Fan, this three letter word is one of the most intriguing terms. Who exactly is a fan? What makes him different from a normal being? Is there any such character such as "fan" or is a made up term. What connects a fan with his idol? Why exactly do we become fan of a particular celebrity? The answer though is simple, yet has many layers of complexity beneath it.
As a child in the 90's, from a middle class boy doing his schooling in a very ordinary environment, my first brush with fandom was a neighbourhood teenage boy who was a hardcore fan of Aamir khan. Rangeela had just released. This boy whom I hardly knew was so much influenced by the character of Aamir khan in Rangeela, that he imbibed everything that Aamir khan did in the movie. From his yellow coloured banyan to the style of tying the shirt, to the mannerism of Aamir khan lifting a banana from a roadside vendor, he did it all. I was strongly influenced by his acute obsession for Aamir khan. Can cinema influence so much? How can a person whom we hardly know or have ever met still impact our lives to such an extent? He used to play cricket in our neighbourhood and me as a child would only be fascinated by his obsession for Aamir khan. The way he used to cleverly utter Aamir khan movie dialogues during the discussions, the way he used to bring the topic of Aamir khan or his movies no matter the discussion be on any topic, the way his face used to light up when his friends used to call him "Aamir khan" of our area. It seemed nothing gave him more happiness than living in the world of fandom. Right from that boy in my neighbourhood till this date, fans have always fascinated me.
As I grew up, I even heard and read stories in news papers about the obsession of fans down south for the movie stars. Down south India, movie stars are almost worshipped like a deity. Premier show of movies start right from the midnight, there is a huge celebration, band baaja, sweets distributed, milk poured on the banners, rallies taken out for their idol, the madness is unbelievable. Shockingly, there have also been reports of fans committing suicide when their idol passed away or when their movie didn't work at the box office. On the surface of it, one might think of it as utter nonsense and an act of sheer stupidity. But, then we need to understand the psychology of the fan. A fan is also a normal person like most of us, but he has secluded himself from the rest of the world and submitted totally to his idol. His day beings and ends with worshipping his idol. Even major decisions of his life depend on his favourite star's next release. He is not as happy during his family functions as he is on the event of his idol's movie release. The degree of madness for their idol might differ from one fan to other. However, the emotion is the same. The kind of emotion a normal person can hardly understand.
Yours truly was also stuck with the same madness when "Lagaan" released. Though I had always admired Aamir khan and his performances, movies, Lagaan just blew my mind away. As a high school kid, I was so mad about the movie that I used to bunk school and watch the movie every Saturday. On the top of it, I used to watch it in different theatres to gauge public reactions. I watched it a theatre that hardly had any seats, we were made to sit on a bench for the Balcony tickets and the stall tickets had to sit on the floor. Yes, you read it right. There are still such theatres that exist in India. I also saw Lagaan in an upmarket area theatre which offered every comfort that a movie lover would want to experience. The reactions everywhere were the same. From throwing papers from my school bag on the screen whenever Bhuvan scored a boundary or screaming with madness when he hits that last ball six, I unknowingly had become a part of the fan club. I was officially a fan now. As a fan, his movies have influenced me, inspired me, enthralled me, given me more happiness than my personal things. If you want to experience the fandom of a movie star, you cannot experience it on social media. You need to go out there to a theatre, preferably a single screen and listen to the talk of the public while standing in a line for the ticket, during the intermission of the movie when people discuss about the movie and its star, when the public walks out and their first reaction of the movie.
In the last 20 years of my fandom, Aamir khan has hardly disappointed me. The reactions of the people on the ground about Aamir khan has only grown in adjectives. Some of the adjectives used for an Aamir khan or his movie in general is "Aamir ki movie hai to mast rahegee" (If its an Aamir khan movie, it would be great) . "Ek picture nikaalta hai par kamaal ki nikaalta hain" (He does one film at a time, but its amazing) "Aamir to sabka baap hain, last mein aata hain saal ke aur chaa jaata hain"(Aamir khan is the father of them all, he comes in at the end of the year and just overshadows everyone). Believe me, these are the comments of the general audience which I have collected from my memories in the theatres, hotels, discussions, friends, parties etc. Aamir khan is the most respected superstar. You might be a fan of any other actor, however the general chunk of the movie going public who sees every movie or most of the movies, invariably just falls in love with an Aamir khan movie. It is the very reason Aamir khan has now achieved an enviable box office position.
Fans will continue to exist, will continue to puzzle us, continue to shock us. Fans are not only for movie stars, they exist for sportsmen, politicians or different celebrities. There might be fans whose mood swings as per the racket of a Rafael Nadal's performance on the tennis court, fans whose day is made when Virat Kohli hits a century and turns gloomy when he gets out cheaply, fans who still idolise Michael Jackson long after he has left the world.
Aamir khan fans seem to be to be the most practical and sensible. They do not stand outside his bungalow for hours and wave their hands, they do not indulge in glorifying his bad movies, they are always are critical of his bad choices if any (Aamir khan has not made a single wrong choice since Mela), they try to inculcate in their daily life all the messages that he conveys through his movies. And of course, they simply buy his movie tickets and make his movies the biggest blockbusters. That's what matters!
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