CHENNAI: There have been some Bollywood films that seemingly pushed the ruling regime’s agenda such as Uri, based on the surgical strikes, and The Accidental Prime Minister, depicting administrative mess during the UPA years. There’s also a biopic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi waiting for release, but observers say if BJP wants to make a significant impact on the electorate with films, it has much to learn from the Tamil film industry.It seems the opposition DMK has been able to build on an anti-establishment, anti-Modi sentiment on the ground across Tamil Nadu that some critics attribute to more than a dozen commercially successful movies released in the last three years.Films such as LKG, Joker, Mersal, Irumbuthirai, Tamil Padam 2, Natpe Thunai 2, Kaala, Sarkar, and Uriyadi all had a political, anti-establishment message. Some stated it blatantly, some subtly, but all raised “genuine questions against the system” and contributed to the building of an anti-Modi sentiment in the state without any endorsement from DMK or Congress, experts said.A scene showing a politician ordering firing on innocent protesters reminded the audiences of the Sterlite protests wherein 11 people died in police firing while an arrogant central government not giving farmers an audience reminded them of Tamil Nadu farmers fasting in Delhi, said an observer who requested not to be identified.State leaders falling at the feet of politicians at the Centre was a direct dig at BJP dictating terms to the AIADMK state government and there were references to GST and demonetisation breaking the back of poor and traders in at least two Tamil blockbusters, the person said. Rajinikanth-starrer super hit Kaala was about Dalit ideology triumphing over Hindutva, and even had a sly reference to an officebearer of BJP.Advertising and media expert Santosh Desai feels Dravidian parties have perfected the grammar of making commercially successful movies with political content. “Propaganda works well with shorter content that can be circulated easily,” he said. “When one has to think of an elaborate form like a film, it has to be entertaining to get people to invest time to watch it and money to spend on it. And one needs to know what works as a movie, what doesn’t. Uri works because it has the right ingredient but an old story about an indecisive prime minister (Accidental Prime Minister) doesn’t.”There have also been an array of Hindi films, such as PadMan, Gold, Satyamev Jayate, Parmanu, Baaghi 2, and Manikarnikaa that were seen as building on BJP’s narrative with an underlying sentiment of nationalism. Last year, Chalo Jeete Hain, a short film inspired by Modi’s childhood, was released and celebrated by ministers and senior members of BJP. Ministers were also seen promoting Uri and using its tagline generously in speeches and tweets. Mere Pyaare Pradhan Mantri, a movie set in the backdrop of the government’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, was also chosen as India’s official entry to Rome film festival last year.But would they actually influence voting decisions in Hindi-speaking states? Perhaps, but at a much limited scale than the Tamil films, according to experts.The use of cinema to promote political content has a long history in Tamil Nadu. “Be it Karunanidhi or MGR, both have used movies to drive home their politics. Now filmmakers are using cinema and strong imagery to drive home a political point,” said Kavitha Muralidharan, writer and political commentator.“The fight in many of these cases is against Hindutva. For instance in Kaala, apart from the Ambedkarite imageries, when the hero in black stands up to the oppressor, you cannot miss the symbolism of black which stands for the Dravidian identity, or in Petta when Rajinikanth fights Hindu extremists who obstruct love marriages and indulge in moral policing, one cannot miss the connection with existent political reality,” she said.“Many of these movies added to the myth that the Centre is authoritarian and that its schemes are just on paper,” said SG Suryah, vice president of the BJP youth wing in TN. “It is no coincidence that Petta and Sarkar, both with very strong message against the government, were produced by Sun Pictures,” he alleged.The state unit of the party even took up the matter with senior BJP leaders in Delhi, specifically with regard to filmmaker Raju Murugan's movie Joker being given a national award. The film shows the fight a poor man has to put up against the system to get a toilet built under a government scheme.PTR Thiaga Rajan, MLA (Madurai Central), founding head of the DMK IT Wing, however, said BJP itself caused all the damage “by repeatedly showing a complete lack of empathy for the Tamil sentiment”.“We aren't such creative geniuses to create something out of nothing,” he told ET. “BJP even now is running banner ads in Hindi on Tamil websites. It is not just pointless, but also shows their disregard for the Tamil cause. That the prime minister was not here during our bad times (cyclone Gaja last year) has hurt the Tamil people. We have only brought out the party's lack of thought and callousness about the state and its sentiment.”