Tryst in Tirupati: What's on Pawan Kalyan's mind?

Pawan Kalyan is a man of many parts. Actor, Scriptwriter, Producer, Social Activist, Politician. What he is at any point in time depends on his time, his call sheet and inclination. 

On Saturday in Tirupati, he will be seen in his avatar as Jana Sena chief, addressing a public meeting. He founded Jana Sena in March 2014, too close to the general elections to be able to contest and make a mark electorally. So he did the next best thing. He tied up with the BJP and the Telugu Desam and campaigned for the alliance. 

With the Naidu-Modi-Pawan chemistry working, Chandrababu Naidu was thankful Pawan Kalyan brought in Kapu and youth votes into his kitty and helped him make a comeback as chief minister.

In the last two years, Pawan Kalyan has spent more time being 'Sardaar Gabbar Singh' than Pawan Kalyan. However, that film, which he wrote and co-produced, turned out to be a damp squib and not a patch on 'Gabbar Singh' (the remake of Salman Khan's 'Dabangg'). His last movie - 'Attarintiki Daredi' in 2013, was the highest-grossing Telugu film of all time till its record was overtaken by 'Bahubali'. 

Pawan Kalyan's proposed meeting in Tirupati has raised eyebrows because he had gone to the temple town ostensibly to console the family of Vinod Royal, a 24-year-old fan of the 'Power Star', the moniker Pawan is known by in Tollywood. 

Vinod was stabbed to death in Kolar in Karnataka on Sunday by two fans of Junior NTR, another popular Telugu film star and grandson of the legendary NT Rama Rao. Pawan's message to his fans was to eschew fandom violence, but instead of returning to Hyderabad, he decided to stay put and asked his fans and Jana Sena activists to organise a public meeting.

Given that Jana Sena is still a one-man think tank outfit mainly, no one quite knows what is on Pawan's mind. 

The Junior NTR camp, rattled by the unfortunate incident just ten days before the release of NTR's 'Janatha Garage' is subtly attributing political motives to Pawan's visit. Even assuming that Pawan wants to spell out his mind on issues like special category status to Andhra, the timing and location seem wrong as the incident of his fan's murder is fresh on everyone's mind.

Or is Pawan Kalyan going to call for a truce between all fan associations? 

Fan clubs in a bid to impress their stars go to extreme lengths, which includes abusing the rival or even indulging in physical violence. But in that case, it should have been done from the platform of the fans association and not Jana Sena. 

This overlap of filmy and political identities does not do the branding of Pawan Kalyan as a politician any good.

Tirupati has always held a special place for Andhra politicians with most choosing to start their election campaign or political innings after a darshan of Lord Venkateswara. Tirupati was where Pawan's brother Chiranjeevi launched his Praja Rajyam party in 2008 at an impressive gathering before it turned a political cropper and the actor-turned-politician merged it with the Congress party.

In the last two years, Pawan Kalyan has reduced his political career to making special appearances. He addressed a press conference when land was being acquired for the construction of the capital in Amaravati, even making a visit to meet the aggrieved farmers. But after a subsequent meeting with Naidu, the actor went into silent mode.

If Pawan Kalyan is serious about a political role, he will need to devote time and attention to it. Film stars are too used to scripted roles and find the going tough in the political theatre where they need to react at the spur of the moment without a retake. 

Pawan Kalyan has so far, come across as someone who thinks with his heart. Nothing wrong with it except that he will need to keep in mind, the games politicians play.