ACTION HERO VIJAYAN

The fall of Malayali superstar Dileep has led to the rise of another star in Kerala: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. His popularity has really shot up among women in the state even as the film industry’s image has taken a beating over Dileep’s alleged role in the February 17 kidnapping and molestation of an actress. It was Pinarayi who greenlighted the actor’s arrest, asking the police to go ahead if they had sufficient evidence. It took even the opposition Congress—which had been hoping to target the Chief Minister over a go-slow in the case—by surprise. Politics, after all, is all about timing, and Pinarayi is a past master at the game.