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According to legend, a fan once accosted Bob Dylan and said “You don’t know who I am. But I know who you are!” Dylan responded: “Good. Let’s keep it that way.”
I have no way of knowing if this story is true or apocryphal but it does capture the relationship between celebrities and their fans.
In the old days, celebrities felt no reason to be especially nice to their fans. They made movies or records that the public enjoyed. And, as far as they were concerned, that was that. They had discharged their obligations to their fans. And fans, in turn, were often too over-awed to approach celebrities. When they did overcome their awe, they were shunted away if they got too close.
This lasted well into the Seventies. The great rock stars did not feel obliged to be good to their fans. Pretty much the whole of A Hard Day’s Night, the first Beatles movie, is about how the group escaped their screaming fans. As a rule, rock stars only bothered about fans if they were nubile and attractive -- hence the whole groupie phenomenon.
But these days, something has changed. Partly it is that stars want to seem more accessible. Amitabh Bachchan often tells the story of how, when he was a child, he once approached Dilip Kumar for an autograph and was shooed away. Because of that experience, he has always tried to give back to his fans: he rarely refuses an autograph unless to do so would be to provoke a riot.
And partly it is social media. Bachchan has millions of followers on Twitter and blogs incessantly. He is happy to interact with his fans and takes particular pride in the online community he has created and loves it when his social media followers fly out to see him perform.
So it is with many other Bollywood stars. Shahrukh Khan tweets regularly and I’ve seen him stop to talk to fans even when his security men are trying to hustle him along. Ditto Salman Khan who has few starry airs when he is in a public place. I once saw him sitting alone in the restaurant at Bombay airport and he was unfailingly warm to every fan who came up to him.
I sometimes wonder how much pressure this increased accessibility must place on stars. As we all know, most of today’s stars are created by a massive image-making machine. Every photo that goes out is selected by the star who rejects around 100 shots for each image he selects. They are constantly made up, bewigged (hair transplanted even) and stylishly dressed by a small army.
| "I was once at an official dinner in London where Amitabh Bachchan was the guest of honour. Every two minutes fans would rush up and ask to shake his hand." |
So what must it be like for a star when he steps off a long and tiring flight with bags under his eyes, his cloths rumpled and his hair tousled only to find fans lining up to click selfies? Stars know that unlike autographs in the old days fan-selfies always go out into the wide world. Often the fan will tweet it seconds later and even if he doesn’t the photo will turn up on Facebook and other social media.
My guess is that stars have resigned themselves to being photographed when they are their worst. Many stars now do not risk going out with single hair out of place because they know that a camera-phone is never far away. This is especially true of the women. I’ve seen female stars going off to the gym in full make-up, wearing absurdly high heels on aeroplanes, just in case somebody clicks their photo.
What should you do if you see a star enjoying a private moment with his or her family? My own view is that you must respect the star’s privacy and not disturb him or her. Every public figure is not necessarily public property. They are entitled to go shopping, take flight or go to a restaurant without the rest of us muscling in on them.
In my case, it helps that I’m so bad with faces that I rarely recognise stars in the flesh. I once rode in an elevator in New York with Brad Pitt without working out who he was. And a few months ago, Julia Roberts and I were the only people buying macaroons at a shop in Paris. Miss Roberts stiffened a little when I looked at her. But she needn’t have worried. It took me a while (after she’d left the shop) to work out where I’d seen her before.
As a general rule, however, stars don’t like to be hassled if they are off-duty. Recently, I was in an immigration queue right behind Hugh Laurie and pretended I did not know who he was. When eventually he was recognised by somebody else, he looked distinctly put out.
But when they are at a public function, they put their public faces on and do not mind being hassled. I was once at an official dinner in London where Amitabh Bachchan was the guest of honour. Every two minutes fans would rush up and ask to shake his hand.
Finally, I asked him “Doesn’t all this attention annoy you?”
“Oh no," he said. “I only get worried when nobody wants to come up to me!”
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