Now, ahead of the April 6 Assembly elections, the chief of the three-year-old Makkal Needhi Maiam, has been riding piggyback on the legacy of the state's iconic actor-cum-leader M G Ramachandran (charismatic MGR) and playing the MGR card shrewdly, reeling off incidents in which he, in his prime, had cozied up to the AIADMK founder. 

On one occasion or the other, he has been referring to MGR in glorifying terms and recalling how MGR once asked Kamal to use the leader as a stepping stone and go beyond what he (MGR) had achieved; how he as a child used to sit on the matinee idol's lap during the shoot of the film 'Aananda Jothi' (1963); how he, as a choreographer, 'had broken MGR's hip' during dance rehearsal for the film 'Naan Aaen Pirandhaen?' (Why I was born? - 1972); how he missed the bus, failing to catch hold of the chance to act as MGR's brother in the film 'Naalai Namathe' (Tomorrow is ours ? 1975)? So, these recollections, perhaps he thinks, will connect him with the rural masses whose support he seems to not enjoy in great measure. 

Recently, he released a documentary on MGR and used the title of the latter's film 'Naalai Namadhe' (Tomorrow is ours) as his slogan. 

During his long stint on Tamil celluloid where Kamal, no doubt, scaled greater heights, hordes of viewers and fans watching his histrionic razzmatazz, mouths agape, he used to express his adulation and admiration for thespian Sivaji Ganesan he professed to have held as his guru. 

Not so frequent were the occasions in those days when he spoke with as much admiration about MGR. 

But as he seems to have rung down the curtains on his cinema career and has been focusing on politics nowadays, it is MGR and not Sivaji Ganesan (who, of course, with his historic flop in the 1989 Assembly elections, can be anything but a political guru), whom he is waxing eloquent about. 

He had dedicated his 1989 film 'Sathya' released barely two months after MGR's demise as 'gurudakshina' (fees paid to teacher) to the matinee idol. 

Now the question is can Kamal go beyond MGR as the latter was presumed to have asked him to? Or can he replicate the MGR magic or magnificent feat (the first of its kind in the 1970s) the way N T Ramarao in the early 1980s did? 

The most promising thing about his MNM party is that it recorded over 3.5 per cent vote share, going it alone in the 2019 parliamentary elections and in Coimbatore constituency it garnered nearly 1.45 lakh votes ? a feat of sorts, given that the party faced the polls, in his own words, as a 14-month-old infant. 

Perhaps enthused by this encouraging trend and also inspired by the precedent of Arvind Kejriwal capturing power in Delhi no sooner than he launched the party, he keeps on pushing hard, hardly ready to fall by the wayside. 

However, Kamal may be aware and perhaps yet not willing to acknowledge that the MGR's long association with the DMK, his assiduous practice of subtly mingling politics with cinema, his style of crafting a messiah image that went down with the masses, his parting of ways with the DMK, provocative deeds of his friend-turned-foe Karunanidhi?. it is all these powerful factors that catapulted MGR to the dizzy heights one can just look up at in awe and disbelief. 

Another historical fact that may dampen Kamal's vaulting political ambition is that Kamal's professed guru and histrionic titan Sivaji Ganesan had to bite the dust in politics. 

Tamil stars such as Bhagyaraj T Rajendran etc. have all floundered in politics. 

Even Vijayakanth, DMDK leader, touted as 'black MGR, who had a promising stint initially in politics, boldly taking on then CM Jayalalithaa as the Opposition Leader, seems to have lost steam. 

Probably still nursing the wounds deep down which his mind was inflicted with when he was nightmarishly tossed about by the powers-that-be during the AIADMK regime headed by Ms Jayalalithaa in his attempt to release his film 'Viswaroopam' in 2013, he has taken the plunge into the political arena now to settle scores. Will he become just a cog in the wheels? Or take on 'viswaroopam' (mega form)?, will be known on May 2 (counting day).