Vinodhini Vaidynathan reacts to stampede at Vijay’s Karur rally

Actress Vinodhini Vaidynathan, who predominantly works in Tamil cinema, has reacted to the stampede incident during the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) rally organised by actor-politician Thalapathy Vijay at Karur, Tamil Nadu.

The actress has worked with Vijay in ‘Jilla’. She took to her X, formerly Twitter, and penned a long note mourning the loss of 39 lives at the political rally.

She shared that she loves Vijay as an actor, and recollected an incident when she received an award for her work in ‘Aandavan kattalai’.

She wrote, “When I got down from the stage after receiving the Vikatan award for Aandavan kattalai, he was seated in the first row. I went up to him, showed him the award, took his wishes and only then went back to my seat. So much love was showered upon him by the people of Tamilnadu when he was only an actor. He was the undisputed leader of the film industry. Why oh why did he have to enter politics? My brother, I truly don’t know how you are going to handle this guilt. He’s an extremely nice person at heart”.

She shared that the hate Vijay is receiving feels personal to her, as she wrote, “I have no comment on his political career or opinions since I don’t agree with most of the party ideologies. But as a person, knowing him to be a mild mannered, soft spoken, kind hearted human being, I’m sure he is truly devastated by the deaths of so many innocent people. Please don’t politicise this situation. Let us mourn the deaths of these innocent souls in deep sorrow. Let us not be consumed by hate. Please”.

In a separate post, she spoke about the nature of cinema and politics shaping up the society, as she wrote, “The craze for cinema is not only limited to the film industry but also among the people. Cinema is everywhere. Cinema has inculcated mediocrity in our public consciousness. Influencers, grocers and textile traders see their lifetime achievement in the cinema. Apart from entertainment, due to the publicity of cinema, political leaders have also used the medium to enter the minds of the people. It’s like a parlour here. For some time in the cinema, he taught his political journey in the cinema, in songs and philosophy, and when he came to politics, he did his ‘people’s work’. “Concern for the people. It also has reverse engineering. Those who started their career only in politics used to project their image as a film celebrity, pretending to spread staged videos through the IT wing with gems like ‘A lion has gone out’ and ‘Puli Urumudhu’”.

The actress further mentioned that the fraternity has created a situation where cinema is inseparable from politics. As a result, the nature of our politics is as much an illusion as cinema. The photo shoots, the promotional poses here and there at the airport, the superficial punch-dialogue style of speaking, the song composing when it comes to achievements, it’s all just a patchwork of pastels.

She went on, “It is the pinnacle of intellect that we, the common people, have done cinematic things in everything from marriage to black magic and look forward to deep thought and action only from the leaders who come to us. You’ve got the leader you deserve. May the souls of those who died today rest in peace”.

“I don’t know if the political situation will change. Society can change. Have to change. We need to change for the next generation. Support the movies. But let’s keep the movie out of life. Look after your family”, she added.