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Vishnuvardhan Fans Vs Rajkumar Fans

Before I begin, Indian actor Vishnuvardhan passed away.  He gave us so many good movies. My respects. As I expected, there is violence. Here's why (Notes made when Rajkumar passed away) "Sahasasimha Vishnuvardhan" (1950-2009) Vishnuvardhan Fans Vs Rajkumar Fans I want to tell you about the contests of Vishnuvardhan fans and Rajkumar fans. Both these are prominent actors of Karnataka and actually were fine gentlemen, their respective fans not so! Rajkumar was a much bigger cult figure and had these "fan associations" everywhere. Not to fall behind, Vishnuvardhan's fans also started "Sahasasimha Fan Associations". Every time there was a movie release there would be a contest of how tall a cut-out was made or how many fans showed up for the ticket lines etc. It was paranoia and marked a phase in India's film industry, just before  television became affordable in India. Anyway, some university awarded a honorary doctorate to Raj Kumar. Boy, that changed the game! Rajkumar's fan's would forever refer to him as Dr. Rajkumar (obviously inspired by Dr. MGR in the neighboring state, only in India you will see a university whose name starts with a Dr. and referring to MGR or Rajkumar without that prefix would amount to blasphemy in the society), almost to the point of teasing Vishnuvardhan fans.  Poor Vishnuvardhan fans had to wait lots of years till another university offered a honorary doctorate to Vishnuvardhan and then they also added Dr. to his name as if that's his first name. Legends of the Rivalry There were all these stories and rumors about how Rajkumar and Vishnuvardhan and their respective coteries hated each other. How one gang stole a role from the other or booked a leading heroine from another camp. When Rajkumar started singing, there was tremendous pressure on Vishnuvardhan to start singing. There was this landmark movie "Gandhada Gudi" -- starring both these superstars (probably the only one such movie) -- in which the two were supposed to have a fight. The legend has it that unknown to the actors, the guns were loaded with real ammunition. Oh, it was so much fun to hear the different versions and derivatives of that legend! Now both these actors are gone. I wonder what they are talking about in heaven. I feel that even the violence after their passing is like the contest of the fans. It's like they are discussing -- "How many buses and trains did the other camp burn?!" (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Thursday, December 31, 2009 Last Modified: 12/31/2009 11:23:54 AM

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