Actors have to show political wisdom, say celebs.Bollywood

"Anything I say will be unpalatable," says veteran director Tarun Majumdar, who catapulted Tapas Paul and Satabdi Roy in the near-cult film, Dadar Kirti. "I have a lot of affection for them, so no comments." Likewise Soumitra Chatterjee, recently seen with both the actors in Friend directed by Satabdi, did not wish to speak a word on the subject. Many other actors, singers and directors notably Chiranjeet, Indranil Sen, Prabhat Roy have on record voiced reservation against the concept of a celeb overnight turning into a vote-seeker. "The tag of an actor or singer doesn't count. People here will vote only the person they think will deliver," Roy reportedly said.

A rear-view mirror seems to uphold this. Congressmen' Moushumi Chatterjee and Nafisa Ali lost the Lok Sabha polls in 2004; Biplab Chatterjee brought no luck to CPM. Madhabi Mukherjee was no challenge for Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in 2001; Victor Banerjee could not ride the crest of the BJP wave in 1990s. Nayana Das, despite being the wife of a Trinamool biggie, trailed out of the race. So, until Tapas Paul's victory in the last Assembly elections, only Anil Chatterjee had tasted success as an independent candidate backed by the Left.

That too happened only in 1990s, long after Bollywood had taken to the southern trend of screen idols trading their popularity as actors for power as politicians. Bengali stars, as exemplified by Satyajit Ray's Nayak, were reluctant to wear any political colour on their sleeve. Forget fighting elections, they would not even campaign for their studio colleagues. Today, if Satabdi announces solidarity with her costar by entering the fray, almost all her colleagues, even those who wish them luck Prosenjit, Debasree, Rupa Ganguli, Rituparna, Indrani Haldar have clearly distanced themselves from campaigning for anybody.

Some of this reluctance comes from the new contestants' inability to offer convincing argument for their entering politics. Speaking to a channel, Satabdi says her agenda' is alliance: "sanghabaddha hoye lorbo". For what? No answer. Tapas Paul repeats his leader's slogan of serving Maa, maati, maanush' but offers no strategy towards that end. Kabir Suman, the "Marxist at core" who set the trend of jibonmukhi gaan', now sings paeans to his leader but reportedly tells a journalist, "I am the I' of the party."

"People should do what they're best at," says Chiranjeet. "To qualify as people's representative you must live amidst them and identify with their problems," says Anindita Sarbadhicary. "People from every walk of life can contest but only those trusted by the people will win," believes Rupa Ganguli.