Tech In Polls: Hologram Of TVK Chief Vijay' Used For Campaigning

A life-sized, high-definition digital projection of the TVK chief appeared alongside the party's local candidate. Visuals from the ground showed the "Hologram Vijay" delivering a synchronised speech from a campaign vehicle, creating an illusion of physical presence that drew crowds.

Vijay Chandran, TVK's Thanjavur district treasurer, said they decided to do this when an acquaintance of his was telling him about the possibility of a 3D hologram. According to Chandran, the move is a strategic response to the gruelling schedule of covering 200-plus constituencies that TVK is competing from.

"We realised that our Thalaivar (TVK chief Vijay) can't go to all the constituencies. We were thinking about how best we can bring his message to people. I remembered Praveen K, a third-year student of AI and Data Science, who was telling me about hologram marketing. The hologram initiative allows our leader to be omnipresent, ensuring that voters in every corner of the state can experience his address directly, even as he physically attends high-stakes rallies elsewhere," Chandran told. Praveen, all of 20, said he runs a part-time marketing agency and had developed a demo product for hologram marketing.

"We created about a 50-sec AI video of a speech by Vijay, which we then projected as a hologram. It took us about three days to get that done," he said, adding that he is getting a lot of requests ever since the video of the hologram campaigning started circulating online. "Not just TVK, but also AIADMK representatives are asking me to make such videos for them," Praveen said.

A native of Kumbakonam, who will be voting for the first time, but is not sure yet as to who he will vote for, Praveen said, given the market situation right now, it will cost anywhere between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 3 lakh for a hologram campaign.

Political analysts view this "AI-first" approach as a deliberate attempt to capture the youth vote and distinguish TVK from the traditional roadshow-heavy strategies of the DMK and AIADMK. Meanwhile, the "real" Vijay continues his sporadic physical campaigns. He was last seen on April 12 in Kanyakumari district, seeking support for six candidates.