Fandom: What's going on!?

A superstar experimenting with his talent...

Two legends of the film industry sharing screen space for the very first time...

An action hero plays a villain in a blockbuster franchise...

OR

A sacred war between good and evil...

An adolescent struggling with his parent's pregnancy...

A blind man witnessing a murder...

What would you want to watch/be a part of/remember?
Of course, the latter part sounds more interesting, but if in any case, you prefer the former, let me tell you 'YOU ARE TRAPPED!"; trapped in a maw of 'misunderstood worship'.

Let me explain!
We, the Indian audiences, have loved our stars as Raj, Shensha, Bhuvan, Gabbar, Baburao Ganpatrao Apte, Chandni, Mr. India, Umrao Jaan, Vijay Dinanath Chauhan etc. In other words, we were mesmerized by the characters journey and how beautifully or courageously they overcame their fears.

But midway in the process we stopped looking at the characters and started looking at the actor/human playing it and this constant hammering of their (character's) triumph made us their 'fans'.
And we completely lost the point which says that a character is developed, firstly, by the writer, then by the director and then is finished by an actor. (in most of the cases)

Amazingly, if an actors journey through life is interesting enough or is made to sound interesting enough that it crosses a threshold in our collective consciousness, we automatically make him/her an 'entity/a star' and so-called 'a celeb'.

Due to these pits of blind trusts, we somewhere start following the real story of an actor confusing it with his character's story; like a filtered lens. DELUSIONAL NARRATIVE, that's what I want to call it and at the same time wish to be out of it.

So, have you seen people pouring milk on Rajnikant's poster or crowd gathering to wish SRK a happy birthday or gathering to wave to Salman Bhai or People waiting to just have a glimpse of Mr. Bachchan every Sunday at 7pm.

Of course, you have! but 'Why?' that is what I want to answer today.

Why do we make 'people', 'gods'?

Oops!

(a screenshot of my IG Story)

And why are actors like Ayushman Khurana, Rajkumar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi etc. are still relevant and reluctantly wish to stay away from stereotyping themselves into a delusional narrative?

The other day, while traveling in an auto rickshaw, my lack of interest in music made the auto radio comfortable to play a song which I was hearing for the first time, the song was 'Namo Namo' from the upcoming movie 'Kedarnath'. The song is on Lord Shiva, picturized on Sushant Singh Rajput (another victim of delusional narrative); when you listen to the lyrics closely the song just talks about Lord Shiva: the god of destruction and his enormity, power, and grace. Also, it explains both his form and function. Basically, its a bhajan.

But the description of Shiva is the same, which we all have been listening to since ages and before.

And that's when this struck me!

Why do we describe Shiva when we praise him? Addressing his roop (form) and swaroop (function). Because, why will you praise someone by telling them their own story and how they look! That just sounds weird. Or is there another way?

Sadly, the answer is 'No'. When we pray to Shiva (and I have used Shiva just as an example) it's not the poster/ image/ idol that we are praising, it's the narrative we admire. Not the roop, but swaroop is what we praise.

Somewhere we confuse this roop and swaroop with our movie stars, and we end up praising the roop, and not swaroop.

We love Raj, Aman and Kabir Khan because these men have conquered their fears, but SRK should not be alone to take all the credit for these greatly written characters. But again, roop is what we see.

Our songs, poems and everything that helps us praise someone/something is through describing it. That's us, that's our culture, that's what I, you and everyone around you was fed subconsciously.

But we forget the thin line that separates these two things. But, this disbalance has resulted in something way more hazardous than any gas on this planet, a gas that pumps directly into an individuals ego-system.

And that's what makes Mr. Bachchan, SRK, Amir, Salman, and many others 'stars'; people who have conquered their obstacles in a social narrative. Masterstroke!

I respect these people because, there are only a handful of such people, and after the internet wave there are more fame imposters than people who've earned their fair share at it.

Hence, great respect to the new school of thought that's been brought in by Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Pankaj Tripathi, Rajkumar Rao, Ayushmaan Khurana, who keep their personal narrative aside and believe in the power of consistency and content. And also, if we have to make a fandom of people that have actually lived a courageous life and have made us proud, why don't we gather near some ex-army officers house on his birthday and celebrate his efforts. That would look more real and genuine.
But we all know that will never happen, at least in our country; until someone makes sure that he/she gave up his high ranking carrier in the army and joined the movie industry and is doing well there too.

Today audiences are way smarter than the audiences that loved Amar, Akhbar Anthony; we are more questioning and less forgiving. So, if someone tries to serve bulls**t to us with its layered delusional narrative. We ain't gonna buy that stuff bro!

It's so amazing to see the kind of fandom we cater here, due to all the reasons explained above, that even Hollywood actors when they visit India its something completely different for them. Just read what Chris H. has to say:

He's just being nice! come on Chris.

But yeah! so you get my point, it's just that we need to be more practical and see things the way they are and not go lost into some narrative that drives us somewhere.
Again, we can just hope this fanatic behavior stops and we have more meaningful encounters with people who've achieved such beautiful places in their lives and carriers.
Until then I hope we see the swaroop of things and not the roop every time.

Akash