HYDERABAD: The murky side of the fan culture prevalent in the Telugu film industry, yet again came to the fore, after 24-year-old Vinod Kumar, a Pawan Kalyan fan, was stabbed to death by an NTR Jr fan.
The incident comes as a brutal reminder of the violent nature of the people who get involved in clashes, using the cover of 'fans'.
While it's not uncommon for such war of words to take place on social media, Tollywood fans have been notorious for taking the fight to the streets and using violence over silly, insignificant issues.
On this occasion, these fans had taken it one step too far, and a life was lost in the process. What's more shocking is the lack of remorse from fans or the understanding of the seriousness of the situation.
"It is unfortunate that a life was lost. Normally, we have a difference of opinion but things never get so serious. We condemn violence and loss of life. Having said that, we cannot take it lying down when some other fans insult our hero. If fans of other actors try to damage our hero's reputation, we will be forced to retaliate," said N Parthu Chowdhary, a member of Jr NTR Fans Club.
The sense of entitlement with which some of the fans speak is quite baffling. While most of these fan bases have large numbers of uneducated members, there are also educated people working in decent jobs, who indulge in fanaticism. In fact, Pawan Kalyan fans see this incident as a personal attack.
"At the moment, we are all collectively mourning the loss of our brother. His death is most unfortunate and our thoughts are with the family. No matter how much we adore our stars, it's not right when lives are lost. Right now we are too upset, later we will see what needs to be done about Jr NTR fans," says N Srinivas, member of Pawan Kalyan Fans Association.
With most of Tollywood's heroes having their own fans association, clashes are taking place with alarming frequency. Stars like Mahesh Babu, Prabhas, Allu Arjun, Ram Charan, Venkatesh -- all have fans associations. There are also fans associations of various Tollywood filmy families, such as Manchu, Nandamuri, Mega (Chiranjeevi's family), Akkineni and Daggubati.
Police authorities believe that even the smallest of incidents must be reported so that swift action is taken before anything drastic takes place.
Says N Bujanga Rao, ACP Kukatpally, an area where fan culture is at its peak, "Whenever a movie of a big hero releases, we see these kind of clashes take place. These fans garland the hero's posters and hype the film and that ticks off other fans. It always starts off as a small fight but escalates into a big issue. Therefore, I urge the citizens to alert the police as soon as they see any such activity taking place, no matter how small."
In this case, NTR Jr awaits the release of Janatha Garage, which hits screens worldwide on September 1. "I think the heads of all Fans Associations must come together and make a decision not to encourage such fights to take place," Rao added.
Key clashes in recent times:
* In January 2015, Pawan Kalyan fans association president Kanna Srinivas was attacked at Shilpakala Vedika in Hyderabad, where the audio launch of Gopala Gopala was held.
* In September 2015, fans of Pawan Kalyan erected large flexies and banners in Bheemavaram. However, these banners were destroyed. Furious Powerstar fans alleged that Prabhas fans were behind this and a clash involved between the two groups. Matters escalated when the two groups started stone pelting and Pawan Kalyan fans burned down all Baahubali posters and hoardings. Police had to intervene to separate the two groups.
* In March 2016, a Chiranjeevi fan brutally killed a Pawan Kalyan fan with an iron rod in Bellary, Karnataka. It all started when Honnoroppa, a Pawan Kalyan fan, insulted the acting skills of Chiranjeevi. Irked by this Parasuram furiously took an iron rod and attacked Honnoroppa, leading to his death.
