On the evening the election results were declared earlier this month, filmmaker and Vijay’s father, SA Chandrasekhar, spoke to the media with complete certainty. Vijay, he said, never doubted the win. The reason? He believed the people who spent decades turning his films into blockbusters, who arrived outside theatres before sunrise, celebrated releases like festivals and treated his stardom like a shared emotion, would also stand by him politically. The result? A blockbuster win through and through.
In less than two years, that faith transformed a film star into the Chief Minister of a state through a debutant independent party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK). But behind the scale of the victory was something more intimate: thousands of ordinary lives slowly reorganising themselves around Vijay‘s political ambition.
For years, fan clubs had functioned like tightly-knit communities built on loyalty, celebration and emotional investment. During elections, the social media chatter about his films converted into chatter about his manifestos. Fans who had earlier coordinated banners for first-day-first-show celebrations were suddenly discussing voter turnout and constituency strategy. Theatre meet-ups turned into political meetings and the language of fandom became the language of campaigning.
TVK’s election machinery seemed powerful because Vijay didn’t have to convince his forces to align with him, he just had to ask them to put their existing energies, their loyalty, their love in a new direction. And they did.
The army Vijay already had
For Varsha, a 31-year-old IT professional, handling TVK’s overseas IT wing wasn’t a challenge, it was an opportunity to understand the ideology, the passion of the superstar she grew up admiring. While speaking to India Today, she explained that while she, like other fans, could sense Vijay’s political ambitions long before he announced them himself, she didn’t just go blindfolded into supporting Vijay during elections.
“I didn’t automatically accept him politically just because I was a fan. The real turning point for me was the TVK Vikravandi Conference. I wanted to be there in person because I genuinely wanted to listen, understand his politics, his ideology and what exactly he was trying to build,” she said.
Her role as the joint coordinator for the IT wing of TVK was never ending, but she hardly complained. She managed online communication, amplified speeches, tracked engagement, and helped build the digital ecosystem around Vijay’s campaign. What started as admiration for a superstar gradually became participation in a political movement she wanted to understand closely.
Varsha recalls being particularly struck by the moment Vijay described the BJP as TVK’s “ideological opponent.”
“What impressed me most was the clarity with which he identified his political and ideological opponents. It wasn’t vague positioning or politically safe messaging. I found myself relating to many of the concerns he raised about the political culture Tamil Nadu had normalised over the years,” she said.
For many fans like her, Vijay’s willingness to clearly state what he stood for, and who he stood against, became the turning point. That clarity became important for many fans trying to decide whether they were willing to move beyond admiration and commit themselves politically. And once they did, the fans turned themselves into an informal but deeply committed political workforce.
Varsha remembers how much effort went into making TVK’s election symbol, the whistle, instantly recognisable among voters. But even that campaign carried traces of fandom culture within it: the instinct to amplify, repeat, celebrate and emotionally connect people to a symbol associated with Vijay.
The fans who never logged off
She recounted how coordination would take place among groups handling various things but being extremely careful of the spread of misinformation or false narratives. “What became very interesting during the campaign was how strongly digital political engagement started shaping the public imagination. At a time when AI and digital influence are transforming the world, online campaigning played a massive role in taking TVK’s ideology, manifesto and especially our very first electoral symbol, the whistle, to the nook and corner of the world,” she said.
Varsha continued, “One thing that stood out to me was how quickly TVK’s virtual warriors operated online. Whenever misinformation or false narratives were pushed against the party, volunteers were rapidly collecting data, screenshots, video evidence, old statements and factual references to counter them almost in real time. It was not random fan reactions but a highly coordinated digital participation by people who genuinely cared about protecting the movement from misrepresentation.”
But for Varsha, the emotional centre of the campaign revealed itself most clearly on the final day before voting. By then, exhaustion had settled into almost every volunteer she encountered. Sleep schedules had collapsed, routines had disappeared and yet the energy on the ground remained relentless.
“It was the last day of the campaign, and I was on the field as part of the campaign management team. By then, everyone was physically exhausted, mentally drained and running on very little sleep, but the energy on the ground was still intense,” she recalled, adding, “What stood out to me most was that most of the volunteers around me were not from traditional political backgrounds like you usually see in established parties. These were ordinary people who had stepped into politics purely out of belief.”
The faces around her were not career politicians but people carrying fragments of their everyday lives onto the campaign trail.
“I remember one doctor volunteer who had just completed a 24-hour shift but still came directly to help with campaign work. There was a tech professional who rushed in immediately after his Canada visa appointment because he didn’t want to miss contributing to TVK’s final campaign push. I met a banker who had flown all the way back from Ireland a month earlier because he wanted to give whatever time and effort he could to the movement,” she said.
Everyday lives behind TVK’s victory
And in between all these stories was Varsha herself, a fresh postpartum mother leaving behind her 12-week-old baby to spend long hours on the field during one of Tamil Nadu’s most closely watched elections.
“What moved me even more was the support our families gave us throughout this journey. Traditionally, politics is often seen as something families hesitate to encourage, especially for professionals, women or young parents. But here, families were emotionally backing us, motivating us and making sacrifices alongside us because they too genuinely wanted change,” she said.
For many of Vijay’s supporters, that became the defining feature of TVK’s campaign. The movement wasn’t dependent on seasoned political workers alone. It was driven by people who had jobs to return to, children waiting at home, flights to catch, shifts to complete and ordinary routines constantly interrupted by campaign work.
“None of us were there because politics was our profession. None of us were expecting power, money or political posts. We were there because we genuinely believed we were working toward one goal: meaningful change,” Varsha said.
Love for a star, work for a movement
For Gurumoorthy, founder of Facebook Vijay Fans Club (FVFC), one of Vijay’s most active fan communities, mornings during election season stopped looking like they once did. He no longer woke up checking for film updates or promotional announcements. By 6 am, his attention had already shifted to election conversations, campaign narratives and the day’s political messaging.
For the 34-year-old, the election was an opportunity to amplify what they had already been doing in the name of their Thalapathy: organising blood donation camps, providing food for needy people on Vijay’s birthday and taking part in various welfare initiatives. FVFC is also the only fan team that installed a statue for Vijay in Chennai. Campaigning for them, though a new experience, wasn’t a challenge at all.
Guru operated as the social media head for TVK during the election campaigns. His days were long, exhausting and almost entirely consumed by the movement.
When asked what a regular day looked like as the social media head for TVK, he said, “My day starts at 6 am, and the first thing I do is check the news. I am not looking for movie trailers anymore. My afternoons are busy creating posts and visuals to support Thalapathy Vijay’s vision. We coordinate closely to make sure we’re all sharing the right information at the right time. I don’t really ‘log off’ until very late at night. I also run my own business, so my schedule is already very hectic. This is our one real chance to rescue Tamil Nadu, and I’m proud to be on the team bringing this state back to the people.”
This was where Guru said he realised his passion for Vijay was still intact, but the purpose had completely shifted from entertainment to state-building.
The road to booth-level strategies
One of the things that felt common, and extremely important, to these fans-turned-TVK workforce was how they would unite against anything or anyone attempting to create a false narrative around the party or Vijay himself.
And everything would come down to discussing what Vijay would say first on stage during rallies and gatherings – the promises he was making and the direction he was trying to set. Guru said the moment Thalapathy made a statement, the entire machinery would become active to understand, explain, simplify and coordinate around it.
“The coordination was more organic than people might imagine. It wasn’t like there was a central command issuing orders. But there was a shared understanding of what we were trying to say — and that understanding came from years of being in these communities together. These are fans, but they fact-checked each other. If someone posted something exaggerated, others would flag it. There was a collective sense of – we can’t afford to get this wrong. This isn’t a film where a rumour doesn’t matter. This is politics. A wrong number, a false claim — it comes back to hurt the very person you’re trying to support. We coordinated our messaging to stay respectful and focused on secularism and social justice,” he explained.
So when the TVK numbers hit 108 on the results day, Guru said the sigh of relief felt different.
“In the past, if he won a film award, I would be happy as a fan. But this victory was about real people. It was about the women waiting for that Rs 2,500 monthly assistance and the young people looking for jobs. That’s when it became personal. It wasn’t about fandom anymore; it was about the responsibility I felt toward ordinary people,” he said.
Another fan, Devanayagam, part of Vijay Makkal Iyakkam (Vijay fan club and social welfare organisation), was busy carrying out door-to-door campaigning for TVK during the elections. From walking miles to reach even the farthest corners in and outside cities in Tamil Nadu to continuing welfare work in Vijay’s name, Devanayagam said neither he nor the members of his fan clubs ever felt tired or dejected.
“We made it our mission to win the people’s mandate right from day one. We knew the challenges were hard because of the existing parties, so both our virtual warriors and ground-level TVK cadres ensured we reached every household out of love for Thalapathy. We translated his vision for the state and the ideologies of the party to every citizen. It has been incredible work,” he said.
Boots on ground
For Asif, a 33-year-old professional who goes by the pen name George after his favourite writer George Orwell, loving Vijay since he was a four-year-old child was never difficult. Neither, therefore, was the transition into becoming a TVK supporter and worker.
Like the others, George, too, found himself changing emotionally through the campaign.
“For many years, I celebrated Vijay’s film releases. But when that celebration turned into election campaigning, there was a huge change emotionally as well as practically. Earlier, First Day First Show meant excitement, fireworks, banners and meeting friends in a festive mood. But during the election period, that same energy transformed into responsible work such as meeting people, going house to house, checking voter lists and doing social media campaigning,” he said.
The shift stopped feeling like fandom the moment George began interacting directly with voters.
“I moved beyond the feeling of being ‘just a fan’ and started feeling responsible when I saw the reception people gave in person. Especially when elderly people, women and first-time voters spoke Vijay’s name with hope, it created a huge impact on me. That was when I understood this was not just fan support, but people’s expectations. My confidence in victory did not come from the size of the crowds, but from the way people spoke and the clear desire for change,” he explained.
There was always so much to do, George said. The work, though overwhelming, never felt meaningless.
“A day during the election campaign would begin early in the morning. As soon as we woke up, we would discuss the day’s plan with the team – which area to visit and whom to meet. Then we would go directly to the ground, meet people house to house, and explain about Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam. In the afternoon, we would hold discussions with local administrators and talk about booth-level situations. In the evening, street campaigns, meetings and youth outreach activities would take place. Even after returning home at night, the work would not end. We would share photos, videos and updates on social media, respond to criticism, and plan for the next day before finally going to sleep late,” he said.
George also believes much of the criticism around fan culture misses the larger picture of what these communities have already built over the years.
“Many people dismiss fan culture as blind devotion. But what outsiders still fail to understand is that this is not just love for an actor. It is trust built over many years, unity and a spirit of service. Fans were not only watching films; they were also involved in blood donation drives, welfare activities and helping during disasters. The same discipline and bond naturally carried into political work as well,” he explained.
Carrying Vijay to power
For these supporters, the election victory did not feel like the climax of a political campaign. It felt like the continuation of a relationship they had already spent decades building – first through cinema halls, fan clubs and welfare work, and now through rallies, booths and manifesto discussions.
“Vijay is not just an actor to me,” George said. “He is someone who inspired me, a role model who rose through effort, and a symbol of hope for youth,” he added.
He said what he now expects from Vijay is honesty, listening to the voice of ordinary people, prioritising education and employment, corruption-free governance and a new kind of politics that gives space to young people.
For years, these fans whistled for Vijay when the lights dimmed inside theatres and the screen lit up. This time, they stood under the scorching Tamil Nadu sun, carrying that same devotion into something far bigger than cinema.
As Tamil Nadu now prepares to enter Thalapathy’s ‘vijayi’ era and welcome him as its superstar Chief Minister, these voices become the very heartbeat of TVK – the ordinary people who transformed admiration into political labour and fandom into a movement.
Listening to them, one thing becomes clear: Vijay may have won elections now, but this victory did not begin at the ballot box. It began when fans turned into a political force powerful enough to carry Thalapathy from the big screen to the seat of power.
– Ends
