Thalapathy: The Inside Story of Vijay’s Meteoric Political Rise

Vasudha Venugopal

Tarini Kumar

The superstar who rewrote the script of Tamil Nadu politics

When C. Joseph Vijay told rally after rally in the run-up to the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, ‘Confident ah irunga, nallathey nadakkum’ (‘Be confident, only good things will happen’), few imagined just how good things would get for the 51-year-old superstar.

On 10 May 2026, Chennai witnessed history as Vijay was sworn in as chief minister. But the questions had only begun. What had the political establishment missed about the Vijay phenomenon? Why did he succeed where so many film stars before him had failed? How did the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, long dismissed as little more than an offshoot of the Vijay Makkal Iyakkam fan clubs and an army of online warriors, redraw the state’s political map so dramatically? And after nearly a century of dominance, is this the end of the road for Dravidian politics?

In Thalapathy, journalists Vasudha Venugopal and Tarini Kumar deliver the definitive inside story of the storm that tore up the rules of election campaigning and changed Indian politics.