Tollywood's leading hero Tapas Pal will fight it out with celluloid baddy Biplab Chatterjee in Kolkata's Alipore Assembly constituency on April 27.
The screen rivals, who will vie for the seat held by Bengal's favourite hero and Trinamool Congress candidate Paul, have one thing in common -- their mass appeal.
In his maiden political foray, Communist Party of India-Marxist candidate Chatterjee is leaving no stone unturned to woo his voters with his promise to 'be a good boy' when it comes to fulfilling pre-poll promises.
Going around the streets of the opposition stronghold, he has two barriers to break -- Paul's clean image as a politician and his own negative screen image.
"Believe me, I will certainly play a positive role henceforth," Chatterjee tells during door-to-door campaigning, an exercise he is not alien to as he has been part of other politicians' campaigns in the past.
A character actor and an acclaimed 'villain' of Tollywood films including Satyajit Ray's 'Joy Baba Felunath', Chatterjee also made news recently for leading Tollywood's support for inclusion of former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly in the team.
Like Chatterjee, Pal, who had starred alongside Madhuri Dixit in her debut Hindi film 'Abodh', also has his share of autographs to sign and photographs to pose for.
In his house-to-house visits, the star, who first cut his political teeth in the 2001 Assembly elections and is fairly seasoned in politics now, portrays the man-next-door image.
"Ma, amaye abar vote deben to?" (Mother, hope you will vote for me again?) he says to an old lady and sits down with her to gulp down a glass of lassi in the scorching heat.
The actor, who has won his constituents over by living up to the 'dada' (big brother) image he had cultivated in his first brush with politics, is confident of his lead in the battle.
Standing under the shade of a tree, Pal discusses films with his fans.
"For me, films and politics are two different and important facets of my being...both have their strong presence in my life. I see each of them as my way of contributing to the society I live in," Pal sums up his dual role.
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