India, Nov. 7 -- Tamil Nadu has been witnessing the rise, role and impact of populism in politics for over seven decades. Today, the decay and perils of populism appears to be beyond any redemption. There was a time that politics in Tamil Nadu needed an impulse of populism as a push factor for promoting Dravidian political ideology and cultural identity politics with remarkable social history and intellectual background. The cinema by historical coincidence became the medium and energetic vehicle of this early populism that several leaders including C.N.Annadurai (Anna) and M.Karunanidhi had foreseen its potential but underestimated its limitations of sabotaging politics and democracy. The rise of matinee idol M.G.Ramachandran (MGR) and t...