The “SUPER STAR” Phenomena

In the South,watching their favourite star’s movie on the day of its release has become a ritual for a lot of crowd. Doing that has become a habit for most of them and they consider it as their privilege and honour. The Cut out banners, large posters [some as high as five storeys] decorated with garlands welcome the fans to the theatre.

If you think these ardent fans have come to watch the movie, you are wrong. They have come to experience the Thrill, the Sensation and Energy among the audience as they watch their Stars smile, cry, joke and dance to songs. The audience, mesmerized by the film is engaged into Dancing, Whistling and Clapping to their level best.
All this for watching a normal person act in a movie? Who are these stars and why are they so famous??

Well these stars are mere humans, but their acting and movies have caused ripples and appreciation among the masses in cities and villages through the years. It is a long journey before these actors achieve the status of “SUPER STAR”.

Behind this Superstar status lays their Hard work and Struggle that has lasted for decades. Growing from street plays to small film schools to perform in dramas and to do supportive roles as co-artists to lead as actor and then act for years to get the “star” tag and then act for decades and finally after impressing millions of audience with their skills they achieve the “SUPERSTAR“ status.

“Their Acting should be bigger than life. The Scripts should be bigger than life. It should all be bigger than life.”

Achieving this is very tough and requires utmost maximum determination and courage.
“Acting is a question of absorbing other people's personalities and adding some of your own experience.”

Every action of them in every movie is keenly observed and commented by the crowd. They should be able to understand the likings and taste of the masses and enchant them with their acting skills to move the audience and impress them.

“Acting is a nice childish profession - pretending you're someone else and, at the same time, selling yourself”.

One thing is for sure ”Acting doesn't care about your looks”.
Most of the Superstars popularity comes from their larger-than-life super-hero appearance in many films, supported by gravity-defying stunts and charismatic expressions, all while attempting to maintain modesty in real-life.

“Every time our Superstar's movie release, it is like another Diwali for us” says a fan .His comment is justified by the crackers that explode before the first show of the movie starts.

The audience must feel the Exhilaration for having had a fantastic movie experience, Satisfaction for walking out without the feeling of being cheated, Admiration for the Director’s vision and ambition but largely, Pride for being a part of the Indian cinema.

Most of these “Fans” watch the movies umpteen times and still feel the joy and excitement as the first time. Apart from watching their star’s movies, most of the fans have created fan groups, fan websites and fan communities and keep interacting among them to share the latest news and discussions. These groups support their stars and participate in various activities.

These fans pray to god to ensure the "Movie is a Grand Hit" and also pray that the "Movie runs for 100 days". Some of them go to extents of shaving their head and offer their hair to god. A few of them go to extreme levels of piercing their skin.

These fans motivate their superstars to perform better in their forthcoming movies. Some of the superstars have returned back from retirement to act and enthral their fans.

They have become so famous that are elevated from being just another very popular actor to nearly a Demigod status among the masses. Several stars are called by special nicknames kept by their fans. These Superstars have spread their popularity to various countries also. Few of them have become Asia’s highest paid actors.

I believe it is this SUPERSTAR phenomenon that will showcase the Tamil cinema and its fans to the world and expose the creativity, passion and expertise of the Kollywood Movie Industry as a whole and make people from other countries acknowledge and love our stars and films.

2014, Aug 13: (in fb)
Brad Pitt: THALAIVA, Super Movie.How do you manage to kill 15 people around you with a flip of your body?? Awesome!!