
A couple of weeks ago, we had reported that there seems to be a meticulously orchestrated social media campaign from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Joseph Vijay’s team especially through his right-hand man Lottery King’s son-in-law Aadhav Arjuna’s Voice of Commons, and his private secretary’s The Route to systematically project him as a future Prime Minister – this was less than just 60 days into his tenure.
Now, we are seeing a growing number of vox pop reels on Instagram that are pushing the narrative that Joseph Vijay or rather “Vijay Thalapathy” as the best CM and that he is the next PM.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Joseph Vijay’s image-building operation has moved on from fabricated achievement claims to a new format: street-corner “vox pop” videos in which random members of the public, filmed in cities across India, are asked who they want as India’s next Prime Minister and answer, near-unanimously, “Vijay Thalapathy.”
The Format
The videos follow a near-identical template. An Instagram handle sends a reporter onto the street with a phone camera. The question is some version of “Who is your next PM?” or “Who would you vote for as PM – Modi or Vijay?” The respondent, almost without exception, picks Vijay. The clip is then overlaid with a scoreboard graphic counting the number of ‘votes’ beside Vijay’s photo against Narendra Modi’s, under the banner “NEXT PM”, turning an ‘unscripted’ street interaction into what looks like a lopsided public verdict.
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There are videos also appreciating Vijay with Hindi songs in the background with comments saying “Vijay Thalapathi next PM”
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Some videos deliberately show Vijay as the better CM compared to even Yogi Adityanath and these videos specifically come from UP itself.
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The locations are deliberately scattered – Varanasi, Mumbai, and other cities far outside Tamil Nadu, where Vijay has no political base, no electoral stake, and limited organic name recognition as a politician rather than a film star. That spread is itself a tell: this is not local sentiment being captured, it is a national narrative being manufactured city by city.
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There are some videos though from Tamil Nadu, repeating what happened in the run up to the 2026 polls.
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What Doesn’t Add Up
The people being interviewed do not read as organic, politically engaged respondents. Several featured in these clips appear to struggle to name basic facts about Vijay’s own politics, let alone offer a reasoned case for why he should lead the country over an incumbent Prime Minister before switching, on cue, to enthusiastic praise. That mismatch between the confidence of the verdict and the evident lack of political (or even cinematic) familiarity of the person delivering it is the clearest marker that these are not spontaneous street opinions.
This is not a one-off gimmick. Similar videos, run through the same “everyone on the street loves Vijay” format, were already circulating during the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly election campaign – meaning the same playbook has now simply been repointed at a national audience and a Prime Ministerial narrative, with the claim being pushed since at least May 2026.
Interestingly, these handles have the “DM for paid collab” or “DM for paid promotions” on their bio. Like with any other brand, Vijay’s team seems to have approached these people with a ‘sizeable’ following to create such staged videos.



Whose Playbook This Is
This slots directly into a pattern already documented. Vijay’s post-election image campaign is being run through two channels: his private secretary’s Route Media, and Voice of Commons, the political strategy firm founded by Aadhav Arjuna – TVK’s general secretary for election campaign management, and son-in-law of Santiago “Lottery King” Martin. Voice of Commons is not a fringe operation; it is Arjuna’s own consultancy, who is currently a Minister in Joseph Vijay’s govt.
Can A Sitting Minister Run A Political Strategy Agency?
This also raises a more fundamental question about the role of Voice of Commons in the Vijay government. How does a person who is now a minister reconcile that public office with running the political strategy operation that is busy projecting his own party leader as a national figure? More importantly, is the machinery being used to build Vijay’s image actually being matched by governance and measurable work on the ground or is perception management being used as a substitute for performance?
If the government has tangible achievements, why does its political ecosystem appear so focused on manufacturing the appearance of nationwide popularity through staged-looking vox pops and carefully packaged social-media content? The contrast is difficult to ignore: less emphasis on what the government has done, and more emphasis on making it look as though the public already wants Vijay to become Prime Minister.
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