Published Sep 21, 2026 | 9:30 AM ⚊ Updated Sep 21, 2026 | 9:30 AM
Image used for representative purpose. (AI generated image)
Synopsis: A mix of viral reels, influencer-generated content and fan-driven promotions is shaping TVK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay’s popularity beyond the state. However, Vijay, the actor, is winning eyeballs for such promotions rather than the politician Vijay.
Saurav (name changed) is a typical Gen Z. A 26-year-old student from Bihar, he is studying at one of India’s prominent national universities. He spends hours on social media, especially Instagram, where truth often blends with fake narratives.
He is also a fan of Thalapathi Vijay, as the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, C. Joseph Vijay, is popularly known. Saurav has been following Vijay’s movies for the past 14 years.
“I feel Chief Minister Vijay’s activities over the past few months have been good. I liked the closing of TASMAC outlets near schools and colleges, his surprise inspections at educational institutions, and attracting investments to Tamil Nadu,” he said.
Saurav admitted that Instagram is his major source of information on Vijay.
“I occasionally read news articles, but reels are mostly my main source of news. I learnt about Tamil culture and politics mainly through Tamil films,” he said.
Saurav, however, hasn’t realised that most Instagram content about Vijay is agenda-driven, often paid, and not always accurate.
Of late, a large number of videos about Vijay have been circulating on Instagram and other social media platforms. South First can confirm that at least some of this content is paid promotional material, with influencers being offered or paid amounts ranging from ₹50,000 to ₹1 lakh.
Online promotions have become part of the digital world. Social media platforms, where millions of people hang out, have emerged as important campaigning spaces for businesses and political parties.
Such promotional campaigns highlight genuine achievements, qualities and history. They also push false information, manufactured images and carefully constructed narratives.
Over the past few months, both types of social media content on Vijay have been gaining traction.
On one hand, videos are promoting false claims and narratives are being circulated, including claims that Vijay has ordered that sexual offenders should be shot and that he has ordered that a mention of caste should no longer be required for students in Tamil Nadu.
There are also vox-pop videos seeking public views to project Vijay as a national political figure and potential prime minister.
Also Read: Is Tamil Nadu’s new government being run through social media?
Dinesh has been studying the Public Relations industry for a long time.
Screenshots of Instagram conversations in which influencers discuss payments for promotional content related to Vijay Thalapathy.
Speaking to South First, Dinesh said he had contacted and spoken to several influencers. Sufiya Khan, who has 2.2 million followers, and subhhi_blogger, who has around 350,000 followers, were two among them.
These influencers have been continuously sharing different kinds of videos about Vijay.
In the case of Khan, her manager told Dinesh that she had been paid ₹60,000 for a video claiming that Vijay had decided to shoot sexual offenders immediately. She also agreed to create a similar video for Dinesh for ₹50,000.
Subhhi_blogger shared a video: “The fear has come true. Once again, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay’s decision has sent shockwaves across the state. He decided there should be no donation boxes in temples. If there are donation boxes, they should be placed only in schools, colleges, and hospitals. Because God doesn’t need money; children in schools need good education, and poor people in hospitals need financial support. This change should happen not just in Tamil Nadu, but across the whole of India. What do you guys think? The fear has come true.”
When Dinesh asked how much he had been paid for the video, he said he received ₹20,000 and agreed to create a similar video if Dinesh paid the same amount.
Dinesh has also published video and screenshot evidence relating to these interactions on social media. Despite this, the videos are still available on the influencers’ pages.
Dinesh was among lakhs of Vijay supporters who initially believed he would usher in change when he launched the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK).
He spent nearly a year with TVK, working at different levels within the party. He later left the party after becoming dissatisfied with how it was run. He is now supporting Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK).
“I was initially with Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam. I believed that he would bring about a change. But when people who had engaged in corruption in different parties started joining this party, I realised that he too was like the others. “I joined this party (NTK) because I was opposed to the two Dravidian parties, and I could not go back to either of them. So I joined Naam Tamilar Katchi because it felt like an alternative,” he said.
Dinesh said that since he had been with the TVK, he has some understanding of its social media promotions, the money spent and the number of people working together as a team.
“Recently, I noticed that influencers from Hindi-speaking states were posting videos about Vijay and that the number of ‘likes’ those videos were receiving was unusually high. I have some Hindi-speaking friends, so when I asked them about it, I found that, contrary to what these videos suggested, most of them either knew very little about Vijay or knew him only as an actor,” he said.
Dinesh said it prompted him to contact the influencers and find out how much they were being paid and how the system operated.
He also pointed out what he considers an important difference between the campaign in South India and the campaign in North India.
“Before the elections, in Tamil Nadu, TVK projected Vijay as ‘Vetri Thalaivar Vijay’ and ‘Makkal Mudhalvar Vijay’. But after the election, the name ‘Joseph Vijay’ started being spoken about everywhere.
“However, the name Joseph Vijay is missing in the campaign videos being circulated in North India. The campaign is carried out entirely under the name ‘Vijay Thalapathy’.
Dinesh felt it was a deliberate strategy. Some Hindu audiences in North India may worry about a person from another religion ruling them. Vijay’s Christian identity is therefore avoided in these campaigns.
“This entire operation is being carried out amid several such strategic calculations,” he said.
Also Read: How pro-TVK social media is cooking up political myths
Dinesh said that although he had spoken to these influencers and found out how much they were being paid, many social media users still asked him for evidence and proof of payments.
However, it is not easy for an individual to collect direct evidence from these influencers. Even if such evidence is obtained, establishing that a particular political party had paid the money is difficult.
South First spoke to several PR professionals who had previously carried out similar political campaigns.
One of them explained how such payments are made. “Generally, when we do this kind of work, we do not make digital transactions. If they are local influencers, the money is given to them in cash,” he said.
“If they are located far away and payment has to be made through a bank, the money will be transferred through the bank accounts of people who are not associated with our company. The person through whose account the money is transferred changes each time. If we have to make payments to people outside the state, an agent there handles it. We send the money to that person, and he distributes the cash,” the PR professional, who did not wish to be identified, said.
The payment chain is often structured so that there is no direct connection between the organisation or political party running the campaign and the influencers working on it.
In some cases, the influencers may not even know which organisation they are working for.
Another PR professional shared an interesting experience. “When I requested a quotation from an agent to promote a leading actor who is currently said to be entering politics, the agent told me that he had 800 Instagram IDs and 300 X handles. This is how many intermediaries operate. Some of them manage multiple IDs themselves, while others maintain relationships with several influencers and get the work we require done through them,” he said.
Also Read: With TN youth unemployment rising, Vijay needs this UPI moment for jobs
A PR industry leader who previously worked for governments and currently works for several political leaders said fan clubs are Vijay’s biggest strength.
“Vijay’s positive is his fan clubs. As soon as he started his political party, his fan-club social media groups across India were converted into party groups. Currently, the company that has handled his film promotions for a long time is also producing these videos. They prepare the content and circulate it through these groups. This is how most of these videos reach social media users and the general public,” he said.
He further said that the company had already built an influencer network across India for movie promotions and other requirements.
“They are now using the same network for their political objectives,” he said.
However, he pointed out an important aspect: not all of these influencers are doing this for money.
“There are influencers who simply pick up whatever is trending on social media and use it to get views. Some of them use such trends to promote their own accounts, and that also benefits Vijay,” he said.
This distinction is important. The available evidence does not establish that every Vijay-related video circulating on social media is a paid promotion.
Interestingly, some accounts have only around 15,000 followers, but their videos about Vijay have reached as many as three million viewers.
For example, the digital creator its_your_danish_786 has only 14.1K followers on Instagram. The account was started only in January 2026.
The account primarily uploads opinion-seeking vox-pop videos. His videos asked viewers who they thought was the best candidate for India’s next prime minister and India’s best chief minister. Videos in which people speak highly of Vijay have also been widely shared.
The contrast is notable when you examine the account closely. Videos posted on other topics generally received only a few thousand views, whereas videos about Vijay frequently reached millions of viewers.
The PR professional who spoke to us about paid promotions explained the economics behind such campaigns.
“Generally, if the budget is ₹1 lakh, sometimes we divide it among four IDs, or we use a single ID for the promotion. If it is a vox-pop, we need to interview around 100 people. We negotiate the entire package for ₹1 lakh,” he said.
Instagram, X and other social media platforms are predominantly used by younger sections of society, including Gen Z, although they also have a significant number of older users.
Beyond these platforms, however, Vijay is also being celebrated by women, older adults and others who may not necessarily be active on Instagram or Facebook.
Kamala, 55, suddenly began posting a series of Vijay videos featuring mass background music on her WhatsApp status one day.
When asked about it, she said: “Yes, that brother is doing good things, right? He says he is protecting women. He says that if anyone lays a hand on us, there will immediately be a death sentence. That’s why I put these videos on my status.”
When asked where she got this information, she said she uses the ShareChat app.
“I get a lot of videos like this there. I simply download them and put them on WhatsApp. It is not only Vijay. You get devotional videos, good-morning videos and everything else there,” she said.
Several local social media platforms such as ShareChat have become part of the daily digital routine of stay-at-home women, older adults and others who live outside the Insta or Facebook ecosystem.
Campaigns aimed at these audiences are also being circulated through such platforms.
However, not all of these campaigns can be characterised as paid promotions.
Muralikrishnan Chinnadurai, founder of Muralikrishnan Chinnadurai MediaCorp OPC PVT LTD, says that many of these videos are actually circulated by what are known as “virtual warriors” — TVK’s online members.
One of the most prominent narratives in reels is promoting Vijay as India’s next prime minister. These videos have received millions of views, along with large numbers of likes and shares.
More importantly, these videos are being circulated particularly in North Indian states.
“If I accidentally watch even one Vijay reel, immediately a series of similar reels starts appearing next. As far as our area is concerned, nobody really knows about the political dynamics of Tamil Nadu,” Ritha Priya Nandi from West Bengal said.
“They know Vijay as an actor, so that is how they see him. He was an actor before and even now, when I occasionally watch the Tamil Nadu Assembly, I feel like he is still acting. Everything he says and does is presented as content for people to consume rather than something that is necessar,ily viewed in terms of whether it is actually focused on development,” she said.
Ashutosh from Bihar said, “Even though Vijay is now the chief minister, most Hindi-speaking people don’t primarily see him as a politician. For many, he is still an actor who has entered politics. His PR and social media presence are very strong, which is one of the reasons Gen Z is getting attracted to him.”
He added that Tamil Nadu politics is not popular among Hindi-speaking audiences. Unless someone actively follows politics, watches political news or is genuinely interested in South Indian politics, they probably don’t know much about the state’s political dynamics.
“So, when people outside Tamil Nadu see Vijay, they often see the celebrity first and the politician second. That’s why calling him ‘PM material’ at this stage is more of a broader media and PR narrative than a reflection of his actual political standing across India.”
Udayan from Siliguri echoed Ritha’s views. “You should not interpret people in reels from West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and other states mentioning Vijay’s name as support for his politics.
“They support him because he is an actor. Most of them do not even know what the political situation in Tamil Nadu is,” he said.
The impact of these reels is not limited to India. They have also had an impact beyond the country.
Rajulam from Nepal usually watches Vijay’s films in Hindi. He has watched films such as GOAT and Varisu multiple times. After watching the Hindi reels that reached him, he felt that Vijay coming to power in India was a major revolution.
“In Tamil Nadu, everything gets solved immediately. Crimes are prevented. Older adults and women are protected. Vijay is actually governing very well,” Rajulam said.
Similarly, Ritha mentioned that when she travelled to Murshidabad, she noticed teenagers repeatedly watching GOAT.
For many people from Hindi-speaking states, they immediately recognise and enthusiastically respond to Vijay’s name because of his films.
The push for prime ministership has expanded beyond social media. TVK MLAs are talking about Vijay as the next prime minister, even in the state Assembly.
This has not only created a difficult situation for the Indian National Congress, which already considers Rahul Gandhi as its prime ministerial candidate, but has also created an uncomfortable situation between the two parties.
Neither side has openly confronted the issue, while the media has occasionally discussed it.
A person with extensive experience in the PR industry, who currently works for several Members of Parliament and Members of the Legislative Assembly and who did not wish to be named, offered one interpretation of the development.
“I feel these PM-push reels may have started circulating after Amit Shah met Vijay in Chennai last August. Discussions are already taking place around a third front that the Congress does not lead. I feel the BJP may be trying to benefit by positioning Vijay as such a third force,” he said.
Chinnadurai also put forward a similar view. “This could perhaps be a BJP strategy to isolate the Congress at the national level. Also, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam could be trying to harvest as much as possible from the momentum that a public figure like Vijay has currently gained and use it to bargain with other parties during elections,” he said.
The PR person, as well as Chinnadurai, felt the TVK is now aping the BJP strategy of using social media to push a campaign without distinguishing what was true from what was false, relying instead on Vijay’s popularity.
Chinnadurai went a step further. “Forget North India. If they contest elections in states such as Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in South India and win a certain number of seats, it would help them establish themselves as a central force in subsequent elections and also give them the ability to bargain with other parties,” he said.
Evidence shows that TVK has developed a significant social-media presence beyond Tamil Nadu.
Screenshots of TVK-related social media pages operating under the names of different states across India.
For example, except for a few states and Union Territories in India, TVK has state-specific social media pages.
Outside Tamil Nadu, some of these state-level social media pages have followers ranging from a few hundred to lakhs. For example, more than 1.3 lakh people follow the official TVK Instagram page for Kerala.
These pages continuously share videos of Vijay’s activities, as well as videos designed to project him as a mass leader.
The common factor among these pages is that, except for one or two, almost all were created after January 2026. The Maharashtra page, however, has been active since 2014. It has around 18,000 followers, but the page was only recently renamed to its current name.
This suggests that TVK’s digital presence is not limited to Tamil Nadu.
However, Felix Gerald, the party’s national spokesperson and chairman of the Tamil Nadu State Minorities Commission, said the party has not officially undertaken any such activity outside Tamil Nadu and that TVK currently operates only in Tamil Nadu.
“There is absolutely no need for us to pay for PR. Over the past two years, the term TVK has become an important hashtag at the national level. Since using it helps videos get good views, various creators use the names Vijay, TVK and Thalapathy,” Gerald said.
He also said that Vijay is naturally popular not only in India but among young people in neighbouring countries such as Pakistan.
“There is naturally an expectation among these young people that a similar kind of change could happen in their own region.
“As a result, people from not just across India but from various other places also see Vijay as a major leader,” he said.
