Ahead of the launch of superstar Rajinikanth's political party, efforts are underway for starting a television channel by a forum floated by him, with the actor authorising the use of his name and photograph in its logo.
Rajinikanth has informed in a letter to the Registrar of Trademarks that an application made by the forum chief for trademarks be processed and he had no objection to the use of his name and photo in the logo of the proposed channel.
The matter came to light after the letter went viral on social media and sources close to the Tamil actor Friday, 21 December, confirmed its veracity.
Administrator of the Rajini Makkal Mandram, seen as a precursor to his party, VM Sudhakar applied for the trademarks ‘SUPERSTAR TV, RAJINI TV, THALAIVAR TV,’ all references to the actor.
The move is seen as keeping in line with the tradition of political parties in Tamil Nadu having their own TV channels to effectively propagate their policies and programmes.
‘Move Comes After AIADMK’s News J’
While the ruling AIADMK had recently launched 'News J' to propagate its views, a bouquet of channels under the 'Kalaignar TV' and the Marans-owned 'Sun TV' are said to be backing the opposition DMK.
'Jaya TV', managed by the relatives of jailed aide of late chief minister J Jayalalithaa, VK Sasikala was originally a mouthpiece of the AIADMK, but now backs sidelined party leader TTV Dhinakaran since his fallout with current Chief Minister K Palaniswami last year.
In his letter to the Trademarks Registrar, Rajinikanth said he had “no objection to use my name, photo on the logo and label”, adding the applications may be processed to the “next level”.
Actor-Turned-Politician Rajini
The 68-year old actor had announced taking the political plunge in December 2017 while interacting with his fans.
He had then said his to-be-launched political party will contest in all the 234 assembly segments in Tamil Nadu in the next elections, due in 2021.
Speculations of Rajini's political entry had started way back in 1996 when he made some 'frank' criticism of the then Jayalalithaa government.
He extended open support to the then DMK-Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) combine, which swept the 1996 assembly polls.
TMC was floated by veteran Congressman, late G K Mooapanar, after he quit the national party.
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