Smitten fans held Maha Mrityunjay pujas, Havans and Yagyas for his long life. His sickness made people very reckless. Moreover, it wasn't just Indians who were making efforts but also people across the borders and overseas were sending their best wishes to the legend. His operation led the country and film industry into a trauma. Lakhs of people gathered around Lilavati Hospital (where Amitabh Bachchan was admitted) just to shower their blessings on Bachchan senior.

Lovers of Amitabh Bachchan have built a temple of God Amitabh by placing a statue of him in a temple in the Dumdum area in Kolkata. His wax statue is also placed in the Museum of Madam Tusado of UK.

Sonali, a 30-year-old school teacher, shares her experience. "The news of Amitabh's illness spread like a fire in jungle. The buzz was so much that it became difficult to handle the students. Eventually, we had to disperse classes after lunch," says Sonali.

Well, idiosyncrasy of fans is not just restricted to Bollywood celebs. In fact, down south, the craziness zooms ahead.

Take the recent case of southern superstar Rajkumar and you will agree no less. The film icon's death led to a stampede in Bangalore. Thousands of distraught fans smashed cars, burned buses and battled with cops, who weren't allowing the fans to view the body of the 77-year-old legend.

But, sometimes when love turns into obsession, the situation is surely dangerous. Explains Dr Samir Parekh, "It is definitely not healthy when fans go crazy over film personalities to the limit of putting their life on stake. But then it cannot be prevented. Also, not all fans behave in such abnormal manner. The level of worshipping a star varies. It ranges from normal to pathological behaviour," states the psychiatrist.

The most popular Indian movie stars often develop fanatical followings - when actor-turned-politician MG Ramachandran died in 2001, some fans killed themselves in grief - but Kumar's stature was unmatchable in parts of South India. For Rajnikanth, his fans conduct pujas on his huge cutouts just before the launching of his films to ensure his success. It is said that directors cannot 'kill' his character in the movie due to fear that the theatre will be burnt down to prevent future runnings of the movie by his 'crazy' fans who consider him almost a god.

Now, saying that behind every successful star is the power of his fans, will not be wrong. What say?

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