4 min readHyderabadMar 16, 2026 01:03 PM IST
Pawan Kalyan has some advice to share for Thalapathy Vijay as he begins his political journey. This is a road that Pawan traversed earlier — and it was anything but smooth for the Telugu superstar before he became Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister. In a new interview, Pawan clarified there was no NDA proposal from his side for Vijay, but he didn’t hold back on what he thinks Vijay needs to do as he heads towards his first polls.
With Tamil Nadu heading to polls on April 23 and the question of Thalapathy Vijay’s political alliance dominating headlines, Pawan Kalyan sat down and clarified what his actual role in the whole conversation has been. Both Vijay and Pawan Kalyan have dominated their respective film industries for decades taking a plunge into politics. However, while Vijay has announced that he will leave cinema altogether, Pawan Kalyan remains active in both fields — his Ustad Bhagat Singh will be releasing on Ugadi.
“There is no proposal from my side about the NDA alliance,” he said plainly in an interview with Thanthi TV. “I don’t know how that news came out. We met 25 years ago.”
For weeks, reports in political circles had suggested that Pawan Kalyan had personally spoken to Vijay and urged him to join the National Democratic Alliance, with Telugu media reporting that these discussions were said to be in their final stages. Kalyan’s interview this week puts a firm line under all of that. Whatever conversations may or may not have happened, he is not the one pushing a proposal.
But while he stepped back from the alliance question, he was anything but vague about what he thinks Vijay should actually do. “I think he should just stick around, that’s it,” he said. “He needs to go to the people and not expect any immediate results. If he reaches out to the people without expecting results, it can open up many possibilities.”
He then addressed what is perhaps the most uncomfortable truth about actor-politicians entering electoral politics: that the timelines involved are far longer than any fan base prepares you for. “It takes a lot of struggle to establish a political party,” he said. “It’s not going to be easy. It requires strength, struggle, and time. You have to give it at least a decade.”
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The weight of that statement comes from the fact that he lived exactly that. Pawan Kalyan founded Jana Sena in 2014. In the 2019 elections, his party contested 137 seats and won one. He personally lost both seats from where he contested. It was only after years of ground-level work and a strategic alliance with the TDP and the BJP that his fortunes changed dramatically in 2024, when his party won all 21 assembly seats and both Lok Sabha seats it contested.
He was careful not to prescribe that same path to Vijay. “What happened to me might not be suitable for him,” he said. “Maybe going alone or going with an alliance, that’s his decision.”
Vijay and his party Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam have since confirmed that there is no scope for an NDA alliance, with the party vowing to contest all 234 assembly seats independently. Vijay has been declared the party’s chief ministerial face and candidate selection is already underway. TVK has also ruled out alliances with the DMK and AIADMK, positioning itself as a standalone alternative in what will be its first electoral contest. The election is shaping up as a four-cornered battle between the DMK-led alliance, AIADMK-NDA, TVK and NTK.
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