Bengal: Tollywood who’s who get ready to desert TMC ship

Nearly a week after the West Bengal Assembly election results brought the state's hitherto ruling Trinamool Congress crashing down, the switchover among the who’s who of Tollywood — as the state's film industry is called — has really bordered on the comical. While some celebrity TMC MLAs said they were quitting politics after the heavy electoral defeat and going back to their earlier profession — most others have begun cozying up to the new BJP dispensation after enjoying plum positions and the spotlight for years.

Raj Chakraborty, a maker of successful commercial potboilers, took to Instagram to say he was quitting politics after losing his seat to BJP candidate Kaustuv Bagchi, while others like actor Sayantika Banerjee have gone on record to say it’s time to say goodbye to politics. An explosive press conference by TMC MP and superstar-actor Dev Adhikari — who revealed how he was ‘coaxed’ to stay back in politics in 2024 despite being determined to walk away — has also raised eyebrows.

A visibly agitated Dev, an actor-producer re-elected from Ghatal in Medinipur for a third term in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, said: ‘’I wanted to resign from my MP’s post as we couldn’t get the Ghatal Master Plan executed by the Union government. Both Didi (Mamata Banerjee) and Abhishek (Banerjee, Mamata's nephew and heir apparent) coaxed me to stay back and even said the state government could help execute the masterplan, which was not feasible.’’

While Dev continues to remain an MP, it’s clear that his days with the TMC are now numbered.

The swearing-in ceremony of the new government in Kolkata on Saturday saw a motley collection of apparent ‘neutrals’ from Tollywood among the VVIPs. The likes of Prasenjit Chatterjee, Mamata Shankar, Jisshu Sengupta and Jeet turned out at the Brigade Parade Ground to be part of an occasion where the Tollywood quotient in the incoming administration was also quite conspicuous.

The likes of Rudranil Ghosh (who switched camps from the Left to TMC to BJP) and Rupa Ganguly will be part of the BJP’s council of ministers, while largely out-of-work actor Papiya Adhikari has become a giantkiller thanks to her defeat of high-profile minister Arup Biswas. Then there is sitting MP and one-time actor Locket Chatterjee.

National Award-winner Mithun Chakraborty, meanwhile, received special attention from Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself at the swearing-in, and it won’t be a surprise if he duly replaces Shah Rukh Khan — Mamata's choice — as brand ambassador of the state. Incidentally, Chakraborty is no stranger to switching camps himself, having been close to the CPI(M) and TMC before shifting loyalty on the eve of the 2021 Assembly elections.

The connection between India's entertainment industry and politics has a long, strong history. If the South boasted major players — including the most recent example of C. Joseph Vijay and his newly formed TVK storming to power in Tamil Nadu — among the names from Bollywood who had distinguished political careers include Sunil Dutt.

In Bengal, the picture was somewhat different. Mamata Banerjee had made it a practice to throw in a bunch of glamourous faces among her party’s candidates — both in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections — and grapevine has it that none were in a position to say no. The 2021 Assembly elections saw a turf war between the TMC and BJP camps to take control of the Bengali film and TV industry, and the ruling dispensation allegedly had a vice-like grip over the industry's daily operations, largely through the aforementioned Arup Biwas.

Now that TMC has left the battlefield, the switchover race is heating up as film celebrities push and shove to prove how they were literally being held ‘hostage’ by the previous regime.

Here’s what Rachana Banerjee, sitting TMC MP from Hooghly, had to say in a TV interview: ‘’I was in the industry for so long and there used to be no political interference like now. The Eastern India Motion Picture Association (EIMPA) had someone at the top and everything ran peacefully. However, things changed for the worse in recent times, and those calling the shots had the government on their side.’’

The point is: what stopped her from raising her voice even until last month as unwritten ‘bans’ on actors like Anirban Bhattacharya or Riddhi Sen were public knowledge? Was it retribution or a fear losing out on the perks of being on the right side of power?

There is no doubt that the TMC camp will start thinning out in no time with not-so-subtle attempts at crossing over. Almost everyone worth his or her salt is promising that henceforth, there will be a complete freedom of choice. One has to wait and watch!