Geeta Pandey Reports in BBC news:
Last year, when Indian television channels showed pictures of people from the northern states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh being assaulted in the city of Mumbai, one man in northern India was shaken to the core.
Manoj Tiwari, the biggest star of regional Bhojpuri cinema, says that was when he decided to enter politics.
He is now contesting the parliamentary elections for the regional Samajwadi Party from Gorakhpur city in Uttar Pradesh.
The trouble in Mumbai began when the leader of a small right-wing Hindu party, Raj Thackeray, accused migrants of swamping Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital, in search of jobs.
His supporters attacked migrants from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, beating them and destroying their property.
The actor says that violence proved an eye-opener.
'Gorakhpur's Obama'
Tiwari, who began his career as a small-town singer in Bhojpuri (a dialect of Hindi spoken by an estimated 150m people in the two states), is an immensely popular actor.
His first film was released in 2004 and in the past four and a bit years, he has increased that to 51. Four more are ready for release, he says.
 Thousands of people gathered to hear Tiwari speak |
Tiwari's films are a hit with the diaspora in Mauritius, Fiji, Surinam and the West Indies. A popular Bhojpuri website, bhojpuria.com, has christened Tiwari as "Gorakhpur's Obama".
And like President Barack Obama, he promises change.
Even as the hot afternoon sun beats overhead, thousands of people gather at an open ground in Gorakhpur to hear Tiwari speak.
Dressed in a long green tunic and trousers with a red cotton scarf tied around his head, the actor takes the stage to loud cheering and clapping.
Speaking in Bhojpuri, he regales his audiences with stories, anecdotes and songs. A band plays along.
"I ask our current member of parliament [the Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party's Yogi Adityanath] - when your people were being beaten up in Maharashtra, where were you? You say you speak for the Hindus, but where were you when we, also Hindus, were being assaulted by Hindus in Maharashtra?" he asks.
'Mosquitoes and mafia'
Tiwari says perhaps the important question to ask is "why do we have to run to Mumbai and other cities for jobs? Why are we migrating?"
"In the last 15 years when we voted for the BJP candidate, sugar mills and fertiliser factories have all shut.
"The region has been taken over by mosquitoes and the mafia," he says, working the crowd.
 Tiwari is a well-known singer and an immensely popular actor |
Gorakhpur and the surrounding areas in the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh are some of the most backward in India. The district has a poor crime record and every year hundreds of people die here from encephalitis.
If elected to power, Tiwari says he will work for the development of the region.
"I'm an actor, I live and work in Mumbai. I shoot my films in Mumbai and then all the post production work is done in Mumbai. So the whole revenue goes to that state.
"It doesn't benefit the people of Gorakhpur and this region. Unemployment is a big problem here."
The actor says if he wins, he will use his contacts to bring investment to the region and Gorakhpur.
"I'll make a film city here, a massive, fully secure, fully equipped film city with all facilities for post-production work. That would create employment here and generate revenue for this region.
"Then I would restart all the sugar and fertiliser factories which have shut down in the past few years."
'Hero triumphs'
In his films, Tiwari often plays the archetypal hero who generally beats up villains and life turns out for the good. Reality, the actor says, is not much different.
"In politics too, I'm doing the same thing. In the films, initially the villain is strong and he beats up the hero. But finally, the hero triumphs. This is not a film, but the fight is the same."
 Gorakhpur is one of India's most backward regions |
Tiwari says that when he first announced his plans to join politics, his family was stumped. Why politics, they asked?
But now, he says, "they all support me" and his wife joins him often on the campaign trail.
"Generally people think politics is a bad thing. It's not for good people. But politicians are there. Good or bad, they are the ones who make all the policies."
If he becomes an MP, Tiwari says he will do only three films a year.
"That will take three months. One month I'll give to my family, my wife and my daughter. The rest of the year, I'll give to Gorakhpur - to make it a happy place."
The battle in Gorakhpur is unlikely to be easy - he is pitted against Yogi Adityanath and the Bahujan Samajwadi Party's Vinay Shankar Tiwari who belongs to a politically influential family.
But Manoj Tiwari says he is confident of public support. "People know who I am, what I am thinking, where I'm coming from. I'm not just after power."
The actor says his "intentions are good. I'm taking a big risk", and then jokes: "Maybe in five years I'll be a villain too!"
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