Newsmaker | The many roles of Udhayanidhi Stalin: Film baron, reluctant politician to Tamil Nadu’s Dy CM-in-waiting

SET TO become the Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister, Udhayanidhi Stalin made his long-anticipated political debut just over five years ago when, before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he toured the state as head of the DMK youth wing.

According to a senior DMK leader, the 46-year-old earned his stripes with that 2019 tour, drawing curious and excited crowds across Tamil Nadu.

In the 2021 Assembly elections, Udhayanidhi was fielded from one of the DMK’s safest seats, Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni in Chennai. With his win virtually certain, Udhayanidhi proceeded to campaign across the state, brandishing at rallies a brick to underline how the previous AIADMK-BJP government had failed to complete work on the promised AIIMS-Madurai.

Several months after the DMK came to power and his father M K Stalin became the CM, Udhayanidhi was inducted as a minister, with the portfolios of Welfare and Sports Development.

Udhayanidhi’s profile has since been on the rise within the party, with DMK social media handles covering him faithfully, particularly his visits to his constituency. In preparation of this widening role in the government, he has curtailed his movie career, with last year’s well-received Maamannan talked about as perhaps his last as an actor, though he still runs one of South India’s most prominent film companies.

This rise and rise has not been without its share of detractors, especially in a party that swears by its ideological moorings. While late DMK veteran M Karunanidhi first opened party doors to the family, accommodating both his sons (Stalin, M Alagiri) and his daughter (Kanimozhi), he had ensured that they kept away from the spotlight as long as he was himself physically active in politics.

What has changed, however, is that