Did Riteish Deshmukh say 'My popularity in Maharashtra rivals that of Thalapathy Vijay in Tamil Nadu?' Actor breaks silence on viral comment

Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief C Joseph Vijay was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu last month.

The development ends nearly six decades of dominance by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).

The 51-year-old actor-turned-politician took oath at a packed Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai in the presence of family members, political leaders and film personalities. Among those present were his parents SA Chandrasekhar and Shobha, actor Trisha Krishnan and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi.

Riteish Deshmukh's clarification

There's a statement that's going viral on social media that wrongly quotes the Raja Shivaji actor who as per the tweet said, "My popularity in Maharashtra rivals that of Thalapathi Vijay in Tamil Nadu. But I won't step into Politics as the public will judge it as nepotism."

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The actor clarified saying, "Pls go through my statement again, understand it this time- may be you won’t misquote me."

A coalition built in days

The road to government for Vijay was not easy. His party TVK won 108 of Tamil Nadu’s 234 assembly seats in last month’s elections — a strong debut for a party formed just two years ago — but fell short of the majority mark of 118.

Vijay spent several days in intense coalition talks, meeting Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar multiple times. He secured support from the Congress (5 MLAs) and the two Left parties, the CPI and CPI-M (2 seats each).

The journey of the actor

Born in Chennai in 1974, Vijay began his film journey as a child artiste before becoming one of Tamil cinema’s biggest stars. He earned the title “Thalapathy” after the release of his 1994 film Rasigan and later delivered several blockbuster hits, including Thuppakki, Kaththi, Mersal, Bigil and Leo.

He formally entered politics in 2024 with the launch of TVK and quit the film industry soon after.

In his first speech as Chief Minister, Vijay described himself as a “common man” and promised to usher in “an era of real, secular, social justice.”