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| As in neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka,
there are tens of thousands of fans’ associations dedicated
to every major star (also some minor ones) of Telugu cinema.
Hong Kong films circulated in a context when fan activity
was at its height in Andhra Pradesh in the 1980s and 90s.
Yet, there were no fans’ associations dedicated to Hong
Kong stars. Not surprising, considering the close linkages,
which persist to this day between fans’ associations
and the politics of linguistic identity. For this reason fan
activity of the kind and scale witnessed in the southern states
has no parallels even in other parts of the country. The specificity,
even uniqueness, of the phenomenon not withstanding, fan activity
alerts us to the larger issue of the cinema’s relationship
with, and ability to form, collectives. Do cinematic collectives
or groups formed with cinema as a crucial focal point, have
anything in common?
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| Telugu film star Balakrishna's
fans meet every evening on the steps of a temple pond in the
heart of the town ('Koneru gattu centre'). Only a few feet away
the 'rival' star Chiranjeevi's
fans meet. In February 2001 the two groups were not on talking
terms due to arguments resulting from the comparison of Balakrishna's
hit Narasimhanaidu (B.
Gopal, 2001) with the disastrous performance of Chiranjeevi's
Mrugaraju (Gunasekhar,
2001) |
Fans of the Tamil stars. Akbar (second from right) and
Sivaraman (first from left) organize Rajnikanth and Vijaykanth
related fan activity respectively with the help of the others
in the group. The boys work and live in hotels. Due to the
limited resources available to them they limit their fan activity
to decorating the hoardings on the cinema hall premises and
throwing flowers on the screen.
| Tirupathi is among the few major
towns in Andhra Pradesh where Tamil films are released
on a regular basis. Although the town's Telugu speaking
population is fluent in Tamil, fan clubs of Tamil film
stars are almost exclusively the domain of Tamil speakers.
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| Venkatesan, a retired Rajnikanth fan in Tirupathi. He now
runs a refreshment stall in D.R. Mahal cinema hall. Although
he still watches Rajnikanth films, he does not perform fan activity
publicly any more. |
C. Lakshmayya, action film fan, auto painter and contractor.
He has watched every Hong Kong and Hollywood action film released
in town. More recently he has developed the habit of watching
VCDs of action films at bedtime. He says that he does not follow
English, the language in which most imported films were released
in India till the late nineties. |
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| Madanapalle, 2001. Members of Chiranjeevi
Yuvatha gather in the office of a local politician
B. Suresh ('Chinna') to check out this researcher. Chinna (not
in the picture) is Kapu community organizer and patron of the
local Chiranjeevi fans. Sampathi Ramana,
a martial arts trainer, who is a Chiranjeevi fan too, is a regular
visitor to this office. |
Madanapalle, 2001. B. Vijay Kumar, editor-publisher
of the fanzine Yugastar Abhimani
(left) and Venkat Sekhar Prasad, President, Nandamuri
Yuvakishoram Balakrishna Fans, Townwide (right) pose
before a photograph in Prasad's painting workshop. |
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| Fans distribute fruit and bread to patients at the local hospital.
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Feeding the poor on the occasion of the star's birthday. |
A fan concludes his hunger strike in support of the star's
controversial film Alluda Majaka (E.V.V. Satyanaraya, 1995).
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Feeding the poor on the occasion of the release of Chiranjeevi's
Rickshawvodu (Kodi Ramakrishna, 1995) |
| From the star's
office. These photographs were sent by
fans from across the state to Chiranjeevi's office in
Hyderabad as a testimony to the activities that were performed
in his name. Most pictures are of activities performed
in 1995-96. |
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| 'Munna', makes a box on the photograph to identify himself
in a group of fans celebrating at a cinema hall. |
Celebration of the 50 day run of Alluda
Majaka. |
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| A fan publication of 'Superstar' Krishna
fans titled Krishna Chitra. Krishna's
fans have a reputation of being excessive, even by fan standards,
in their adulation of the star. |
(Vaartha, 15th November
2002)
On more than one occasion Krishna has made appeals to fans,
not to boycott films. More recently (2002) he made an appeal
to viewers to watch his son Mahesh
Babu's film Bobby
(Sobhan, 2002). Responding to reports that the film's climax
was not well received by viewers, the filmmaker altered it.
Krishna then went public with the statement that the climax
was changed in deference to viewers. He stated that viewers
saw his son as their own and therefore could not bear to see
him die in the original cut. He appealed to viewers to see the
film with the altered end, which was a happy one. The appeal
did not do much to improve the collections. |
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