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Words and images by Sameer Raichur | Website | Instagram
In southwest India's Karnataka state, the pomp and circumstance that accompanies the first show of a Kannada movie industry (or ‘Sandalwood’) release can rival that of a religious festival — from the auspicious date of release to showers of milk over the male lead’s posters and offerings of coconuts and pumpkins broken at the ‘feet’ of the screen. The hysteria borders on hero worship.
Premieres and the accompanying revelry are hosted in decaying theatres patronised primarily by working-class men — one of the few avenues of entertainment from which they’re not excluded.
Fans of the male leads organise the distribution of confetti, flowers and sweets amongst the audience. Traditionally, the male lead visits important theatres before the first show begins to appease his loyal fans and perform a ‘puja’ to bless the movie with good fortune.
The audience’s devotion to the movie stars is performative and disruptive. The biggest admirers try to outdo each other in a competition to establish the most ‘devoted’ fan, bringing them recognition in their fan club. They dance in front of the screen, shower the screen with flowers and whistle adoringly as their superheroes deliver hackneyed lines while inflicting righteous violence on armies of adversaries with their bare hands.
The performative antics at premieres are easy to dismiss as ludicrous but provide welcome relief from the alienation experienced by the working class in urban India — through both the community created by fan clubs and plotlines that depict the struggle of a small-town man against the city’s seedy underbelly.
It is not uncommon for police protection to be extended to movie theatres on the day of a release; there have been instances where theatres have been damaged by excessive and frenzied fan behaviour deteriorating into violence.
The shows on release day are inevitably full, remarkable for spaces that can seat over a thousand people. Watching a movie on the ‘first day, first show’ is considered an achievement among fans and some theatres take advantage of the hype surrounding an eagerly anticipated movie to screen illegal midnight and 03:30 shows; tickets sell at a premium for these slots. ‘News’ television channels camp out at theatres for the entire premiere day, navigating the frenzied crowds for sound-bites from fans whose reactions can make or break box office collections.
While most women at these screenings are accompanied by a male family member and seat themselves in the balcony or the ‘Family’ section, a few unaccompanied women do participate in this subculture, expressing rebellion and bravery through their mere presence. On-screen too, the female leads are often reduced to passive accessories with no agency, whose role is merely to complement the fortunes of the male lead.
As is the case with mainstream film across the world, many children who watch are inducted into a culture where violence is glorified and casual misogyny is applauded - the patriarchy perpetuated through this most powerful of media.
At the end of their acting careers, some actors have used their powerful fan base to become wildly successful politicians. In three instances in the South Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu two actors and one actress became chief ministers of their respective states and formed political parties that have a strong footprint even after their deaths. They changed the destinies of millions and it all began here on the Kannada silver screen.