Vijay Filmography: For those who had been closely tracking Vijay’s filmography, the actor’s transition from cinema to politics was never really a surprise. Political undertones were present in his movies even as far back as the early 2000s, and the messaging reached a notable escalation in the last decade, right up to the 2024 launch of his party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK). Now that TVK has shattered a 59-year Dravidian duopoly, it’s worth revisiting the films where the Commander quietly laid out his manifesto.
Also Read: Is this the end of the Dravidian duopoly? Vijay redraws Tamil Nadu’s political map
Kaththi (2014)
If there is one film that first announced Vijay as a socially conscious superstar, it is ‘Kaththi’. The film sees Vijay in a dual role, most notably as Kathiresan, who leads a farmers’ movement against corporate exploitation. It highlights agrarian distress, water rights, corporate-political nexus.
At a time when farmer suicides were making grim headlines across Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, ‘Kaththi’ agitated. The film marked a shift in audience perception from fandom to alignment with the ideas being expressed.
Mersal (2017)
Few Tamil films have caused the political furore that ‘Mersal’ did. Vijay’s character Maaran exposes corruption in the medical sector, questioning privatisation and government healthcare policies and the film struck such a raw nerve that ruling party politicians demanded the deletion of certain dialogues.
The controversy only amplified the film’s reach. With healthcare remaining one of the most contested issues in Indian public policy, ‘Mersal’ positioned Vijay as a voice for ordinary citizens priced out of private hospitals and abandoned by the public health system.
That a masala entertainer could ignite a national conversation about GST on medicines was, frankly, extraordinary.
Sarkar (2018)
‘Sarkar’ is perhaps Vijay’s most overtly political film. He plays Sundar Ramasamy, who challenges electoral fraud and eventually mobilises citizens against a corrupt system, evolving into a mass leader. The parallels to his own eventual political journey are almost uncomfortably on the nose.
The film’s central message that a single, determined individual can dismantle a broken political machine became something of a prophecy.
In hindsight, ‘Sarkar’ reads less like screenplay and more like campaign speech.
Bigil (2019)
With ‘Bigil’, Vijay turned sports film genre into vehicle for feminist politics. Vijay portrays football coach advocating for women’s empowerment.
Set against the world of women’s football, the film challenged deep-seated patriarchal attitudes in sport and society with a rare directness for a mainstream commercial release. It was populist in packaging but pointed in purpose, exactly the kind of message that would later resonate with the women voters who powered TVK’s electoral surge.
Master (2021)
Released during the COVID-19 pandemic to thunderous audience response, ‘Master’ saw Vijay as a flawed but ultimately redemptive figure battling a ruthless villain who had weaponised a juvenile detention centre.
The film features Vijay as a professor who reforms a juvenile detention system, a narrative about institutional failure and the possibility of transformation from within. The subtext was impossible to miss: systems can be fixed, but they need someone willing to walk into the chaos and take responsibility.
Taken together, these films form something more than a filmography. Vijay’s rise has drawn comparisons to former actor-turned-Chief Ministers MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa. And like MGR before him, he used the mass intimacy of cinema to build not just a fanbase but a constituency.
TVK’s victory ended a 59-year streak of Dravidian party dominance, and while analysts will debate the political mechanics of that achievement for years, perhaps the simplest explanation is this: Tamil Nadu had been watching Vijay rehearse for this role for over a decade. The election was almost a formality.
The screen has gone dark. The real picture has just begun.