Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and TVK leader Joseph Vijay’s government has appointed film producer Archana Kalpathi Aghoram, who has produced Vijay-starrer films, to a State-level committee responsible for selecting non-hereditary trustees for Hindu temples, as reported in DTNext.
Kalpathi, the Creative Producer of AGS Entertainment, was associated with the production of Vijay’s Bigil and The Greatest of All Time (GOAT). She has now been given a role in a government committee dealing with appointments to the management of Hindu temples under the HR&CE Act.
The appointment raises an obvious question: why was someone from the Chief Minister’s own film circle chosen for a committee dealing with Hindu temple administration? With a large pool of retired civil servants, judges, academics, legal experts and people with experience in temple administration available, the government has offered no apparent explanation for choosing a film producer closely associated with Vijay.
From Producing Vijay Films To Selecting Temple Trustees
The seven-member committee has been constituted by the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department following the expiry of the previous committee’s two-year tenure on 24 July 2026.
Its task is not merely ceremonial. The committee will scrutinise applications and prepare a list of eligible candidates for appointment as non-hereditary trustees of temples covered under Section 46(iii) of the Tamil Nadu HR&CE Act, 1959.
Sivagnana Palaya Swamigal of Mailam Bommapura Aadheenam has been appointed chairman, while Dr K Ramanathan, former Director of the Tamil Nadu Archives and Historical Research, is the vice-chairman.
The other members are retired IAS officer PR Sampath, retired District and Sessions Judge Dr Ramananthan, spiritual speaker Sumathi Sri and Archana Kalpathi Aghoram.
While the government has the authority to constitute the committee, the question is one of propriety and perception. A person who has been closely associated with the Chief Minister’s film career has now been given a role in deciding who gets appointed to the governing bodies of Hindu temples.
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