Didi’s Casting Trouble

Mamata Banerjee’s increasing dependence on popular actors in political roles has begun to backfire. But does she have a choice?

Sunday Economic Times, 7 July, 2014

As the deadline for filing nominations for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls drew closer, Mamata Banerjee was getting restive. The Bengal chief minister was scouting for stars and convincing former actors did not prove difficult. But Didi was still looking for a big catch.

Prasenjit Chatterjee had already given her the slip. The biggest star in contemporary Bengali films was in no mood to contest elections at the peak of his acting career. Jeet, the other star male lead, was getting into business collaborations with the Mumbai industry and unwilling to risk it all.

But Dev, the young sensation in commercial Bengali films, had no choice. He was an import from Mumbai by Shree Venkatesh Films (SVF), the biggest production house in Tollywood. For the SVF, whose massive political clout and successful forays in real estate are believed linked to the Mamata government, it was probably payback time.

The evening before Mamata announced her candidates, SVF director Shrikant Mohta brought Dev along to a private function hosted by television producer Shibaji Panja at Kolkata’s St Paul’s Cathedral ground. Among the guests were Mamata and her key ministers. It was here, say sources, that Didi told Dev he was her chosen one for the Ghatal constituency and that his acting career would be taken care of.

A tentative schedule was chalked out and Mohta agreed to release his top biller, who was then busy filming a few SVF projects, for a few days of campaigning. After all, a mega-mall built by SVF in south Kolkata was expecting some concessions from the Kolkata municipal corporation run by the TMC and from Mayor Sovan Chatterjee, a staunch Mamata loyalist.

The actor was reluctant though and, according to sources, messaged a Kolkata journalist that he was still “coming to terms” with the development hours after Mamata announced his candidature. He was not allowed to speak to the media till a “tutoring session” was conducted by Mamata’s right-hand man, Mukul Roy.

Other than Deb, Trinamool fielded Suchitra Sen’s daughter actress Moon Moon Sen (Bankura), yesteryear heroine Sandhya Roy (Midnapore), former India captain footballer Baichung Bhutia (Darjeeling), former footballer Prasun Banerjee (Howrah), theatre activist Arpita Ghosh (Balurghat), Saumitra Roy (Maldah North) of Bengali music band Bhoomi and singer Indranil Sen (Behrampur). But why did Mamata pick so many film stars and non-political candidates for the polls her party was anyway supposed to sweep? Perhaps, she didn’t have a choice either.

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Film star-driven politics has largely been the preserve of the southern states. The first actor to join the electoral fray in Bengal was Anil Chatterjee, remembered for his understated, free-flowing performances in several Ray and Ghatak films. In 1991, he won from Kolkata’s Chowringhee Assembly constituency as a Left-supported independent candidate. That year, internationally-acclaimed actor Victor Banerjee lost his deposit as a BJP candidate from Calcutta Northwest. Actor Anup Kumar too lost as a CPI-M candidate from Cossipore constituency in 1996.

The first major electoral success of film celebrities from Bengal was in 2009 when Tapas Pal (Krishnanagar) and Shatabdi Roy (Birbhum) rode the Pariborton wave to the Lok Sabha. In the 2011 Assembly polls, Mamata roped in Debashree Roy, one of Bengal’s all-time favourite heroines, who won from Raidighi. Actor Chiranjeet, singer Anup Ghosal and theatre personality Bratya Basu also became Trinamool MLAs. This January, Mamata appointed veteran actor Ranjit Mullick as sheriff of Kolkata. In February, former Bollywood star Mithun Chakraborty became a Rajya Sabha MP for the TMC.

Mamata displayed her celebrity fetish even as the railways minister under the UPA government. Theatre actress Shaonli Mitra was appointed head of the Committee on Heritage and Culture in 2009. Veteran theatre activist Bibhash Chakroborty, poet Joy Goswami and classical musician Ustad Rashid Khan were also members. Painter Subhaprasanna was handpicked as chairman of Passenger Amenities Committee to decide, among other things, the railways menu.

“Our committee did good work in reviving certain assets, such as large auditoriums, built by the British as part of the railways infrastructure. But I cannot comment on other railway panels or the merits of selection (of members),” says Bibhash Chakroborty who is somewhat skeptical about the trend of fielding celebrities as election candidates. “While they add their star appeal to the acceptability of the party they represent, there is the risk that some of them can be perceived as politically non-serious.”

Chakroborty won’t get drawn into the debate but Mamata’s celebrity appointees have fuelled regular controversies. In 2010, she was forced to review the activities of some intellectuals after Subhaprasanna allegedly tried to raise money using her name for a TV channel project that was later shelved. In September 2013, Mamata issued showcause notices to Tapas Pal and Shatabdi Roy for anti-party activities and made them apologize. She also suspended Rajya Sabha MP entrepreneur-journalist Kunal Ghosh once the Saradha scam threatened to rock her government.

Last month, the appointment of actresses Locket Chatterjee and Nayana Bandopadhyay, wife of TMC MP Sudip Bandopadhyay, to the State Women’s Commission drew sharp reactions from chairperson Sunanda Goswami herself. “I am not very sure what background the actors have in women’s activism; at least I have never seen them anywhere,” she told the media.

The fact that Sunanda happens to be the wife of senior RSP leader Kshiti Goswami did not take away from her criticism of Bengal’s new political tradition — Mamata had appointed another actress, June Maliah, to the commission in 2011.

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Many perceive Mamata’s weakness for celebrities as an attempt to create the impression of a broader leadership base of her essentially one-leader party. As the Left was entrenched in every field of life in Bengal, she found it necessary to seek cultural resonance for her brand of street politics. A bunch of miffed Left-leaning intellectuals, including singer Kabir Suman, poet Joy Goswami and playwright Bibhas Chakraborty, who joined the anti-Left Nandigram movement in 2007 were her early allies.

But not too many intellectuals, even those who joined the chorus against the state-sponsored violence, broke ranks to side with Mamata. Moreover, Didi soon realized that politically aware cultural stalwarts like Kabir Suman had a mind of their own and would not submit to her autocratic ways. So, both by compulsion and design, Mamata opted for lesser icons from presumably less cerebral and more popular spheres, such as sports, commercial cinema or TV.

While her more recent acquisitions have been suitably servile, they do not lack in mass appeal. Didi parades a retinue of stars and performers on stage in most of her public rallies. Like Dev, most of them have obvious compulsions for humouring the all-powerful chief minister and her party with far-reaching control.

When it came to elections, Mamata generated a lasting buzz by nominating a Moon Moon Sen or a Baichung Bhutia that gave her some relief from being the sole focus of the Bengali media. Besides, like the BJP that opted for a few celebrities to compensate for organizational weakness and lack of suitable political candidates in Bengal, the TMC also needed some star power in a few pockets of uncertainty.

The party did not feel secure at all in Bankura till Moon Moon Sen campaigned against the constant backdrop of her legendary mother. The appeal of the Suchitra-Moon Moon-Mamata combination drew large crowds and inspired local party workers. The charm offensive worked and Sen defeated eight-time CPI-M MP Basudeb Acharia by nearly one lakh votes.

Moreover, Mamata picked a star wherever she had to field an outsider in the absence of a consensual political candidate. Take Ghatal, for example, where party workers were divided in their allegiance to Mukul Roy, Didi’s most-trusted aide and former union railways minister, and local strongman Shubhendu Adhikary, the party’s poster boy during the Nandigram movement. Sending Dev to Ghatal ensured that party workers from both camps gave their best.

Similar experiments worked well for the TMC except in two constituencies where outsiders Saumitra Roy and Indranil Sen, both singers, lost largely due to factionalism. Theatre activist Arpita Ghosh also faced strong resistance in Balurghat in the early days of campaigning. All three, pointed out a senior TMC functionary on condition of anonymity, were largely urban phenomena and struggled because they had no pan-Bengal appeal.

“But all our film stars, including sitting MPs, have romped home because they inspired local party workers to put in their hundred percent. Sandhya Roy won even though she could not campaign enough due to sweltering heat. Shatabdi Roy owes her re-election to the poll management skill of the Birbhum district leadership. Even Tapas Pal retained Krishnanagar and his 2009 margin,” explains the TMC functionary.

But these organizationally useful and politically low-maintenance star acquisitions are proving to be liabilities for the party’s image. “From what I heard of them, singer Babul Supriyo (BJP MP from Asansol) sounds politically aware and mature. The other celebrity politicians are there just to be counted in the party tally,” says Chakraborty.

Till last week, Mamata’s chosen stars were guilty of spectacular indiscretion. Shatabdi Roy demanded to be elected in return for letting voters watch her films for free in her constituency for five long years before threatening to stop all development work in areas that did not vote for Trinamool. Moon Moon Sen declared she drew inspiration from Julius Caesar and wanted to bring nobility back to politics and use glamour to serve the people. Dev compared the experience of joining politics to being raped, elaborating that one must enjoy what one cannot resist.

Then Tapas Pal decided to write his own script and stunned the country with his candour and bravado, apparently in a bid to get back into the CM’s good books. Maybe it’s time for Mamata to ponder if her more than embarrassing gallery of stars is worth the damage.