THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the fan clubs in Mollywood wresting enough power even to the extent of influencing the success quotient of movies, new releases are devoting title space for thanking the fan clubs of superstars, seemingly in an attempt to ensure their support. A curious observer would find that most of the films which have been recently released in Malayalam have carried title-cards thanking the fans associations of actors such as Mammootty, Mohanlal, Dileep and Prithviraj, irrespective of whether the actors have appeared in the film or not. Critics say that this is the only way to ensure the support of the fans of another actor who are capable enough to torpedo the film, if not become a winning factor. “Unlike in Tamil industry, where the fan clubs have the single point agenda of ensuring the success of the films of actors whom they adore, associations here are keen not just to ensure the success of the films of their hero, but also to see that the rest of the films are on the rocks. So the director would be forced to ensure their support”, says director Jayaraj.“A movie comes into its winning or losing track after the first four to five days. This period is very crucial. When the fans who have an agenda to spoil the film would unleash a propaganda that the film is below par, it would undoubtedly hit the success chancesd of the film”, said a senior director, who did not wish to be named. He said that the new age social media network such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and SMS, which have a deep penetration in society, are being used for this nefarious purpose. “The actors are indulging in a virtual war via the fan clubs and small fishes struggle for their existence in between. Those who are thanking the fan clubs are virtually trying to please the actors whom the clubs are associated with”, says an upcoming actor, who added that revealing his identity would be suicidal. “The arguments that fan clubs work against some particular film are totally baseless. It is true that we have a SMS network among us. But we use the network only to promote films. We even work against unhealthy trends in the industry like piracy”, says Nizam Vallakkadavu, state general secretary of All Kerala Mammootty Fans and Welfare Association. “The fan clubs have been of great help for people like us who have lot of constraints in taking our films to the theatres. My film got released in only 21 theatres in the state but thanks to the fans associations, the film is gaining good publicity. I don’t think there is anything wrong in thanking those who have helped us,” believes Aashiq Abu, the director of ‘Salt n Pepper’, who had thanked the fan clubs of superstars in the title of the movie.
Comments
0 comment