Abusive tweets, memes and street fights — fans go all out

It doesn’t seem to take much to upset fans of Sandalwood stars, as pretty much everything from a movie dialogue to an appearance on a TV show can start virtual and physical fights. A fresh controversy was stoked recently, after Rakshit Shetty made an appearance on the TV show, Weekend with Ramesh, which angered fans of Yash, who said that their idol’s contribution to the film industry has been bigger than Rakshit’s. They registered their protest online, questioning why Rakshit made it to the current season, while Yash hadn’t. This comes despite the fact that Yash was a guest on the first season of the show — which traces the life journey of popular personalities — that was aired in August 2014. But this isn’t the first time that fans have fought over seemingly non-issues... Battle ground Heroor for Yash and Sudeep’s fans (February 2017)To welcome pilgrims to Heroor village in Gangavati taluk during the Eshwar Jathre, fans of Yash had put up a 30-foot-high flex cutout of the actor in front of the gram panchayat office. Seeing this, Sudeep’s fans put up a 40-foot-high flex cutout of their idol, leading to a clash between the two groups. Things got so heated that the fans resorted to fisticuffs, resulting in injuries. Police had to be called in and the flexes were later removed.From car attacks, posters to memes, Darshan and Yash’s fans go all out (June 2015)Yash reportedly hired gunmen after Darshan’s fans allegedly attacked his car, even though he wasn’t in it. It is said that the Challenging Star’s fans took offence to a line in Yash’s film, Mr & Mrs Ramachari, in which Yash’s character says, “Naanu barotanaka bereyavara hawa. Naanu banda mele nande hawa (Others have shone till now. It is my now time).” This was perceived as a dig at Darshan, as one of his lines in Mr Airavatha was, “Ratha bandre gaali beesatte. Airavatha bandre birugaali beesatte (When a chariot arrives, the wind blows. When airavatha — Lord Indra’s vehicle, an elephant — arrives, there is tempest).” Posters of Darshan were also pasted on the Rocking Star’s house on the former’s birthday. Fans of the two stars engaged in an online war in September 2016 by editing pictures of the ‘rival’ star and uploading them as memes.Puneeth Rajkumar and Sudeep on the same screen? Fans protest (April 2015)Things took an unexpected turn when Puneeth Rajkumar’s film Ranavikrama was being screened at the city’s Santosh Theatre. All hell broke loose when, during the interval, the trailer of Sudeep’s film, Ranna, was screened. Sudeep is also considered Puneeth’s rival, which is why the Power Star’s fans went berserk, throwing bottles and breaking windows, resulting in injuries. Abuses and slogans were also shouted. The situation was brought under control after the trailer of Ranna was stopped and the screening of Ranavikrama was resumed.Rivalry takes a cold turn for Sudeep and Shivarajkumar’s fans (July 2014)Sudeep is not viewed as Shivarajkumar arch rival. So, Kichcha lending his voice for the Century Star’s film, Aryan, came as a surprise to many. Sudeep took to Twitter to say that he was doing so only as a tribute to the late director D Rajendra Babu, and for no other reason. What followed was a string of tweets from fans of both actors, each saying that they would watch the movie only for their respective favourite stars, while one user even said that Sudeep’s tweet meant that the cold war was still on between Sudeep and Shivanna.NEED TO PUT AN END TO THIS, SAY STARS<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I think,,those debating shld relax.Whn I said 'no other reason',meant,I hv done it outta respct twrds D.babu sir,n nt fr commercial reasons.</p>— Kichcha Sudeepa (@KicchaSudeep) <a href="https://twitter.com/KicchaSudeep/status/494093950420914177">July 29, 2014</a></blockquote><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>Whenever they have been asked to comment on the news of their fans clashing with those of other stars, Sandalwood actors have always maintained that they have no grouse with their peers, and appeal to their fans to respect each other. When asked about the alleged attack aimed at him by Darshan’s fans, Yash said, “We need to shed this mentality. Competition in the film industry should be healthy. We should all be fans of Kannada cinema and appreciate the work of all actors; I am a fan of every hero.” Sudeep took to Twitter to clear the air about his supposed cold war with Shivarajkumar around the time of the Aryan’s release. His post read, “I think, those debating shld relax.Whn I said ‘no other reason’,meant,I hv done it outta respct twrds D.babu sir, n nt fr commercial reasons (sic).”