Did You Know? – How Bollywood Stars Have Fared As Parliamentarians
Here's how Bollywood stars have fared as parliamentarians.
For Sunny Deol, the success of Gadar 2 has come as a mixed blessing. With it came the news of his prime property in Mumbai’s Juhu being auctioned off by a bank that must recover unpaid dues. That move was cancelled for which the Member of Parliament from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party had to lobby hard.
But, do you know that his attendance in Parliament is very poor and in over four years, he has asked only one question. He participated in no debate and made no contribution to the proceedings. This has been a sore point with those in Gurdaspur who elected him. Social media is awash with posts and clips of people who feel let down. “He has blitzed the whole of Punjab with Gadar 2 publicity and toured the state. But where was he during the drought, floods, and the rising drug problem? Did he speak a word during the assembly elections? We wish all his films are hits, but what has he done for Gurdaspur?”
The story is similar to that of his actor-father Dharmendra. He was ill at ease during the debates. If there were unruly scenes, the “he-man of Bollywood”, simply walked away. Do you know that this was also the story of Govinda elected from Mumbai and of Rajesh Khanna, elected from New Delhi?
Politics and Parliament were alien to most Bollywood stars. Prithviraj Kapoor spoke and introduced a bill pertaining to the film industry. Dilip Kumar and Nargis also spoke on some occasions. But Dilip was not regular due to ill health and Nargis was a member for only 13 months before she succumbed to cancer.
But hold on – Hema Malini is an active member elected from Mathura twice. So was Jaya Pradha who was elected to the Rajya Sabha from different parties. Vyjayanthimala made spirited speeches during the two terms she was in the Lok Sabha.
Poet-writer Javed Akhtar by comparison was an active member who attended regularly and spoke with flourish and knowledgeably.
But do you know that the best performances came from three of the top Bollywood personalities who were ministers? They did not speak often, but held offices and administered them well. Vinod Khanna and Shatrughan Sinha were both ministers in Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. Sinha was the Health Minister while Khanna was the junior minister for External Affairs. Indeed, Khanna represented Gurdaspur till he dropped out on health grounds and later died of cancer. Dharmendra succeeded him.
The most gracious was the performance of Sunil Dutt, who was in charge of Youth and Sports in the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. But like wife Nargis, he died in office, leaving behind a fairly good record and tremendous goodwill.
The list cannot be complete without a mention of the ‘Big B’.
He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1984. Fellow members and ministers turned autograph hunters the first time he attended. Although a close friend of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Amitabh Bachchan attended fairly regularly but did not speak at all. He resigned his membership halfway and in an interview, he called politics a “cesspool”. This is more than compensated, however, by wife Jaya Bachchan who has been several years in the Rajya Sabha and attends and speaks regularly.
