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The 2 minute 21 second video shared on TNCC's official platform begins with an AI-generated image of Rahul Gandhi set to the song 'Welcome Thalaiva'.
Congress shares AI-generated video of Rahul Gandhi | Image: ×
As the political controversy over the Tamil film Parasakthi intensifies, the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) on Tuesday released an AI-generated video depicting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as a 'Thalaiba', a synonym for mass leader.
The 2 minute 21 second video shared on TNCC's official platform begins with an AI-generated image of Rahul Gandhi set to the song 'Welcome Thalaiva'.
The montage depicts him interacting with farmers, motorists, schoolchildren, and ordinary citizens, projecting him as a grassroots leader and champion of the marginalized.
The brief visual also features Rahul Gandhi and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
The background score, which is a fusion of Tamil lyrics and English rap, includes lyrics such as “The poor man's pain for the cry of the people” and emphasizes Rahul Gandhi's story as a people-first leader.
The campaign reflects the council's region-specific branding strategy. While Rahul Gandhi was promoted as 'Jan Nayak' in Bihar, the units in Tamil Nadu adopted 'Thalaiva' to suit local political and cultural sensibilities.
The video's release comes amidst the heated controversy surrounding the Tamil film 'Parasakthi', which was released in theaters on January 10.
The film, which is set in the backdrop of the 1960s student movement and anti-Hindi activities in Tamil Nadu, has drawn strong opposition from the Tamil Nadu Youth Congress, which says it distorts and portrays the Congress group in an unfavorable light.
Tamil Nadu Youth Congress senior vice president Arun Bhaskar on Monday called for the film to be banned, accusing it of misrepresenting historical events and promoting a partisan narrative.
He described the film as “pro-DMK” and claimed that it advances a “pro-Tamil, anti-Hindu” stand.
Mr. Bhaskar objected to the scene suggesting that post office forms during the Congress period were available only in Hindi and maintained that the claim was completely false.
“No such directive was issued by the Congress government in any state in 1965. This story has been fabricated to malign our party,” he said in an official statement.
He also objected to a sequence showing actor Sivakarthikeyan meeting the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who opposed the imposition of Hindi, in Coimbatore.
“Indira Gandhi did not visit Coimbatore on February 12, 1965. That meeting never took place,” Bhaskar said, dismissing as baseless the accompanying footage of a train being set on fire in front of her.
Further criticism was leveled at the film's climax, which featured real photos of Indira Gandhi, former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and Congress leader K. Kamaraj, while blaming the Congress for the deaths of over 200 Tamils in Pollachi.
“There is absolutely no evidence to support such serious accusations,” Bhaskar claimed.
The Junior Chamber of Deputies is demanding the deletion of the so-called fabricated scenes and a public apology from the filmmakers, and has warned that it will take legal action if its demands are ignored.
tamil nadu, india, india
January 13, 2026, 14:59 IST
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