Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections | 'Hologram Vijay' comes to TVK chief's aid for campaigning

Chennai: In a move that has redefined the landscape of political campaigning in Tamil Nadu, TVK candidate for Kumbakonam, Vinoth Ravi, has deployed a 3D hologram of actor-turned-politician Vijay to reach voters across the state for the April 23 Assembly elections.

The technology made its debut in the Kumbakonam Assembly constituency on April 12.

A life-sized, high-definition digital projection of TVK chief appeared alongside the party’s local candidate. Visuals from the ground showed the "Hologram Vijay" delivering a synchronised speech from a campaign vehicle, creating an illusion of physical presence that drew crowds.

Vijay Chandran, TVK's Thanjavur district treasurer, said they decided to do this when an acquaintance of his was telling him about the possibility of 3D hologram.

According to Chandran, the move is a strategic response to the gruelling schedule of covering 200-plus constituencies that TVK is competing from.

"We realised that it is not possible for our Thalaivar (TVK chief Vijay) to go to all the constituencies. We were thinking about how best we can bring to people about his message. I remembered Praveen K, a third-year student of AI and Data Science, who was telling me about hologram marketing. The hologram initiative allows our leader to be omnipresent, ensuring that voters in every corner of the state can experience his address directly, even as he physically attends high-stakes rallies elsewhere," Chandran told PTI.

Praveen, all of 20, said he runs a part-time marketing agency and had developed a demo product for hologram marketing.

"We created about a 50-sec AI video of a speech by Vijay, which we then projected as hologram. It took us about three days to get that done," he said, adding that he is getting a lot of requests ever since the video of the hologram campaigning started circulating online.

"Not just TVK, but also AIADMK representatives are asking me to make such videos for them," Praveen said.

A native of Kumbakonam, who will be voting for the first time, but is not sure yet as to who he will vote for, Praveen said, given the market situation right now, it will cost anywhere between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 3 lakh for hologram campaign.

Political analysts view this "AI-first" approach as a deliberate attempt to capture the youth vote and distinguish TVK from the traditional roadshow-heavy strategies of the DMK and AIADMK.

Meanwhile, the "real" Vijay continues his sporadic physical campaigns. He was last seen on April 12 in Kanyakumari district, seeking support for six candidates.

The Election Commission had granted a focused six-hour window, from 2 pm to 8 pm. Before Kanyakumari, he had gone to Karaikudi on April 10, but returned without making a speech due to lack of time.

Typically, in a day, politicians go to anywhere between four and five constituencies to campaign for candidates, mostly via road. However, Vijay usually flies from Chennai to the nearest airport where the campaign meeting is scheduled. He then does a road show to the venue.

The hologram campaign follows a series of experimental attempts by local cadres to maintain the leader's presence. Earlier, in Thiruverumbur, candidate Navalpattu Viji resorted to using a Vijay mannequin to bridge the physical gap. Sometime ago, an unverified picture was circulated in various social media platforms in which 100s of such mannequins were standing inside the TVK office in Pannaiyur, Chennai.

It is also widely reported that Vijay lookalikes are now being sought after to stand in for TVK chief. One such campaign that went viral is that of Kolathur TVK candidate V S Babu, who will be taking on Chief Minister M K Stalin, among others.

Tamil Nadu will see polling in all its 234 constituencies on April 23.