The Hindu focused on CNA through a supplement that presents his rise to fame, contributions to literature and cinema, advice to cabinet colleagues etc. CNA provided a major impetus to the rise of a non Congress alternative to Indian polity and substantially fuelled critical introspection with regard to many sub national identity issues such as language in particular, and reinforced a political ideology based on challenging the Brahminical social order derived from the larger dynamics of self respect movement spearheaded by Periyar. The timeline of CNA's rise to fame including differences with Periyar form a reference point in understanding the larger individual centric politics.
However, what is important is that the use of media-theatre and cinema in particular and journalism as effective instruments of political communication was crafted by CNA. That cinema was effectively used for propaganda through dialogues, lyrics and larger than life characters in Tamil Nadu is well known and forms part of a larger academic discourse and common understanding. A few would argue that sans propaganda the literary contributions cannot be negated. Cinema that through MGR threw up a mass politician established a precedent that even now provides a career option for film actors in the state. The frequent references to"will he, won't he" join politics for Rajnikanth is something that media returns to whenever there is an election.
Nurturing celebrity status through fan clubs and when required factoring them into electoral politics is a recurrent phenomenon more widespread in Tamil Nadu than elsewhere. The current speculation of another popular actor Vijay wanting to cash in on his fan following for political gains is a case in point and occupied substantial media space during Rahul Gandhi's recent visit to the state. However, Vijay, unlike many of his predecessors is a product of post agit prop cinema dynamics in Tamil Nadu.
CNA's era was marked by media options that combined journalism and literature on the one hand and theatre and cinema on the other for wider reach. Radio was obviously not available. Launching of newspapers or literary magazines for propagating their thoughts was a viable option although their commercial success is debatable. Media as vehicles of political communication were institutionalized and a holistic view of the history of Indian media would then allow us to see how in the present scenario political consolidation is also invariably linked to direct ownership of print and television channels. The unabashed use of television, more so the 24x7 news channels for hagiographic depiction of personalities negates alternative political spaces. Thus when Dr. YSR Reddy dies in a tragic accident, the search for his successor is imbued with numerous queries because both the mainstream media and the politically owned 'mainstream' media never thought of democratic succession.
A fallacy in our democratic system is that the larger than life projection of certain leaders and icons in various fields in the media gives an impression that with their retirement and or death the vacuum is difficult to fill. In this regard, Tamil Nadu perhaps is a step ahead as parallel projection of the next in line political leader notwithstanding the dynastic critique is consciously on.
While it is important to understand the time and era of great personalities such as CNA and their media practices it is equally important to note that underlying use of media for political purposes is not a easy option and as democratic as liberal advocates of media expansion would argue. The sheer expansion of Indian media combined with impressive growth in the telecom sector and availability of a significant"mobile" population has not necessarily thrown up pluralistic voices. Advocacy groups are still groping for alternative voices etc. So a mass mobilization that CNA and the Dravidian polity were able to muster for political purposes through theatre, cinema, literature and journalism is no doubt an important chapter.
It also needs a relook at the economics of the era that made it possible. The newspapers as historians note were all self supported and thus motivated by strong political considerations. Today's mainstream Tamil dailies all grew out of small towns. Cinema was nurturing an audience and constituency for the Dravidian parties in that the themes and characters largely reflected the aspirations of the people which the Dravidian polity capitalized upon and the film industry was quite content in financing them. The then mainstream Congress party, it is said, despised Cinema on moral constructs that jelled well with its constituency.
However, media applications in the contemporary political environment require one additional variable-Capital. Does politics bring in capital to nurture and own media or does Capital back politics that can further their agenda is a classical question. However, in Tamil Nadu, the legacy of CNA, known for his simplicity and use of powerful oratory and writing skills, is visible in a different way. The space for agit-prop media has considerably shrunk with the historically oppressed classes now forming the establishment.
Therefore, while news is an important vehicle for sustaining their pro poor image, the entertainment function is taken over by soaps and clones of dance-music-comedy shows. The audience can now skip the news as they know what it contains and focus on entertainment. When entertainment does not allow you to ask questions the political establishment is content with asking their entertainment managers to give more.
A large scale vertically integrated media enterprise now virtually controls the minds of people and what more-the distribution of free color television sets is a recurrent public function where both central ministers and state ministers participate to reaffirm that"medium" is the message and what more if you own the channel(s), production house and distribution systems as well.