There is a moment in the animated superhero film ‘The Incredibles’ when Bob Parr, once the mighty Mr Incredible, sits in a drab office cubicle, reliving his past glory while struggling to find his place in a world that has moved on. It is a scene about loss — of power, of identity, of purpose. Former AIADMK figures O Panneerselvam, V K Sasikala and K A Sengottaiyan appear to have been caught in a similar, if less cinematic, predicament.
For decades, AIADMK functioned like a tightly bound “superfamily”, first under MGR and then J Jayalalithaa, whose charisma sat pretty with authority. In ‘The Incredibles’, the family ultimately rediscovers its strength not in individual brilliance but in collective action. AIADMK today is a family divided, the ostracised members in rival camps, one trying to plough a lonely furrow.
OPS’s journey is perhaps the most evocative of the Mr Incredible arc. Bob Parr sneaks out at night to relive his superhero days; OPS drove into the DMK headquarters in broad daylight last month. Once a stand-in who sought legitimacy from loyalty, he now fights for the rival camp, trying to reinvent his political grammar.
Sengottaiyan represents another archetype: the veteran who endures. Always organisation-driven, less theatrical and more grounded, he may never get the relevance in TVK that he once got in Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK, but for the 78-year-old, a little respect in a new place is better than rejection in the old family. There can be no other superhero in TVK than Vijay, but Sengottaiyan will have his utility, especially when it comes to raiding the AIADMK closet.
The three Incredibles, while fighting in different camps, have a common goal: defeat AIADMK. While DMK will use OPS to gnaw at the southern thevar base of AIADMK – with ample help from Sasikala – TVK may find Sengottaiyan’s experience useful to train its greenhorns in electoral politics.
Sasikala, meanwhile, occupies a lonelier space. She is not a single ‘Incredible’ character, but a blend — part outcast, part shadow presence, someone unwilling to give up, even when friendless. Her decision to launch a new party, the All India Puratchi Thalaivar Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, is more an act of desperation than a declaration. The question that confronts her is whether a figure forged in the backrooms of power can transition into relevance in the unforgiving foreground of electoral politics.
Choosing not to join hands with her nephew and AMMK founder T T V Dhinakaran, who has swallowed his pride to rejoin NDA after a short blast at EPS, Sasikala has found comfort in the company of an equally isolated senior – S Ramadoss. The PMK founder has not found wisdom in Bob Parr’s philosophy that the future belongs as much to his children as to him, while his son Anbumani has virtually taken the party away from him.
As villain Syndrome believes, when everyone is “super,” the very concept loses its meaning. ‘The Incredibles’ offers a simple message: the family survives — and thrives — only when it acts together, embracing both its shared history and its individual strengths. For Panneerselvam, Sasikala and Sengottaiyan, the lesson is obvious and elusive. Unity is not a sentimental ideal; it is a strategic necessity they refuse to accept.
On screen, Mr Incredible is stripped of his public role, but by night, he is still the protector. Stuck as he may be in boring office work, when the moment comes, he does not need to reinvent himself; he simply steps back into action. If his crisis is circumstantial, our real-life Incredibles’ challenge is existential.
For now, AIADMK rejects will fight as superheroes in their own heads – without a script.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
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