Modi, Rahul, Mammootty: India Beyond Kollywood Hails Vijay

Most of the cinema coverage of Vijay’s TVK sweep on Monday stayed inside Tamil Nadu — the early afternoon wave and the evening one with Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan and AR Rahman were both essentially Kollywood-internal. The wishes from outside the state are a different read. Bollywood arrived with a “this is a national story now” register, the political class crossed the aisle in the way only post-result moments allow, and the Telugu and Malayalam superstars filed in with notes that read less like co-star congratulations and more like industry-elder acknowledgements.

The most editorially loaded line came from Delhi rather than Mumbai or Hyderabad. Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X that “the Centre will leave no stone unturned in furthering the progress of Tamil Nadu and the well-being of their people” — a deliberately neutral, “we will work with whoever governs” framing that lands very differently when the new largest party is one that has run hard against the BJP’s record on federal posture. From the same political camp, K Annamalai — until recently the BJP’s Tamil Nadu state chief, and the man who spent three years campaigning in the same constituencies Vijay was now winning — posted: “Congrats and best wishes to TVK and Thiru Vijay for a spectacular debut in TN politics. I bow down to the people of TN for your verdict. Happy to see in my land, people have risen in one voice and spoken — no to buying of votes, no to dynastic politics.” The “generational shift” framing came from a man whose own party had just been cut out of that shift. It was the most candid line of the day from any rival camp.

Rahul Gandhi went the other way and didn’t post. Instead, he called Vijay personally, alongside calls to MK Stalin and Mamata Banerjee on the same evening. Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh relayed the conversation on X, with the line that the result “reflects the rising voice of youth which cannot, and will not, be ignored.”

The Hindi-cinema thread came in via X through the night. Anupam Kher, the most voluminous tweeter in Bollywood and a frequent BJP-aligned voice, sent the longest of the lot: “A win of this scale is never accidental — it is a victory of conviction, connection, and the trust of the people. Tamil Nadu has a rich tradition of cinema icons transforming into leaders with immense public love, and this moment stands as a powerful continuation of that legacy. To command such mass following and translate it into a decisive mandate speaks volumes about your journey and your bond with the people. Wishing you strength, wisdom, and creativity to serve the state and contribute meaningfully to the nation. Jai Hind!” That last line — “contribute meaningfully to the nation” — is the one Tamil Nadu’s political analysts will read closely for what it implies about the BJP’s medium-term posture toward TVK.

Riteish Deshmukh’s note kept the tone lighter: “The verdict is out! Huge congratulations to actor Vijay on this incredible and monumental victory. May the force be with you, may you tirelessly work for the good of the people.” His wife Genelia D’Souza, who played opposite Vijay in Sachein twenty years ago, sent her own — “Congratulations dearest actor Vijay on the stupendous public mandate and resounding victory. My best wishes for this new beginning. A new chapter begins.” That Sachein co-star line hits different on a day Vijay is being measured against MGR and Jayalalithaa.

Neil Nitin Mukesh was the third Bollywood name through.

From Mumbai’s BJP MP wing, Hema Malini — whose tweet ran in the earlier wave — followed up with a longer piece for Cinema Express that drew the explicit MGR-Jayalalithaa parallel: “The state has veered away from Dravidian supremacy which had ruled the state for many years. The youth have voted in hordes for the new first-time political star. This was a tsunami, completely unexpected, which has swept through the state which has seen the rule of film personalities MGR and Jayalalitha earlier. I wish Vijay good luck in his new role — most probably that of the new CM of Tamil Nadu.” She is among the few public figures putting the CM call on record before government formation has even started.

Mammootty’s note came in from Kerala overnight. Two-word translations rarely move the conversation; this one did, because it was the first time Mammootty had publicly weighed in on a TN election in years.

The Telugu industry’s older guard came in next. Venkatesh Daggubati, who has rarely engaged on political wins from neighbouring states, posted briefly.

Among the younger Telugu names, Vijay Deverakonda’s post is the cleanest pan-Indian endorsement of the day: “And NEW. @actorvijay garu. My admiration and congratulations to the people of Tamil Nadu for turning up so strongly to vote and take a stand for themselves. Wishing all the people of TN and the new CM prosperity and collective growth. Excited for the new phase and face of Tamil politics.”

Ravi Teja, Ram Pothineni, Nikhil Siddhartha and Sundeep Kishan all filed posts from Hyderabad, each with its own gloss. Ravi Teja read it as something he had seen coming — “Some things you just know will happen, and I truly believed this was one.” Ram Pothineni went with the boxing metaphor: “Sometimes all you need to do is stand strong and take every punch life throws at you from every direction. Congratulations to actor Vijay garu and the people of Tamil Nadu. To new beginnings.”

Sundeep Kishan kept his to one line — “Thank you for doing it the right way, anna” — which is a notable formulation. He didn’t congratulate; he thanked.

The strategist class also weighed in. Prashant Kishor, the Bihar-based political consultant who runs Jan Suraaj, had earlier described Vijay’s rise as “the most consequential third-front bet in the south in a decade” and quipped that Vijay would soon overtake MS Dhoni in Tamil Nadu’s affection rankings — a line that resurfaced through Monday evening as Tamil Nadu accounts began comparing the TVK rally crowds to early-2000s CSK arrivals at Chepauk.

Across the whole pan-India set, the framing word of the day was “youth” — used by Hema Malini, Anupam Kher, Rahul Gandhi (via Jairam Ramesh), and Annamalai, four people who agree on almost nothing else. That convergence is the actual story under the celebrity tweets, and it is the framing the new TVK government will spend the next five years either delivering on or being measured against.