Wednesday, April 26 2006 11:50 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chennai: It is a celluloid battle which is on in the Brahmin heartland of the city, Mylapore.

For the 2.33 lakh strong electorate of the Mylapore constituency, where a popular comedian and a villain-turned-hero in the Tamil film world have locked horns for a mandate, it is entertainment galore.

The 'witty' AIADMK candidate S Ve Shekhar and the 'fiery' DMK candidate D Napolean, the nephew of senior DMK leader K N Nehru, are pitted against each other for the second successive time, with the latter having trounced the former at Villivakkam in neighboring Tiruvallur district during the 2001 assembly elections by a margin of over 1.9 lakh votes.

Mylapore, one of the oldest settlements in the city, is the blend of the aura of old Madras and modern Chennai and has the reputation of being a DMK bastion.

DMK has reigned here for four terms. The sitting MLA is K N Lakshmanan, who was elected as a BJP nominee with DMK's support.

Popular perception indicates a smooth sail for Napolean, who takes pride in portraying himself as a DMK man rather than an actor or a fiery speaker.

However, political observers say that a one time thumping victory for Napolean would not mean a 'bed of roses' this time too, because of two factors - firstly, Shekhar is a 'local Boy' and has been a Mylapore resident for more than four decades and secondly, he is a Brahmin himself and is expected to cash in on the community's vote bank.

Shekhar, who incidentally began his political career from Mylapore unsuccessfully as an independent candidate in the 1989 assembly polls, later joined the BJP only to lose to Napolean. In 2004, he quit the BJP to join the AIADMK and has now been given party ticket.

With rumours afloat that Napolean had shifted his base to Mylapore because of having lost the confidence of his Villivakkam electorate, Shekhar hopes to enter the assembly at least this time.

But they are not the only ones in the fray, with a former civil servant and candidate of the Subramaniam Swamy-led Janata Party, V S Chandralekha, an independent 'America' Narayanan and a candidate of the IITians-floated Lok Parithran, Santhanagopal Vasudev, also testing waters in this constituency.

Chandralekha, who made headlines when she was victim of an acid attack, which burnt her face more than a decade ago, has been lobbying for votes claiming that as a former civil servant, she would understand the electorate's needs better than any actor. She too, like Shekhar, holds the advantage of being a Brahmin.

'America' Narayanan, who is popular in the constituency for having forsaken employment in the US and returning to India to join the Congress party, only to be denied a ticket this time, is contesting as an independent. He claims to be the voice of the and is covering the constituency street-wise.

Fresh entrant to politics, IITian Vasudev, is adverse to 'unfulfilled poll promises'.