Are fans who go overboard in expressing love for their screen idols a typical southern syndrome? Prabhudev M looks for answers
Are fans who go overboard in expressing love for their screen idols a typical southern syndrome? Prabhudev M looks for answers
An ardent fan of Tamil superstar Rajnikanth, a few days ago, tried to set himself ablaze when he was denied entry into the actor's house in Chennai.
Just a couple of weeks after this incident, a fan of Telugu matinee idol Chiranjeevi, in East Godavari district, committed suicide by consuming poison, following the poor showing by Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam Party in the Andhra Pradesh elections.
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Inspiring devotion: Dr Rajkumar's samadhi in Kanteerava Studio in Laggere, near Nandini Layoutu00a0u00a0 Pics/ K N Nagesh kumar |
Closer home, namma Golden star Ganesh had to change his wedding plans, owing to calls by his female fans allegedly threatening suicide, last year.
Blind love
When star-politician M G Ramachandran passed away in Chennai, it is said that many committed suicide and many more tonsured their heads as a mark of grief.
When N T Rama Rao died in Andhra Pradesh, there were similar hysterical outbursts of mourning, and more recently after the demise of Kannada thespian Rajkumar, there were riots in Bangalore.u00a0
The anger of many fans had been fuelled by the fact they were unable to reach the stadium where their idol's body was kept for them to pay their last respects, so they reportedly tried to storm their way in.
Such scenes of grief spilling over into violence at the death of a movie star are not unusual in South India, where the biggest stars command extraordinarily intense feeling from their followers. And, there are many cases where fans have committed suicide for not being able to get a ticket to watch their icon's movie on the first day, first show.
What makes fans go overboard and take extreme steps like these?
Expertspeak
"Such fans identify themselves with their heroes. At low levels of celebrity worship, people tend to be happier and there's a kind of temporary relief in their minds. But when the hero worship reaches the extreme stage, things may turn dangerous. They slip into depression, anxiety and addiction...a sort of mental malady. They simply cannot even imagine something bad happening to their idols. They feel that the hero's problems are their own and start taking extreme steps unable to bear loss or agony," explains Prof Thimmappa, psychologist and former vice-chancellor of Bangalore University.u00a0u00a0
'We're human too'
Actor Puneet Rajkumar, who has a huge fan following, says, "It's indeed a blessing to have fans adoring and admiring you. But they should understand that we too are humans like them. We are artistes and our job is just to entertain them. Getting too emotional is completely wrong. Everyone has a star in himself. So I always tell my fans and everyone else to idolize themselves first."u00a0
Celebrity Worship Syndrome
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Celebrity Worship Syndrome is an obsessive-addictive disorder in which a person becomes overly involved with the details of a celebrity's personal life.
Psychologists have indicated that though many people obsess over glamorous film- television-, sport- and pop stars, others have unlikely icons such as politicians or authors. The only common factor between them is that they are all figures in the public eye (i.e. celebrities). The following are the three dimensions to celebrity worship.
Entertainment-social
This dimension comprises attitudes that fans are attracted to a favourite celebrity because of their perceived ability to entertain and become a social focus such as 'I love to talk with others who admire my favourite celebrity' and 'I like watching and hearing about my favorite celebrity when I am with a large group of people'.
Intense-personal
The intense-personal aspect of celebrity worship reflects intensive and compulsive feelings about the celebrity, akin to the obsessive tendencies of fans often referred to in the literature; for example, 'I share with my favourite celebrity a special bond that cannot be described in words' and 'When something bad happens to my favourite celebrity I feel like it happened to me'.
Borderline-pathological
This dimension is typified by uncontrollable behaviour and fantasies regarding scenarios involving their celebrities, such as, 'I have frequent thoughts about my favourite celebrity, even when I don't want to' and 'My favorite celebrity would immediately come to my rescue if I needed help'.u00a0
(Source: Wikipedia)
