Fans, contrary to what the dictionary defines them as, know no loyalty and can desert you when you probably need them the most. One moment they will garland you, but the very next moment — if you happen to falter — will not hesitate to garland you with shoes even before the fragrance of the previous garland has died.
This is particularly true in India, where people are prone to getting carried away by their emotions. Take cricket, for example. A win is always seen as victory and a loss, more often than not, an act of treachery. While a spectacular win in a tournament earns almost every presentable face in the Indian team, a chance to sell some product or the other on TV, a terrible loss in a subsequent contest earns them taunts and insults and — occasionally — the risk of their homes being stoned. But if the loss is followed by another spectacular win, you are back on the pedestal.
Public memory is short, which is a very good thing — and also a very bad thing. Good thing because you get more than one chance to make a comeback. Bad thing because you are only as good as your last game — ask Virat Kohli, who was mercilessly attacked on social media after he failed to deliver in the semi-final against Australia. Why are fans like that? Aren’t they supposed to stand by their idols through thick and thin? Or is it that they are actually in awe of the success enjoyed by their idols rather than the idols themselves? Success, after all, imparts an extraordinary glow to even the most unremarkable of faces — look at Nawazuddin Siddiqui — and makes it worth gaping at.
Why Siddiqui, let’s talk about Rajesh Khanna, easily the most handsome actor of his time. In 1968, no one would have even given him a second glance; by 1971, hundreds of fans were waiting for hours in the scorching sun just for a glimpse of him; but by 1976, they did not care to watch him even in the comfort of a theatre. Why?
No easy answer to these questions. Fans seem to have minds of their own. Stars who take their adulation for granted fade away, while those who understand their minds constantly reinvent themselves and remain relevant. In other words, it is easier to earn fans than retain them — a painful truth stated beautifully by Billy Joel in his song ‘The Entertainer’:
I am the entertainer
And I know just where I stand
Another serenader
And another long-haired band
Today I am your champion
I may have won your hearts
But I know the game, you'll forget my name
And I won't be here in another year
If I don't stay on the charts.
