Superstar Rajinikanth's announcement that he will be taking the political plunge delighted scores of fans across the world, and especially in Tamil Nadu.
With Kamal Haasan, the only other star in Tamil Nadu who has the stature that can equal that of Rajinikanth's, also announcing his intention to enter politics, several interesting but unanswered questions are being raised. One of them is whether Rajinikanth would continue to act even after becoming a politician.
While there are enough signals from the Haasan camp that the actor would like to focus only on his political duties once he enters the political process, there are no such signals from Rajinikanth's camp.
In fact, sources say that Haasan is hastening the process of completing both his pending projects, Vishwaroopam 2 and Sabaash Naidu before actively involving himself in politics.
However, in the case of Rajinikanth, it is still unclear if the actor will choose to only focus on politics after turning a politician or if whether he would like to occasionally dabble in cinema like some of the former chief ministers of the state have.
Assuming that Rajinikanth chooses to adopt a strategy that is similar to that of Haasan's and bids adieu to the film industry after turning a politician, the next question that is being raised is who are the stars who will then step up to fill the shoes of both Rajinikanth and Haasan in the Tamil film industry?
While Ajith, Vijay, Vikram and Suriya are the next big stars in the Tamil film industry, they fall short when it comes to matching the stature of the top two stars of the Tamil film industry. Both Rajinikanth and Haasan have a huge fan base, which has been the result of the hard work that they have put in over a period of close to 40 years.
Industry experts admit that they don't see anybody else from the film industry taking the place of either Rajinikanth or Haasan in the near future.
The next question that Rajinikanth's announcement throws up pertains to the political careers and policies of both the stars.
With the BJP promptly welcoming Rajinikanth's announcment that he will be doing 'spiritual politics', and with Haasan making it clear that he would like to remain equidistant from both the Right and the Left, there is a good chance that the two actors might find themselves taking on each other in the political arena.
Now, if such a situation arises, who emerges the winner and how will it affect the fortunes of the Dravidian parties, who have until now completely dominated the political scene in the state?
It would be interesting to watch this political slugfest whenever it unfolds. Until then, all one can do is wait and watch!