Suresh Gopi made his tentative steps into acting, Malayalam cinema was revolving around its two reigning superstars, Mammootty and Mohanlal.
Mr. Gopi played the villain or the supporting role to them in the early part of his career, but made his presence felt on the screen. Then a series of films from the scriptwriter-director combination of Renji Panicker and Shaji Kailas, namely Thalasthanam, Ekalavyan and Commissioner, made him a superstar.
Through films like Kaliyattam, which won him the national award for the best actor, Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha and Innale, he showed he was more than the impressive-looking and angry young supercop who relished abusing and assaulting corrupt politicians, giving the viewer vicarious pleasure. At that time, Mr. Gopi is unlikely to have imagined that he would one day become a politician and create history by winning the first ever parliamentary seat for his party from Kerala.
Others from silver screen
Mr. Gopi’s win from Thrissur on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket is remarkable. Unlike several States, Kerala still isn’t keen on voting for film stars in elections. In fact, until Innocent won from Chalakudy in the 2014 general election, no star had tasted electoral success (K.B. Ganesh Kumar had won before but he is more of a politician and the son of a powerful leader).
Innocent had contested as an Independent backed by the Left Democratic Front (LDF). Another popular actor Mukesh then won successive Assembly elections from Kollam, representing the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)]. Neither of them would have won without the party’s backing. Their stardom may have helped, but what mattered more was the support of one of the two largest political entities to have ruled Kerala since inception.
A first for the BJP
Mr. Gopi, though, was contesting for a party that did not have a single representative in the 140 Assembly constituencies. In fact, the BJP has been able to produce just one MLA in the seven-decade-old Kerala Legislative Assembly (O. Rajagopal won from Nemom in 2016).
Mr. Gopi, therefore, has reasons to feel proud of his feat. His stature as a superstar and reputation as someone willing to help the needy certainly must have come in handy in an area that has a strong base for the BJP. But it is doubtful if a purely political candidate would have been able to get as many neutral votes as Mr. Gopi apparently did in his victory by a margin of 74,686 votes.
It is also a case of perseverance paying off. Suresh kept himself involved with Thrissur despite his two previous failures (at the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections). Given the equation he reportedly shares with Narendra Modi, it should be no surprise if Suresh gets a place in the new Central ministry.
