Madurai is one city where entertainment is synonymous with cinema. Once upon a time Madurai had more than 70 theatres, considered far too many for a town of its size. None of the city’s residents would miss the colourful celebrations on the streets whenever blockbusters hit the screens. Whether the numero uno Cine-God Rajinikanth or one of the new-age heroes such as Dhanush or Siva Karthikeyan, every actor enjoys a place in the hearts of Madurai’s cinema-fans. For decades, the city fan clubs were known to be the most ardent and craziest among clubs in the State, so much so that every successful mass hero paid a ceremonious visit to the Temple Town, right from the times of MGR and Sivaji Ganesan.
Movie buffs recall the presence of fan clubs in almost every street inside the congested areas of Sellur and Arapalayam in the 70’s and 80’s. “There used to be boards on street-corners announcing arrival of films or hailing actors,” says 40-year-old Vellaichamy who headed a Rajini Fan Club in his youth at Alwarpuram. “The love and obsession we had for actors were a kind you won’t see elsewhere. Whenever a Thalaivar film was released, we used to decorate the theatre with flags, flowers, serial lights, massive banners and cut-outs. On the eve of the release, we would play Rajini’s hit songs over loudspeakers to set the mood for celebrations. It was like Diwali for us.”
The celebrations were invariably a whimsical show of adoration. Until as recently as 2007, when Sivaji released, fans carried kavadis and mulaipaaris and did milk abhishekam for Rajini’s cut-out. At the age-old Central Theatre that continues to screen MGR hits, one could still spot fans dancing and distributing sweets. They rejoice repeated screenings of the same set of films as if they were released for the first time. “Fans used to light camphor on their palms and show it to the actor on screen and groups of men would dance for the entire three hours standing in the aisle,” recalls Guna Amuthan, an old-time Movie-buff and former-member of Veera Thamilan Kamal Rasigar Mandram. “That kind of extreme fascination has come down these days. Earlier, unemployment was a major issue and young men would start a fan club with groups of friends. As cinema was the only entertainment those days, we used to long to read about films and actors and the only source were newspapers. It was part of fan club activities to collect pictures, interviews and news articles about their favourite actors, to be later put on banners and posters.”
Madurai being the hot-bed for cinema, fan clubs have been a culture from the time films became a popular media. But fan clubs emerged as a major phenomenon after the stardom of MGR, especially post his Rickshawkaran film in 1971. Soon, Rickshaws, a major transport those days, carried portraits of the actor and went on a parade around theatres screening MGR movies.
“In no other city, one would find fan clubs for even lesser-known actors, side-kicks, comedians and glamour heroines. Madurai had fan clubs for female actors too. Probably it’s the only town to have a fan club for actor Murali, who is no more and forgotten by the masses,” says Veluchamy, a resident of Munichalai. He refers to an auto-driver in Munichalai who goes about writing slogans praising Murali on the street walls.
Among the currently famous actors, Madurai has numerous fan clubs for Vijay, Ajith, Surya, Karthi, Dhanush and many others. Most of these fan clubs function as Makkal Narpani Mandrams (People welfare associations) doing social activities.
“For Vijay’s birthday every year, we provide food in orphanages, distribute notebooks to underprivileged children and provide assistance to physically challenged people,” says P.V.Inbaraj, the president of Madurai Mavatta Ilaiyathalapathy Vijay Makkal Iyakkam started two decades ago after the release of Poove Unkaga.
Some of the clubs also get creative with banners and captions. ‘Adangatha Ajith Groups’, a fan club at S.S.Colony comprises predominantly college students and is known for their peculiar name. “We wanted to stand out among the crowd of fan clubs and hence we do something offbeat and creative with slogans and pictures,” says S. Mohammed Shafi who takes pride in calling himself ‘Thala’ Shafi.
Another typicality of Madurai fan clubs is to put up posters depicting film heroes as Gods, saints and noble men. “ This trend started with Sivaji Ganesan who became popular for his role as Karna, following which his fans went around depicting him as the epic character on banners,” says Shafi, who also adds that poster-wars between fan clubs is common.
