In a small but crowded room bathed in harsh white light and the strong whiff of oodhuvathi (incense stick), a short man stands tall. His name is KV Damodaran, South Chennai’s district general secretary of Tamil Nadu’s latest political party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), one that was floated last year by his hero, the actor-turned-politician Vijay, arguably the biggest superstar in a state that takes its superstar adulation most seriously.
Everyone among these 13 TVK party workers, seated on colourful plastic stools and pressed cheek by jowl against the three walls as well as the aluminium door on a Sunday night, is a devoted fan of Vijay.
But Damodaran, or Damu, as he likes to refer to himself, is a super fan of the superstar, whose fandom has seen him go from an autorickshaw driver when he first met his idol for an autograph to having his face plastered alongside Vijay’s on party posters found all over the southern section of this city, including, of course, Thiruvanmiyur, where, on the shoulder of the main road, sits this district’s party office.
While addressing this late-evening meet, Damu leans the small of his back against a broad table, which occupies a vast chunk of the room’s cramped real estate. Standing, the small man towers over the captivated audience and talks with frequent motions of his hands. On the forearm of his right hand is a tattoo of Vijay, holding a giant TVK flag, with the name of the party studded below Vijay’s shirt in Tamil script.
Below his left elbow is a scribble that is inked permanently, which he later tells me is Vijay’s signature. At this late and humid hour, Damu is holding court with the heads of several wings—youth, culture, sanitation, advocates—in his city district about canvassing for a state election that is little under a year away.
Disclaimer: Excerpt from "The Vijay Sena," by Aditya Iyer, originally published in the OPEN Magazine on July 25, 2025.Read full article here: https://openthemagazine.com/feature/the-vijay-sena/
