Bollywood celebrities who entered the world of politics : Part 1

After a successful run in the Bollywood industry, a lot of Indian celebrities tried their hands at the big bad world of politics. A few of them made it fair and square while others went back to the silver screen. Here is a list featuring the most thriving and the lesser-known celebrities in politics in India.

1. Dharmendra

The ‘Garam’ Dharam of Bollywood Dharmendra Singh Deol is not only a successful actor but also a popular politician. He is one of the most venerable public figures in India and was hence, elected as an MP from Rajasthan (Bikaner) for BJP’s seat in 2004.

However, his political career could not be as prosperous as he was scrutinised critically for hardly spending any time attending parliamentary sessions in his 5-year long career and instead consuming it on personal-time or movie shoots.

2. Amitabh Bachchan

In the year 1984, the legendary Big-B took a sabbatical from his acting career to enter the political world and support his long-time friend Rajiv Gandhi. He contested the election from his birthplace, Allahabad (now known as Prayagraj) in the 8th Lok Sabha election with Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, the former CM of Uttar Pradesh, as his rival and won the election by the highest margin in the election history.

However, he soon saw that politics was not for him and resigned after a mere three years. When his entertainment company, ABCL, tanked and cost him his entire bank account, Amar Singh of Samajwadi Party supported him during the financial crunch. This made Amitabh indebted towards supporting SP. He has been a part of political campaigns for them too ever since.

4. Vinod Khanna

Vinod Khanna joined BJP and was elected as an MP for Gurdaspur in Punjab. In 1999, 2004 and 2014, he was re-elected from the same constituency for the Lok Sabha elections.

This is a huge feat as no other celebrity in Bollywood has ever achieved victory in four Lok Sabha polls. He has also served as a Union minister of state for tourism and culture and minister for external affairs.

5. Sunil Dutt

Sunil Dutt became a part of the Indian National Congress in 1984 and was later elected as an MP five times from the constituency of Mumbai North West. At the time of his demise, he was serving as the Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports in the Union Government led by the former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.

He was cremated with full state honours in Mumbai and his seat in the Parliament was won by his daughter, Priya Dutt.

Read more to find out about celebrities in politics in India and their journey.

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