For those living inBangalore especially south of India ingeneral , worshipping actors is not a new affair . When great Kannada actor Dr. Rajkumar was kidnapped by notorious criminal Veerappan people riotedand held the whole Bangalore city in hostage for three days ! And when the sameactor died people would again riot and city would witness burning buses, tires,smashed cars , hurt people. When Vishnuvardhan died it was something similarbut not as outrageous as the previous actor's case.
Vishnuvardhan was second most popular actorfrom the old generation when Kannadafilm industry born and built. He was asuperb actor the industry seen and had the charisma and style to winpeople's heart .He enjoyed a huge success and always acted as lead role in allmovies. He gathered huge fans and followers in his 37 years of career as actorbut his later years were mostly unsuccessful . When he died a monument was built in his memory and his birthday anddeath anniversary both celebrated as "Vishnuvardhan fair" where thousands thong and paytheir tribute to their beloved actor.
As I entered insideI was taken away by the crowd's hystericenergy . I saw women, kids ,girls, boys, old people pushing each other in the bone crushinglong line and holding actor's photosand chanting his name. I saw disabled people dragging their body on the ground to visit the actor's monument. Fewwomen seen crying in front of the actor's photo who, undoubtedly , idolized the actor during their young ages.Many men who seemed to be drunk or in transwere seen shouting their favorite actors dialogs . Some are even seen actingsome popular movie scenes . And then thenew generation youngsters clicking every moment through their cellphones rightfrom bill boards to everything they came across . It was clearly visible angered policemen filled with disgust on their face were havingtough time controlling the fans . Some policemen did not hesitate touse their sticks ( lathis ) on the raged crowd. The free food considered as Prasadam given by their actor god fans finished every bit if it .
Suddenly fromsomewhere near the gates people started shouting which broke the rhythmof the crowd noise . For the first time I thought it is some celebrity who came to visit. Few people startedrunning towards the crowd screaming "that is Vishnuvardhan!!" and now I had to jointhem too to check what exactly happening. Alook-a-like of the actor dressed exactly as the actor used to , was surroundedby fans . Fans were forcing him to say some dialogs from their favorite movieof the actor and that guy performed exactly like him! Many even kissed him,touched his feet and lifted him on theirshoulders and started carrying him. It was chaos everywhere as if he is Vishnuvardhan himself arrived at the venue. As the group continued towards the monumentpeople around him went too. Line got disturbed and instead of people going tothe monument they started surrounding this guy. A little later as everybodyrealized what was going on people started moving . I got a chance to reach tothis look-a-like and asked what his name . He saidVishnuvardhan and told me that he is following the actor from hischildhood. He has seen all of movies and he said that he continue watchingthose movies over and over again. He believes the actor is around here andlooking everything. I saw couple ofyoungsters in grief coming to him and talk to him as if they are talking to theactual actor himself!
As the sun setpolicemen started emptying out the venueand I walked out . I kept thinking to myself why people are so crazy aboutactors and actresses ? But two days after I think I found some answer which isenough to forget the matter for now.
Dr. Rajkumar, Vishnuvardhan from Kannada movieindustry , Dr N T Ramarao from Telgumovie Industry are the few iconicfigures who left their golden foot prints in the industry. Rajnikanth from Tamil Industry still acts as hero and has a great number offans who idolized him. If we look at these actors and their early life thereare certain facts which are very common . All struggled in their early days, all are from middle class families , all have/had a cleannoncontroversial personal life and all played the role of hero in most of their movies. So nowonder 50 million middle class people of India liketheir heroes too much! Indian cinema is all about selling dreams to one billion plus people ofIndia and make money. And these actorsplayed an important role in selling dreams . In turn people get inspired andrise. People idolize them, worship themas gods. The upper middle class andupper class people might consider this type of fanfare as very crazy-ish and some even think this as unsocial act .But when we become one among themone can easily understand the actualreason behind their behavior that It is not the actor who are making them madbut it is the actor's charactermaking them behave crazy .
Vishnuvardhan was second most popular actorfrom the old generation when Kannadafilm industry born and built. He was asuperb actor the industry seen and had the charisma and style to winpeople's heart .He enjoyed a huge success and always acted as lead role in allmovies. He gathered huge fans and followers in his 37 years of career as actorbut his later years were mostly unsuccessful . When he died a monument was built in his memory and his birthday anddeath anniversary both celebrated as "Vishnuvardhan fair" where thousands thong and paytheir tribute to their beloved actor.
As I entered insideI was taken away by the crowd's hystericenergy . I saw women, kids ,girls, boys, old people pushing each other in the bone crushinglong line and holding actor's photosand chanting his name. I saw disabled people dragging their body on the ground to visit the actor's monument. Fewwomen seen crying in front of the actor's photo who, undoubtedly , idolized the actor during their young ages.Many men who seemed to be drunk or in transwere seen shouting their favorite actors dialogs . Some are even seen actingsome popular movie scenes . And then thenew generation youngsters clicking every moment through their cellphones rightfrom bill boards to everything they came across . It was clearly visible angered policemen filled with disgust on their face were havingtough time controlling the fans . Some policemen did not hesitate touse their sticks ( lathis ) on the raged crowd. The free food considered as Prasadam given by their actor god fans finished every bit if it .
Suddenly fromsomewhere near the gates people started shouting which broke the rhythmof the crowd noise . For the first time I thought it is some celebrity who came to visit. Few people startedrunning towards the crowd screaming "that is Vishnuvardhan!!" and now I had to jointhem too to check what exactly happening. Alook-a-like of the actor dressed exactly as the actor used to , was surroundedby fans . Fans were forcing him to say some dialogs from their favorite movieof the actor and that guy performed exactly like him! Many even kissed him,touched his feet and lifted him on theirshoulders and started carrying him. It was chaos everywhere as if he is Vishnuvardhan himself arrived at the venue. As the group continued towards the monumentpeople around him went too. Line got disturbed and instead of people going tothe monument they started surrounding this guy. A little later as everybodyrealized what was going on people started moving . I got a chance to reach tothis look-a-like and asked what his name . He saidVishnuvardhan and told me that he is following the actor from hischildhood. He has seen all of movies and he said that he continue watchingthose movies over and over again. He believes the actor is around here andlooking everything. I saw couple ofyoungsters in grief coming to him and talk to him as if they are talking to theactual actor himself!
As the sun setpolicemen started emptying out the venueand I walked out . I kept thinking to myself why people are so crazy aboutactors and actresses ? But two days after I think I found some answer which isenough to forget the matter for now.
Dr. Rajkumar, Vishnuvardhan from Kannada movieindustry , Dr N T Ramarao from Telgumovie Industry are the few iconicfigures who left their golden foot prints in the industry. Rajnikanth from Tamil Industry still acts as hero and has a great number offans who idolized him. If we look at these actors and their early life thereare certain facts which are very common . All struggled in their early days, all are from middle class families , all have/had a cleannoncontroversial personal life and all played the role of hero in most of their movies. So nowonder 50 million middle class people of India liketheir heroes too much! Indian cinema is all about selling dreams to one billion plus people ofIndia and make money. And these actorsplayed an important role in selling dreams . In turn people get inspired andrise. People idolize them, worship themas gods. The upper middle class andupper class people might consider this type of fanfare as very crazy-ish and some even think this as unsocial act .But when we become one among themone can easily understand the actualreason behind their behavior that It is not the actor who are making them madbut it is the actor's charactermaking them behave crazy .
