Fan-tastic!

Below illustrated is the ‘anatomy of an admirer’.

Sounds like a biology class! At least it is not a lesson in “postmortem” as the admirer is still alive! …

Before you start wondering, I would like to narrate a recent incident. I was in Bhopal having dinner at the Jehan Numa Palace’s famed restaurant “Under The Mango Tree” when I saw Jaya Bachchan walk in with a few friends & relatives. Obviously all heads turned in her direction including mine but there was no pandemonium. She sat at the next table, ordered food & drinks and they started having peaceful conversations. Once the dinner was over I decided to go and talk to her which I did. I congratulated Jaya aunty for becoming a grand mother and reminded her of my previous meeting with her at the Delhi airport when she was with Amitabh uncle, Abhishek and Anil Ambani – all returning to Bombay in Anil’s private jet post her (and Anil’s) oath in the Rajya Sabha – which she, of course, did not remember but seemed to be happy talking about – and I genuinely complimented on her still maintained elegance and charm! She thanked me profusely and then I requested for a photograph with her. Jaya aunty very sweetly declined saying “it is an extremely private dinner; there are so many people around who too would like to do the same; hope you will understand and not mind … God bless you.” I understood of course and did not mind also! Three days later when I was returning to Delhi, I again saw her walk inside the airport wearing a beautiful dress looking every inch a “Guddi”! She had a bit of harried expression around her. Had she spent a few minutes around, I would have gone to her again, requesting her to pose for a picture with me – this time at a public place, giving her no opportunity to refuse! … Her departure started a discussion about this entire phenomenon called “celebrity-admirer” relationship. And I decided to pen down my thoughts. So, here I am …

Watching Jaya aunty board the aircraft to Bombay I got reminded of an article by a celebrated journalist more than half a decade back in one of the national dailies in which he (a hint!) lamented the species called “admirers” – a “fan” in popular parlance – and labeling them to be “Goodwill Hunters”! Well, he must have had his own reasons (very flimsy from his account in the piece though) but it hurt me immensely. Because I am also a fan of a very few but have never indulged into “goodwill hunting” – so far!

The “Goodwill Hunting” term hurt me because as an active person with interest in various fields I have met many a celebrities, have interacted with them, taken snaps with a few but I do not think that being a non-celebrity, I have ever tried to “hunt them down for any goodwill”! No way.

Of course, there many people who are real fanatics (fan comes from fanatics!) in their hero-worship but this kind of frenzied behavior is reserved for a select few and that too at select places – few film stars and few cricketers being amongst this coveted club! General public otherwise is so ignorant about most of the things that people – celebrities – in most of the fields other than film and cricket are not even known, forget about being recognized! Thus, the bizarre attitude of a few little known names/faces is so offending that you actually wonder at their fantasy about their own self!

Here is the disclaimer: I admire/respect many celebrities/achievers but am a “fan” of very few; they being authors (Orhan Pamuk, Shashi Tharoor), anchor (Arnab Goswami), industrialist (Ratan Tata), social leader (Anna Hazare), film star (Amitabh Bachchan), journalists (Karan Thapar, Vir Sanghvi), politicians (Rajiv Gandhi, Barack Obama), cricketers (MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar), sports (Michael Schumacher, Boris Becker) and my ultimate favorite Mahatma Gandhi! And I have never ever tried “goodwill hunting” with any of them! …

Only a couple of months back I was watching Ranbir Kapoor talk about ‘fans’ on “Frankly Speaking” on Times Now and I found his thoughts to be refreshing! He mentioned about his father’s haughty behavior towards the “approaching fans” and thus his determination as a young kid that if ever he became a celebrity he would always respect his fans because it is because of the fans that a film star is born and sustained! He sounded noble and “hat-ke” though in reality if he really practices it is yet to be confirmed…

I also find one more aspect very odd about many of the celebrities. That if you correspond with famous people (not because you want to trespass/harass but only to share your opinion on certain issues and the celebrity in question need not be from ‘your set of favorites’), they will not respond; or if they do ‘oblige’, most of the time they will not address the person with his/her name. And if they do, they will not use the expression “dear” before the name. Now, prefixing “dear” is just a civilized way of writing/replying; no fool (recipient/fan) will ever believe that he/she has become a “dear” of the personality!

Not that I blame them entirely for their strange attitude. Sometimes admirers can be really rude and unforgiving and crazy but generally they are supportive and understanding. I also realize that they are so hard pressed for time that taking time out for responding to each and every email/letter could become hugely challenging (by the way, how many such personalities would be there in this world?!). I also buy the argument that they are humans too and thus need personal space in their ever-crowded environment in which every person is out there hungry for a piece of him/her! In many instances, their own insecurities and personal troubles could be so overwhelming that they live cocooned and seldom bother to look around and savor the privileges bestowed upon them by virtue of being successful/known in their chosen field! Nevertheless, what I also understand from all this is that they clearly fail to understand the favorite-fan relationship.

This celebrity-fan relationship is very interesting. And divine. Though friends of a celebrity are often because of his/her fame, but fans are like stars in the universe: shining for him/her with ‘moral support & well-wishes’ from afar but never crossing their paths to cause eclipses like ‘planets and satellites’! This relationship is absolutely one-sided, without any kind of expectation from the more blessed one, though the latter get taken-for-granted often in this divinely unbalanced equation. And there is no “goodwill hunting”, for God’s sake!

Nevertheless, I remain a fan, forever … J