Success in one field does not guarantee success in other fields. Expertise in one vocation cannot automatically become expertise in another. Despite this truism, many successful actors in Tamil Nadu drift into politics optimistically.
Kamal Haasan has done the same thing. Does he have what it takes to excel in politics? I was listening to his debate with Smriti Irani in a television channel yesterday and got convinced that the probability of his success in his new avatar as a politician is almost zero.
Binary rules do not operate in the political jungle. Successful politicians do not give a definitive yes or no answer to any question. They are required to provide convoluted and long answers even to simple questions. This unfailingly provides an opportunity to wriggle out of any unforeseen contretemps. Yes or no answer does not enable one to come up with statements like 'this is not what I meant' or 'the media misreported what I said' if and when subsequent circumstances demand backtracking. Such circumstances are very common in politics.
In a way, Kamal Haasan was unlucky to be pitted against Smriti Irani who is a seasoned politician with a masterful play on words. She is capable of saying something and immediately thereafter proving that she never said such a thing. In contrast, Kamal Haasan came out as a babe in the political woods.
The actor has another problem. Oral articulation helps in politics. Somehow he is very economical with words in political conversations and is unable to put across his ideas convincingly and with clarity. Perhaps clarity of expression is constrained by inadequate clarity of thought.
Kamal Haasan has done the same thing. Does he have what it takes to excel in politics? I was listening to his debate with Smriti Irani in a television channel yesterday and got convinced that the probability of his success in his new avatar as a politician is almost zero.
Binary rules do not operate in the political jungle. Successful politicians do not give a definitive yes or no answer to any question. They are required to provide convoluted and long answers even to simple questions. This unfailingly provides an opportunity to wriggle out of any unforeseen contretemps. Yes or no answer does not enable one to come up with statements like 'this is not what I meant' or 'the media misreported what I said' if and when subsequent circumstances demand backtracking. Such circumstances are very common in politics.
In a way, Kamal Haasan was unlucky to be pitted against Smriti Irani who is a seasoned politician with a masterful play on words. She is capable of saying something and immediately thereafter proving that she never said such a thing. In contrast, Kamal Haasan came out as a babe in the political woods.
The actor has another problem. Oral articulation helps in politics. Somehow he is very economical with words in political conversations and is unable to put across his ideas convincingly and with clarity. Perhaps clarity of expression is constrained by inadequate clarity of thought.
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