PremiumFanatics documentary review: A superficial exploration of the fan culture in south India
Fanatics review: In the Docubay documentary, Kiccha Sudeep, Allu Arjun and Vijay Sethupathi join film industry observers and health experts to understand the obsessive fan culture in south India.
Last Updated: 06.12 PM, Dec 07, 2024
Fanatics documentary story: South actors Kiccha Sudeep, Allu Arjun and Vijay Sethupathi join film industry observers and mental health experts to understand the obsessive fan culture in south India.
Fanatics documentary review: Two decades ago, while accompanying a colleague to the first-day-first show of Kamal Haasan’s Virumaandi at a movie hall in Bengaluru, is when I got first-hand experience of crazed fan behaviour. From bursting rows and rows of crackers, to dancing to drum beats, offering puja to the star’s cut-out, etc., outside the theatre, to throwing coins at the screen when the actor first appears, hooting, whistling and not paying much attention to what’s going on in the film, in the name of celebration – it was quite an experience. Certainly not one that I wanted a repeat of, ever.
The Docubay original documentary Fanatics, which dropped on the platform today attempts to decode this behaviour, which is prevalent largely in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka. Allu Arjun, whose Pushpa 2 has just released in theatres and is currently under fire for visiting a fan show at a hall in Hyderabad, where a woman died, caught in a frenzied stampede, is one of the stars that the documentary makers spoke to.
Joining him are Kannada star Kiccha Sudeep and Tamil actor Vijay Sethupathi, along with writer-film historian Mohan Ram, psychiatrist Dr Yamini Kannappan, producer-distributor G Dhananjayan and journalist Sudha Sadhanand.
The documentary uses visuals of impassioned celebrations on film release days and star birthdays to make its point about the extent that fanatics – not fans – go to show their adulation for their favourite actor, along with personal accounts from some of them. For instance, when Dr Kannappan explains that the obsessive adulation for actors comes from low self-esteem and body disorders, the filmmakers cite the example of Wayanad-resident Sujith Thomas, who sought solace in Allu Arjun, after years of being mocked for his cleft lip and palate.
Every inch of Sujith’s room is covered with images of Allu Arjun, as also most of his body – he has 32 tattoos of the actor. If not for Arjun’s Arya, which Sujith saw when he was 11, he reckons he would have taken some extreme measure, unable to cope with the mocking he endured for his disability. What he sees in the Telugu star is a deep connection, akin to that of a sibling, says Sujith.
Taking it to another level is Golden Saravanan, who, for many years, without fail, has been routinely piercing his tongue with a silver spear, as well as eating food served on the ground - a tradition followed at certain temples – in the hope that it will benefit his idol, Thalaivar Superstar Rajinikanth. The Tamil superstar is god to Saravanan.
For another, RM Gopalakrishnan, also known as MGR Gopalakrishnan, it is the late actor and Tamil Nadu chief minister MG Ramachandran that holds a special place in his heart. A temple priest, Gopalakrishnan’s devotion to MGR includes playing songs from the actor’s films on a music system attached to his bike, while also dressing up like his idol. He spends a few thousands on this, within his limited means, and is more than happy to do so.
In Kiccha Sudeep’s case, there’s an entire village and a temple dedicated to him, all of which, he says, scare him to some extent. “I am a man of flaws. I make mistakes. But these things just tie you down. Today, when I see the adulation from fans, I don’t react to it because I know that there is a belief they have and I leave that to them. I focus on making films and making those people happy. I don’t want to think about those temples, because that scares me,” he says and later adds that the love makes him a better human being.
Other interesting elements of the documentary is fan behaviour on social media, from hardcore fan groups to nameless, faceless trolls, and how fandom influences commercial prospects of films. It does not matter whether a film is good or bad, fans will watch it no matter what.
Fanatics documentary verdict: Fanatics attempts to decode fan culture in south India, but merely scratches the surface. It presents the who, what, where, but not really the why. Yes, there are scientific explanations for the kind of behaviour, but it doesn’t feel enough. But then, there’s only so much that can be squeezed into 55-minutes and the showrunners do their best to cram in as much as possible. In these days of trolling and social media fan wars, Fanatics does make for an interesting watch.