9 - Fan clubs and politics

Summary

Many of the issues centered on utopian escape that arise in film themes are echoed in other aspects of cinema, although resolved differently. They appear in various ways in connection with fan clubs, particularly in the verbal images that fans construct of their heroes, the social services carried out in support of the star, and in the political use that stars have made of the cinema.

There are thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of fan clubs in Madurai. Some are part of a tightly organized statewide or even national network, while others, usually for minor stars, spring up independently and have no connections with other groups. Most of my work took place with members of the three largest fan club organizations in Tamil Nadu – those of the actors MGR, Kamalhasan, and Rajnikanth. I met members of local or “branch” clubs, and officers and members of Madurai ward, city, and district “head” clubs, for all three organizations. Meeting club members was often difficult in the beginning, since virtually all organized fans are young men and therefore not easily approached by a woman, but I worked around this problem by first getting to know club members with whom I had other connections (in two cases, for example, I knew the members' mothers well, and so was able to establish a comfortable informal relationship with the young men). Later these men introduced me to fellow club members and officers, and my contacts spread.