Bangalore, Aug 29 (IANS) Decades after veteran Tamil actor M.G. Ramachandran blazed a trail to the chief minister's chair, cinema is still a springboard into the world of Indian politics. In a country which makes more movies than any other, where cinema stars are demi-gods to millions of fans, there is no stopping actors joining the established political parties or setting up one of their own.

But not everyone takes the plunge into politics with the sound and fireworks that accompanied the rally of one million people which Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi addressed in the temple town of Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh Tuesday.

It is a pan-India phenomenon. But where actors - male and female - have made it big in southern India, their counterparts from the north remain on the fringes of politics, notwithstanding their individual appeal.

"Unlike in the south, actors in north India like Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra and Rajesh Khanna don't bring with them any new aspiration," political analyst Mahesh Rangarajan told IANS. "They don't represent regional nationalism. They are not a success."

The three biggest success stories of film stars-turned-politicians are from the south: the late N.T. Rama Rao or NTR in Andhra Pradesh and the late M.G. Ramachandran or MGR and AIADMK leader Jayaram Jayalalitha in Tamil Nadu.

MGR started off as a Congress worker, shifted his allegiance to the DMK and, after differences with DMK leader M. Karunanidhi, founded the AIADMK. The charismatic MGR was the Tamil Nadu chief minister for a decade until his death on Christmas eve in 1987, an event that led to mass suicides by fans mourning his death.

Jayalalitha, who acted with MGR in numerous films, remains not only a potent force in Tamil Nadu but is increasingly playing a much larger role in national politics.