A melange of celluloid heroes, comedians and villains, who have thrown their weight behind various political parties, are all set to test their 'appeal' among the Tamil Nadu electorate in the ensuing polls.

The ruling AIADMK, headed by Ms Jayalalithaa, a yesteryear heroine herself, is apparently a 'box-office hit' in the Tamil film industry going by the number of film personalities, who made a beeline to her Poes Garden residence to enroll themselves as party members.

Actors Murali, Vijayakumar, comedian Senthil, directors R V Uthayakumar and Manobala and scriptwriter Liaquat Ali Khan have been crisscrossing the state, vigorously campaigning for the AIADMK soon after joining the party.

Popular heroine Simran, glamour artiste Vindhya and yesteryear actor Sathya have also pledged their support to the AIADMK supremo.

The Opposition DMK also boasts of a good number of film stars as its supporters including leading hero Sarathkumar, character artistes Chandrasekar and Thyagu.

If the AIADMK has fielded film comedian S V Sekar in the Mylapore constituency in the city for the ensuing elections, the Opposition DMK has pitted celluloid villain Napolean against him.

Napolean, who was elected from the Villivakkam constituency in the 2001 elections, has been shifted to Mylapore to lock horns with his filmi colleague.

Another reel villain Ananthraj has been nominated as the AIADMK candidate for the Orleanpet seat in Pondicherry, the first film star to face the battle of ballot in the Union Territory.

However, among the galaxy of film stars, who have jumped into the political bandwagon, the cynosure of all eyes in this election is the greenhorn Vijayakanth -- fondly called 'Captain' in the film circle for his roles as honest army officer.

While some of his film colleagues, nurturing political aspirations, have extended support to one party or the other, Vijayakanth, who has considerable fan following in northern and southern pockets of the state, has chosen to float his own political outfit 'Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam.' Encouraged by massive turnout of crowds in his public meetings, the Captain has even spurned feelers from two Dravidian parties -- AIADMK and the DMK -- for joining them in alliance and decided to lead his men by going it alone in all the 234 constituencies in the state.

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