As the high-decibel campaigning for the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly election, one of the most closely watched contests in recent years, ended on Tuesday evening, the spotlight fell on the fledgling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) founded by actor-turned-politician C. Joseph Vijay.

A new entrant to Tamil Nadu’s highly contested electoral battlefield, Mr. Vijay, a celebrated Kollywood star on whose popularity the party is banking-on to face the election, attracted massive crowds to his freewheeling roadshows, drawing significant numbers of women and youth.