When 'Roberrrt' released in the second week of March, fans jumped headlong into the fight to stop its piracy. The release of 'Yuvarathnaa' later saw fans pouring milk over huge cut-outs of Puneeth Rajkumar. Fans play a big role in promoting films.
In the early 1960s, when Sivaji Ganesan and MGR ruled the Tamil movie industry, scripts were written on the advice of the stars, keen on projecting themselves in a particular way.
Fandom grew in Karnataka much later after Dr Rajkumar emerged as the face of the Kannada film industry. “Between 1954 and 1969, in a span of 15 years, Kannada film industry made 207 films and Rajkumar acted in 100 of them. His fan base grew stronger and wider after 1970. The fans then began to dictate the scripts and wanted their hero to act in a certain way," film historian K Puttaswamy tells Showtime.
In fact, Rajkumar-starrer 'Nanna Thamma' and 'Kasturi Nivasa', both brilliant films, didn't do well because Rajkumar dies in them, he recalls.
"But the films did exceptionally well on re-release. Scriptwriters would pen dialogues that sent out a strong message to the rival group of actors or dialogues that glorified the actor in question," he observes.
Fans expect him to behave the same way as he does on screen. Sadly, the director never gets his due in all this craziness, adds Puttaswamy.
Production house Hombale Films has a couple of films ready for release- 'KGF: Chapter 2',and 'Salaar', starring Prabhas. Their recent release was 'Yuvarathnaa.'
“We keep the communication lines open with the fans, be it of Puneeth, Yash, or Prabhas. News related to our productions reaches the fans at the same time it reaches the media," says Lakshmi Narayan, content curator at KRG Connects, who handled promotional activities of 'Yuvarathnaa'.
Punith Darshan Gowda, social media in-charge and general secretary of Darshan Fan Association, communicates with at least 750 Darshan fan groups across the state.
“The fans not only promote the movie and make it a huge success but also fight to avoid any wave that may sabotage the success of the film,” explains Punith.
For 'Roberrt', fans formed an anti-piracy group and connected with social media groups to find and remove links.
Duniya Vijay’s ‘Salaga’, which was scheduled for release in second week of April, is now indefinitely put off.
Praveen Ekantha, media and marketing head of ‘Salaga,’ says many fans have got tattoos of Vijay and the movie title.
“This is the highest ever number of tattoos being done for a film. Duniya Vijay has always been in close contact with his fans,” says Praveen.
Actor’s perspective
Shivarajkumar’s ‘Bhajarangi 2’ is ready for release. “I treat all my fans as my friends. The best way to handle them is to stay in touch with them because they always look up to you,” he told ‘Showtime.’
Fans can spread awareness
M K Raghavendra, film critic, feels fan associations can be used to for causes, such as spreading awareness about Covid infection. “Although they are nominally autonomous, they rely on the star for their upkeep. If the star is like God, the president of the fan association is like a head priest,” he says.
When a maximum of 50 per cent theatre occupancy rate is mandated, what should producers do?
“If fan associations were really autonomous, they would perhaps spread awareness that to accept the 50 per cent occupancy rule would be graceful,” he adds.