In a memorable scene from Anbu (2003), Tamil comedian Vadivelu is shown manning his party’s campaign booth outside a polling centre. He stops a voter and asks him if he voted for his party’s ‘coconut tree’ symbol. The voter swears he did and after much prodding reveals that he voted thus in exchange of the money received from Vadivelu and—cry out laughing—for the opponent’s ‘ladder’ symbol as well, for the money received from him. “I stamped on both the symbols for the money I took from both!” he explains.
The next voter, when coaxed similarly—about voting for the ‘coconut tree’—asserts that he did, saying proudly that he has been party to this quid pro quo transaction for 15 years! “So this is the way these guys had been voting for 15 years?” asks Vadivelu, startled and agape.
A masterful comedian, Vadivelu would not have anticipated that he himself would become a victim of electoral politics a decade later. In 2011, ahead of a bitterly fought...
