The curious case of Tamil fandom

Fans screaming at the top of their voice, life-size banners, horns blazing, people dancing to the tunes of the chenda melam and not to forget the paal abhishekam — this is how a typical first day first show (FDFS) of a leading actor is celebrated across the state. An FDFS is like a carnival with happy faces, beaming with pride. However, the problem arises when the fans go overboard. They indulge in activities like pouring milk over the screen and ruining the theatre seats. So, how do the theatre owners curtail these over-enthusiastic fans? We catch up with theatre owners and managers, who give us an insight of what happens during such eventful days.

Recently, a few fans poured milk over the screens of the recently renovated Vettri Theatre in Chrompet. Owner Rakesh Gowthaman, took to Twitter to express his disappointment in fans for damaging the Rs 6 lakh worth screen! “This kind of incident had never happened before. I think some immature fans went out of control and damaged the screen. Usually, fan associations of actors Ajith, Vijay and Rajinikanth, have been our theatre’s constant visitors. Since we give them a separate space to put up banners and burst crackers, they think of Vettri as their own theatre and take care of it. When film rolls were in practice, fans used to ask for the introduction song to be repeated. When we switched from analog to digital, we made it clear to address the issue. When fan associations approach us, we tell them not to ask for a repeat. That is the only rule from our side,” explains Rakesh.

Kasi Theatre is one of the favorite hot-spots in the city if one wants to see how an FDFS is celebrated. Subramaniam, owner of the theatre proudly says, “The celebrations that the fans indulge in, is a sort of encouragement to the actors. Damage does happen when a scheduled film doesn’t release, but, it isn’t on a big scale. I give the fans a lot of freedom to enjoy and that is why we are among their favourite theatres in the city.”

Mariappan of Albert theatre understands the mindset of these over-enthusiastic fans. “They (fans) consider an actor as their role model and give him what they think is a fitting welcome. But, we lay the ground rule — that the safety of movie-goers is intact. We do understand that their motive is not to damage the theatre so we don’t claim it with insurance either. But, nowadays there is a decrease in FDFS celebration, as the films makes it to the internet within hours of release.”

When it comes to the safety of the public, Rakesh claims that they have employed police protection when they foresee any uncontrollable action from the fans. “For the MS Dhoni biopic, people tweeted that they would pour milk over the screen. So, we had to employ people to control the crowd,” he states.

While theatres like Vettri, Kasi and Albert are welcoming the request of celebrating the FDFS of an actor’s release, theatres like Kamala and Udhayam have put an end to it. Hariharan of Udhayam theatre asserts, “When people from associations approach us for bulk tickets, we advise them not to damage the theatre’s property. However, we cannot control them for the initial couple of days. We do give police protection to stop fans from going overboard. Nowadays, we do not encourage putting up banners in front of theatres. Every week, four or five films release in the theatre, and if they put up banners for each, people can’t even enter the theatre.”

A spokesperson from Kamala Multiplex shares the same point of view — “We are concerned about the public’s safety. So, we have stopped entertaining FDFS celebrations for the past 10 years. After renovation, we don’t want the risk of damaging the push-back seats and screens being torn.”