Vijay, with his chief ministerial ambitions, is a one-man army, at least as of now, and his campaign team considers him omnipresent.
He has to be present in all districts, if not all constituencies at the same time, as there is no second-line leader or platform speaker in the party, who can draw crowds, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Addressing only his second public rally since announcing his party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, one-and-a-half years ago, Tamil actor-politician Vijay borrowed one of the famous one-liners of Rajinikanth, a generation older in age and filmi experience and yet continues as a box-office competitor.
His spending a few more sentences than required to declare how a 'lion comes alone' showed the lack of depth in his speech-writer's arsenal.
After all, Vijay's extended reference to the lion at times and a pride of lions in its place at the TVK's second state-level conference near the southern temple town of Madurai on Thursday, August 21, indicated the tentativeness of his political approach just now.
Vijay's negative references, thankfully left unexplained, have already hurt the sentiments of Rajini fans, who recall the full text of Rajini's one-liner from the 2007 blockbuster Sivaji: The Boss: 'Singam single-la thaan varum, panni than koottama varum (A lion comes alone, only pigs come in a herd).'
Of course, Vijay was indicating the impossibility of the TVK's electoral situation, where it is unable to join either of the major alliances for next year's assembly polls, nor is able to attract new allies, however big or small they be.
Yet, his avoidable mention that he was unlike those who for long had promised to enter direct politics but did not do so, is seen as a direct hit at Rajini.
Not that without this reference, the Rajini fans would have voted for him -- at least the superstar is inclined to support the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
But Vijay's avoidable insult and provocation has left a bad taste for middle-of-the-road voters.
These voters are mostly unaware of the continuing war-of-words between the two superstars at successive launch functions of their new films in the past couple of years.
Vijay's reference to the lion-pig combo without naming the latter has already revived the forgotten social media discourse if Rajini, that many years ago, was referring to castes in Tamil society and electoral politics.
Now, Vijay may have to bear the cross that is not his, only that the group that indulges in such exercise is hardly visible to circles outside their own.
There is no denying Team Vijay's ability to gather such a massive crowd in his name, that too for a second time in about a year.
The TVK's launch in Vikravandi in northern Tamil Nadu was an equally massive affair, well organised and choreographed.
In the otherwise politically sensitive western region, Vijay addressed party poll managers from the last booth in Coimbatore some months ago.
Again, there was a massive crowd outside the hall where in-door consultations took place.
Yet, it's all over-choreographed, as in a well-directed, big-budget movie, where nothing was left to chance, and nothing looked natural but cinematic, instead.
Political party cadres and the mediapersons who cover such events for a larger audience are still unfamiliar with a 500 metres long ramp running into the regulated crowd from the dais.
Only now they are beginning to relate a ramp to beauty pageants, and not certainly a political rally. To some, it looked imposed, to others, it's funny-looking.
But these are details that subconsciously carry a message, and unintended message, to the people, whose idea of a political leader wanting to rule them, is one who is accessible, one who mixes with them, at least until they are elected to power, when personal security becomes the concern of the government and government agencies.
It was true of DMK founder C N Annadurai and AIADMK's MGR, the nation's single-most charismatic actor-politician of all times.
They mixed with the people all the time, until their health conditions forbade them from doing so.
So was it with Karunanidhi and less so with Jayalalithaa, for whom gender became an immediate defence -- not that anyone questioned her on the subject (or any other).
In the present-day milieu, both DMK Chief Minister M K Stalin and rival AIADMK predecessor Edappadi K Palaniswami freely mix with the crowds, wherever they find the time.
It has more to do with their tight travel and campaign schedules.
Vijay, in contrast, addresses one rally in a year, at least so far, and his planned rallies do not provide for the same.
Instead, it is the ubiquitous 'bouncers', who have become indispensable and too visible in their all-black attire, who are all over the place -- and are put-offish, even for those that are watching film events on TV or YouTube, Live or not.
For bouncers to be accompanying a politician, it's not on, not so far.
The same problem exists for the other actor-politician, Seeman of the NTK. In contrast, DMK's GenNext leader and Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi looks less hassled and more accessible in public appearances.
That's only for starters, but in politics the make-believe of a different kind alone matters.
At Madurai, Vijay reiterated that the BJP ruling the Centre was his ideological enemy and the ruling DMK in the state was the political enemy.
Not only by implication, but even in his speech, he repeatedly flagged a host of issues like the protection of minorities, NEET, Sri Lanka fishers' dispute against the BJP and Prime Minister Modi.
In comparison, against the DMK and Stalin, Vijay's voice was hoarse but his arguments were weak.
That was because most arguments that he placed against the BJP and Modi were/are those that the DMK and Stalin have been shouting from roof-tops, from before assuming elected power in the state, in 2021.
This does not mean that Vijay's TVK would not get a slice of the anti-BJP votes going to the DMK-Congress combine, of which the two communist parties and the Dalit-strong VCK are also partners.
There may be minority voters and others who do not want the BJP but would not want to give the DMK a second term.
Anti-incumbency is the name of the game. But you cannot build your electoral victory on such a flimsy, negative base.
You need your own positive vote-bank, a huge one at that, as the basis.
Anti-incumbency votes are add-ons, the proverbial icing on the cake, nothing more.
Significantly, Vijay urged cadres to work as if he was the candidate in all 234 constituencies, and work for the party's victory as a whole.
This revealed nothing, especially on the likely choice of a 'safe constituency' for him, to begin with.
Yet, Vijay did not spell out that he was there also as the party's chief minister candidate -- not that it required any repetition or reiteration.
Yet, in the current context, when all is not seen as being well between the AIADMK and the BJP in the rival NDA, some observers saw a vague invitation still for EPS to team up with Vijay.
Even if it was so, by taunting EPS, too much, too far, by referring to the current leadership of a political identity once held by (such greats) as Annadurai and MGR, Vijay received an instant response from EPS, and personally so.
Yet, EPS was vague at best in responding to queries on a possible poll pact with the TVK.
At the entrance to the TVK Madurai mahanadu, or conference, they have huge cut-outs of Annadurai and MGR together. Jayalalithaa's was conspicuous by its absence.
At the launch rally in Vikravandi a year ago, they had the cut-outs of Congress leader Kamaraj -- again identified with the poor and poverty alleviation -- among others, at least two of whom the current generation had not even heard of.
That no TVK leaders mentioned their names anytime afterwards showed the kind of spoke volumes for their misplaced identities that seemed to keep changing all the time.
Rather, Team Vijay wants their leader to be everything to everyone, hence promoting leaders from previous generations, without reference to their politics and socio-political ideologies and programmes.
Now after the Madurai conference, Vijay is expected to tour the state extensively.
He seems to be following the format of the late DMDK founder and actor-politician Vijayakanth, but the latter's acts of philanthropy, both inside the film industry and outside, his sense of equanimity, leadership and participation were legendary -- much of which he lost, especially in the former department, once in politics.
However, the DMDK under Vijayakanth's wife Premalatha is said to be looking for an opening in the DMK alliance, however small the party's vote-share might have dwindled.
Another actor-politician in NTK's Seeman has been repeatedly taunting Vijay, among others, from the party's public platforms.
He has declared more than once that he would not align with Vijay, and would go it alone, one more time.
The additional real problems for Vijay and the TVK stand here.
Long before election time, Stalin and Udhayanidhi, EPS and Seeman are all out there, campaigning in district after district, constituency after constituency.
The same goes for the BJP's Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, not to mention a host of other Union ministers and Tamil Nadu party leaders.
Come election time, and they all will be out in the streets of Tamil Nadu, holding road-shows and addressing rallies, all at the same time.
The same party will have different leaders campaigning in different parts of the state on a single day.
This is how the game has been played, all along.
Vijay, with his chief ministerial ambitions, is a one-man army, at least as of now, and his campaign team considers him omnipresent.
He has to be present in all districts, if not all constituencies at the same time, as there is no second-line leader or platform speaker in the party, who can draw crowds.
Rather, deliberately, the TVK has ensured that there is no second-line leader or leaders in the party, when all others have no dearth of the crop.
Add to this is the other impediment of Vijay's chosen 234 having to campaign for themselves and the party in their own constituencies.
They will need to familiarise their faces to begin with, and also the party's symbol, when allotted.
Vijay is a name, he may even be a brand, but his face would not be the poll symbol.
Right now, the TVK is waiting for the Election Commission to open the process on symbol allotment in November.
The hopes are that they will be able to get a 'common symbol' in all 234 constituencies.
This has meant that on the ongoing 'SIR issue' involving the EC, the party would like to play safe, at least until then.
At least, Vijay did not mention it in his Madurai speech, whether by oversight or not remains to be known.
All of it leaves the TVK and Vijay to come up with a poll manifesto that is as attractive as and yet different from those of competition.
There is time, yes, but it's time Vijay starts referring to them before the voters are crowded with competitive promises on 'affirmative actions' in the future, from the rest of them all.
The BJP is only one of them, the last one to join the crowd, a party until the other day was contemptuous of the 'Dravidian model' of 'freebies', but has embraced it all, rechristening them for a national constituency as if they were innovations of the Centre, that too that of PM Modi.
N Sathiya Moorthy, veteran journalist and author, is a Chennai-based policy analyst and political commentator.
Photographs curated by Anant Salvi/Rediff
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff