Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma shared an image of the late M Karunanidhi from a ribbon cutting ceremony on X last week. Right behind Karunanidhi in the picture was a beaming and much younger Chandrasekaran Joseph Vijay. Varma wrote, “Kalaingar wouldn’t have dreamed that the kid behind him would one day destroy his party”.
He was not wrong. Vijay’s two-year-old Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) party was the underdog in the 2026 Tamil Nadu elections. Even exit polls suggested it was unlikely to make much of an impact. By May 4, however, Vijay’s party had pulled off one of the most stunning upsets in recent political history, securing approximately 35% of the popular vote and capturing 108 seats. TVK’s digital-led campaign and Vijay’s personal brand broke the long duopoly of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). Former CM of Tamil Nadu MK Stalin couldn’t resist a jibe: “TVK leader Vijay became the Chief Minister by influencing children through Instagram, without even appointing booth agents properly,” he said while addressing a gathering in Thanjavur.
While competitors DMK and AIADMK spent over Rs 150 crore on digital advertisements, TVK’s official paid ad spend this election season was around `50-70 crore. Unlike traditional politicians, Vijay didn’t give any one-on-one media interviews or face press conferences. In fact, he had to cut short his physical campaign after dozens were killed in a crowd stampede at one of his rallies in September last year. But he continued to communicate directly with his voter base through digital outreach, video clips, and his army of diehard fans.
What really helped in the outreach strategy was this enormous network of around 85,000 fan clubs across Tamil Nadu, organised under his welfare association, the Vijay Makkal Iyakkam. These regional fan clubs served as the grassroots foundation for his political party. With the help of the fan army, Vijay amplified his limited public appearances on social media, using bite-sized videos on Instagram (Reels) and YouTube (Shorts).
“Vijay treated the election campaign like a premium film launch rather than a conventional political campaign,” says Shruti Mishra, founder & CEO IImage Stereo Marcom. “Teaser drops, controlled visuals, scarcity of interviews, algorithm-friendly short form content, WhatsApp circulation, hologram appearances, AI generated edits, fan-led amplification — every touchpoint was designed for repeat consumption, not one-time exposure.”
Recipe for success
“From my experience, such strategy works explosively only when the brand’s pre-political equity is extraordinary, which makes Vijay’s case illustrative, not prescriptive,” says image guru Dilip Cherian. Experts say Vijay’s political brand was meticulously cultivated over his 30-year career as a superstar in Kollywood. Starting with his lead debut in Naalaya Theerpu (1992), Vijay acted in over 70 films, earning the moniker Thalapathy (leader). He chose films that tackled political themes, corruption, inequality, and systemic issues, establishing himself as a champion of the underprivileged, say film industry observers.
By choosing social engagement over traditional media Vijay wasn’t really doing anything new, say branding experts. Political parties like the Bhartiya Janata Party had long before him understood the reach and power of the digital medium and its potential to become a command centre in Indian politics. “What Vijay did was the same thing that helped Prime Minister Narendra Modi build its ‘Modi’ brand before the 2014 elections,” says Sandeep Goyal, MD, Rediffusion Brand Solutions. National and regional political parties had spent 15% of their advertising budgets online in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, estimated the country’s largest media agency network GroupM.
Vijay didn’t stop at that. By swapping the traditional veshti (dhoti) and white shirt for a sharp black suit and white shirt, he distanced himself from the “Dravidian politician” aesthetic, and connected instantly with the younger voters in the state. “There is a new wave of voters in the state and these kids were literally schooling their parents to vote for Vijay,” says Aditi Phadnis, author & political commentator.
While social media will become a major outlet for political parties to reach the masses in the future, the extent of use will depend on the demographic of the addressable market. The best example again is Tamil Nadu, which has exceptionally high smartphone usage and penetration, with smartphone access reaching nearly 78% in rural households and even higher in urban areas. That’s what gave Vijay the game-changing breakthrough in an early-adopting tech-savvy market.