But there were also instances of prominent independents bitting dust as in the case of poet and lyricist O N V Kurup in Thiruvananthapuram.
Though actors plunging into electoral politics is not as common in Kerala as compared to Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh, Innocent sounded confident of his new real-life role.
Also president of AMMA (Association of Malayalam Movie Artists), Innocent said politics was not new to him as he had already tried his hand by winning a municipality election some decades back from his home town Irinjalakkuda in Thrissur district.
Some other names doing the round include those of actors Jagadish and Mukesh, who have been in the industry for around three decades.
Malayalam superstar Suresh Gopi recently also met with BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in Gujarat causing a section of media connected the visit with the impending Lok Sabha polls, even though Gopi said he met the BJP leader only to share with him the problems faced by the film industry in the South.
Former Minister for Forest K B Ganesh Kumar, who essayed a number of supporting roles in movies and tele serials, is one of the few artists who switched over to political career, with the backing of his father and Kerala Congress (B) leader R Balakrishna Pillai.
Eminent film maker Ramu Kariat, who directed the path-breaking movie ‘Chemmeen', the first National Award winning film in Malayalam, was elected to Kerala Assembly in 1964 from Nattika as an independent supported by Communist party.
