Indian Film Actor Who Becomes Politicians

There is a deep connection between films and politics in India. Many film actors have been used in politics to enhance the identity of the party. The beginning of the entry of the actors of the film industry into politics in India started from South India. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. G. Ramachandran was once a very famous actor of Tamil cinema. He became Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in 1977, the first film actor to become a chief minister in India.

Apart from this, many other famous actors came openly in the field of politics and also became politician as MP, Minister, Chief Minister, MLA. Here is a list of famous actors of India who also became politicians.

• M. G. Ramachandran – He was famous actor of Tamil movies. Initially, he started his political innings with the Congress Party. Then he joined DMK party. In 1972, he founded his own party the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). Five years later, M.G.R. steered an AIADMK-led alliance to victory in the 1977 election, routing the DMK in the process. He became Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. He held the post of Chief Minister till his death (24 December 1987).
• J. Jayalalithaa – J. Jayalalithaa is the first Indian film actress who has joined politics from the film world and became the Chief Minister of any state. J. Jayalalithaa had been a well-known actress of Tamil films. She considered MGR as her mentor. On 4 June 1982 she joined the AIADMK. She was a member of Rajya Sabha from 3 April 1984 to 28 January 1989. After MGR’s death, the AIDMK party was led by J. Jayalalithaa and on 24 June 1991, he took oath as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. She became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu state for 5 times. Till the day of her death (5 December 2016), she held the post of Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu state.
• Bhagwant Singh Mann – Bhagwant Singh Mann started his career with stage shows and worked in television shows and also played the main character in some Punjabi movies. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, he won the election from the Sangrur Lok Sabha constituency of Punjab from the Aam Aadmi Party. Then in the year 2019 also won the Lok Sabha elections from there. In the assembly elections held in Punjab in 2022, Aam Aadmi Party made him the chief ministerial candidate. Party won the election with an overwhelming majority, after which Bhagwant Singh Mann became the 14th Chief Minister of Punjab in March 2022. In this way, he is the third Indian actor to become the Chief Minister from the film world to politics.
• Amitabh Bachchan – Amitabh Bachchan, who is called the megastar of Hindi films, contested from Allahabad Lok Sabha constituency in 1984 as a candidate of the Congress Party and defeated Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna by a huge margin. But due to the name of Bachchan being raised in a scam, Amitabh Bachchan resigned from the post of MP in 1987. After that he never did active politics again.
• Rajesh Khanna – Noted actor of Indian Hindi cinema Rajesh Khanna was a member of Parliament for the Indian National Congress, from the New Delhi constituency, where he won the 1992 by-election, retaining his seat until 1996. Rajesh Khanna died in 2012.
• Dharmendra – Dharmendra is a famous actor of Indian Hindi cinema. He was a member of the Lok Sabha from 13 May 2005 to 16 May 2009 as a BJP MP from Bikaner (Rajsthan) Loksabha constituency.
• Raj Babbar – Raj Babbar is a famous actor of Hindi cinema. Raj Babbar entered politics by joining Janata Dal in 1989. He later joined Samajwadi Party and was elected as Member of Parliament of India three times. From 1994 to 1999 he was a member of Rajya Sabha. He was re-elected in the 14th Lok Sabha elections for his second term in 2004. Later he joined Indian National Congress in 2008 and was elected for his fourth term as Member of Parliament in 2009 from Agra (UP). From 2009 to 2014, he was also the MP of Firozabad (UP). From 14 March 2015 to 25 November 2020, Raj Babbar has been a member of the Rajya Sabha as a Congress leader. He has also been the Congress President of Uttar Pradesh state.

• Sunny Deol – Sunny Deol is a famous actor of Hindi cinema. He is serving as a BJP MP from Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituency of Punjab since the year 2019.
• Nusrat Jahan – Nusrat Jahan is an famous actress who predominantly works in Bengali cinema. She is Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Basirhat (WB) constituency as a Trinamool Congress candidate since 2019.
• Ravi Kishan – Ravi Kishan is an famous actor in Bhojpuri films. He is Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Gorakhpur (UP) constituency from BJP party since 2019.
• Hema Malini – Hema Malini is a famous actress of Hindi films. She was a Rajya Sabha MP from the BJP party from 16 November 2003 to 15 November 2009. Again from 4 March 2011 to 2 April 2012, she was a Rajya Sabha MP. In 2014, she became an MP from Mathura Lok Sabha constituency of UP on a BJP ticket and in the year 2019, she again won the election of MP from the same constituency.
• Jaya Bachchan – Jaya Bachchan has been a famous actress of Hindi cinema. She has been a member of the Rajya Sabha 4 times as a leader of the Samajwadi Party. She is still a Rajya Sabha MP.
• Vinod Khanna – Vinod Khanna, the famous actor of Indian Hindi cinema, died on 27 April 2017. In 1997, Khanna joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and was elected from Gurdaspur constituency in Punjab in 1997. In 1999, he was re-elected to the Lok Sabha from the same constituency. Later, he became union minister for culture and tourism in July 2002. Six months later, he was moved to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) as Minister of State. In 2004 he won re-election from Gurdaspur.
• Sunil Dutt – Sunil Dutt, the famous actor of Hindi cinema, died on 25 May 2005. In 1984 he joined the Indian National Congress party and was elected to the Parliament of India for five terms from the constituency of Mumbai North West for Congress Party.
• Govinda – Govinda is a famous actor of Hindi cinema. He was a Lok Sabha MP from the Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat as a Congress leader from 2004 to 2009.
• Shatrughna Sinha – Shatrughna Sinha is a famous actor in Hindi cinema. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1996 to 2008 as a BJP leader. Sinha was also Union Cabinet Minister, Shipping and Minister of Health and Family Welfare in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government. From Patna Sahib (Bihar) Lok Sabha constituency as a BJP leader he won the elections in 2009 and 2014 and remained MP for 2 consecutive terms till 2019. In 2019, he joined the Indian National Congress Party.

• Nitish Bharadwaj – He is famous actor of Hindi television serial and movies. He was a Member of Parliament from the Jamshedpur (Jharkhand) Lok Sabha constituency as a BJP leader from 1996 to 1998.
• Prithviraj Kapoor – Prithviraj Kapoor, who was a veteran actor of Indian cinema, was a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha from 1952 to 1960. He was the first Indian actor to have the honor of being a nominated member in the Rajya Sabha.
• Rekha – Rekha, a noted actress of Indian Hindi cinema, has been a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha from 2012 to 2018.
• Dara Singh – World famous wrestler and actor Dara Singh was a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha from 2003 to 2009.
• Vyjayantimala – Vyjayantimala, a famous actress of Hindi cinema, has been a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha from 1993 to 1999.
• Shabana Azmi – Shabana Azmi has been a famous actress of Hindi art cinema. She has been a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha from 27 August 1997 to 26 August 2003.
• Javed Akhtar – Javed Akhtar is a renowned writer of Hindi cinema. He has been a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha from 22 March 2010 to 21 March 2016.
• Shyam Benegal – Shyam Benegal is an famous film director, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker. He has been a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha from 16 February 2006 to 15 February 2012.
• Lata Mangeshkar – Lata Mangeshkar was a famous singer of Indian cinema. He died on 6 February 2022. She had been a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha from 22 November 1999 to 21 November 2005.
• Urmila Matondkar – Urmila Matondkar is a famous actress of Hindi films. Urmila is a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council as the leader of the Shiv Sena party since the year 2020.