When fans turn foes: Rivalries between Tollywood stars' followers
There are knives, stabbing, drama and sadly deaths. While this might seem like a Telugu film plot, in reality, it was what happened during a recent ‘fan war’, when an ardent fan of actor Pawan Kalyan, Vinod Royal, was stabbed to death by a fan of actor Jr NTR.
It’s no secret that Tollywood film stars enjoy a huge fan following, but fan wars are increasingly turning ugly and violent. Recently, a Pawan Kalyan fan attacked actor Allu Arjun for not mentioning the actor in his speech.
“Fan wars are not new in Telugu cinema, but earlier it was confined to the stars and their films. Now, politics and caste are gaining ground,” says Suresh Babu, who has produced films with three generations of stars. He adds that social and media channels highlight such incidents.“There is a visibility for the nonsense that people are doing and that’s why it is getting so much importance,” he says.
Earlier, the hungama was mostly on the first day of the film’s release. But once a few actors became politicians, fan wars became much bigger. And some believe that stars also unofficially encourage these fans.
“Though they say that there are no differences between them, they encourage their fans to go against one another, especially when two big star films clash at the box-office,” says director B. Jaya.
Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (late NTR) and Akkineni Nageswara Rao (late ANR) were the first superstars of Telugu cinema, followed closely by Krishna and Sobhan Babu. The rivalry between NTR and Krishna was well known.
“Krishna made a few films which directly attacked NTR, setting off the rivalry between the fans,” says Jaya. Later, when NTR floated the Telugu Desam Party, Congress party approached Krishna to stand against him.
Fans of stars like Balakrishna, Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna and Venkatesh are largely focussed on box-office records and it is rumoured that a few stars help fans financially in return for their loyalty.
There are exceptions though. If the actor hails from a big family or is a superstar, then fans react differently. Recently, actor-comedian Prudhvi who imitated Balakrishna in Jakkanna, got threatening calls from Balakrishna fans and was forced to publicly apologise.
“All the top stars should appear on one dais and tell their fans that there are no differences between them,” says producer-director Tammareddy Bharadwaj, also blaming the violence and dialogues in Telugu films for inciting fans.
Jr NTR himself, meanwhile, has said about the incident, “I want to appeal to all my fans to not quarrel or argue with anyone. If you like my film, just watch it and do nothing more than that. There is no place for wrong-doers among my fans.
“First, love your country, family, friends, society and lastly, your favourite actor. I appeal to the fans not to spoil the image of any star with ‘over admiration’.”
When Chiru fans attacked Rajasekhar and his family
One incident that shook the industry was when Chiranjeevi fans attacked actor Rajasekhar in the year 2008. When Chiranjeevi was thinking of floating a new political party, Rajasekhar (who campaigns for another party) told a public meeting in Bheemavaram that Chiranjeevi wouldn’t succeed because of his lack of political experience.
Chiranjeevi fans then chased Rajasekhar’s family, including his wife and kids from Bheemavaram to Hyderabad. The fans pelted stones and broken the glass of the car that Rajasekhar’s family was travelling in. The actor and his daughter were badly injured in the incident and later Chiranjeevi visited him and apologised for his fans’ behaviour.
