It’s mutual. Sandalwood actors and their fans feel the love, but something’s missing. Fans adore the objects of their admiration from afar, while actors post distant messages of gratitude to their fans. But there appears to be a vague kind of shyness, which neither actors nor their fans want to break.
Most Sandalwood actors on social media post updates about their films – but that’s only to be expected. For each such post, and those thanking fans, there are a few hundred Likes and re-tweets. However, little other conversation takes place.
Actor Sumalatha has a following of her own on Twitter, and is one of the few women celebrities with such a large following. On Annavre’s birthday on April 24, she recalled that her debut film Ravi Chandra was opposite him.
#DrRajkumar ..Ws lucky to debut with a great human & actor like him..he ll remain alive in millions f hearts forever pic.twitter.com/33KdpwRREC
— sumalatha ambareesh (@sumalathaA) April 24, 2016
She often tweets images of herself with her husband and Minister for Housing in the Karnataka government Ambareesh. The last one was on the occasion of Ugadi. And she loves Rajinikanth.
Happy Ugadi & wishing all of U lots of peace good health & success in the coming year pic.twitter.com/OWSJD53oPM
— sumalatha ambareesh (@sumalathaA) April 8, 2016
The woman celebrity with possibly the highest number of followers on Twitter is Ramya, former MP and once Sandalwood’s golden girl. It could partly be because she is quite active on the medium or because she was also a Congress MP. Whatever the case, her tweets cover the most varied subjects, RTing everything from cartoons to a story on The Wire on the book Sue The Messenger.
Her contemporary and well-known actor Pooja Gandhi doesn’t appear to be on the micro-blogging website. Nitya Menon is on Twitter, but no one really knows anything about her. The same with Aindrita Ray. In a mass of tweets that Kriti Kharbanda has tweeted and RTed, one stands out: she RTed one about acid attacks. Is this something she feels strongly about, one wonders.
#endacidsale before it causes more pain and agony. #makeluvnotscar pic.twitter.com/4Q9qxrTS6s
— sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) April 30, 2016
Two people who are conspicuously absent from Twitter are Puneeth Rajkumar and Shivrajkumar. On his 41st birthday, an Appu fan had just one wish: his favourite star should get on Twitter.
Sudeep mostly thanks his fans for their love and trust, and keeps them posted about developments in his career. But in between, glimpses of his personality shine through when he actually talks to his fans.
On February 16, he urged fans not to tweet an image of a run-out, which was “humiliating” to the umpire. He said that the first norm of any game was that decisions have to be respected.
I understand that pain behind the tweets. but my friends,we need to move on..We earn respect only by respecting.Cheers n luv always..kichcha
— Kichcha Sudeepa (@KicchaSudeep) February 16, 2016
Reqst all those,posting th pic of the run out,to stop n nt to humiliate th umpire or the ccl.1st norm of ny game,Decisions hv to be respectd
— Kichcha Sudeepa (@KicchaSudeep) February 16, 2016
Earlier, when he was going through a divorce with his wife Priya, and the newspapers were agog at the perfect couple breaking up, he appealed to his fans to understand that it was his personal life. And this is an actor who often tweeted images of his wife, calling her his best friend. Makes you wonder about the man behind the make-up.
Upendra, who commands a legion of admirers, unfortunately has little to say to them. There’s little more than images wishing people a good morning or so-called inspiring quotes to get you through the day.
When Mungaru Male burst onto the scene making actor Ganesh the golden boy of Sandalwood, Twitter wasn’t a big deal for either the industry or to its fans. However, today he barely has any virtual fans even though his films have done well at the box office.
Despite the fans and Kannada film lovers in the state, it is unclear why there’s hardly any real interaction between actors and their followers. This is stark contrast to other celebrities in south India and elsewhere to are constantly sharing their thoughts and also interacting with their followers. If the numerous fan clubs and exuberant celebrations during a film release are anything to go by, Sandalwood fans think: Yeh Dali Maange More.