Bhavana Studios’ Malayalam YouTube series ‘The Fanatic’ pans in on the emotional connect that fans have with their idols

Reese Thomas, a Paulo Coelho fan in a screengrab from the series
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Watching Abhirami Radhakrishnan, an Ayurvedic doctor from Manjeri, Kerala, and more importantly an avid Vijay fan, reduced to tears when she gets a phone call from the Tamil actor sums up the Bhavana Studios’ YouTube series The Fanatic.

Six episodes of the eight-episode series, uploaded every weekend, on the production house’s channel, are a showcase of fans whose devotion is ‘fanatic’ in a nice way. Author Paulo Coelho shared the episode which featured an ardent fan Reese Thomas from Muvattupuzha. Reese spoke about his passion for Coelho’s works and how they have influenced him. “I was moved to tears,” the author tweeted, sharing the link on his Twitter handle. 

Athira Padikkal, a fan of music director Vidyasagar
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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

“These are not regular fans, there is something more to their fandom,” explains Abhilash Keezhoot, chief operating officer, Bhavana Studios, on the process of how the ‘fans’ were chosen. It meant travelling to different parts of the State, speaking to them, their friends and family to gauge the depth of their devotion. He was part of the team that met fans. Some of the encounters left him speechless. These were not ordinary fans.  

No material gain

“They have nothing to gain from this ‘worship’. It is purely out of love. That is their only payoff, and they attempt to use it positively. Like Abhirami who says in the show that she strives to be a good Ayurvedic doctor because she might get a chance to meet Vijay this way,” he says. The fans and their stories are vetted by the creative team.

Sabeer, a fan of actor Mammootty
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“The show was never intended to garner a million views or clicks. The creative panel [including Syam Pushkaran and Dileesh Pothan] was clear on that. We are not looking for quotable quotes,” Abhilash says. Scenarist Syam Pushkaran, actors Dileesh Pothan and Fahadh Faasil helm production house Bhavana Studios. Usually production houses use their social media handles to promote upcoming films, this ode to fans is a first.   

Emotional connect, Syam says, is the key to picking the fans and their stories. “The stories are moving. These are fans who gained [emotionally] through their fandom. They have derived strength from it during their low points. It supported them emotionally, helped them deal with the hard times. For someone like me who is not a huge fan of anybody that means something,” Syam adds. How Abhirami looked to her fandom for Vijay, her ‘connect’ with him, was one of the episodes that moved him. 

More than a regular fan

There is more to these fans than just watching the first show of releases, sporting tattoos or pouring-milk-over-photographs. Like Safeer Ahmed’s knowledge about Mohanlal films. The first episode featured Safeer, a die-hard fan of the actor.

“We met 22-23 Mohanlal fans. We all know a Mohanlal fan, but Safeer is different. Proof was what his wife told us, before we met him. They have been to Ooty 13 times, and every time he has taken them to same locations where Mohanlal films were shot and narrated incidents related to the location all over again. He even remembers details such as which other film was released with a Mohanlal film. He even remembers the technical crew of each film… how many people can do that?” Abhilash says. 

The first season of the series will have eight episodes.  

Suresh Gopi fan Chandrika Madikai
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The other ‘fans’ featured are Athira Padikkal (music director Vidyasagar), Sabeer (Mammootty), and Chandrika Madikai (actor Suresh Gopi). The episodes [interviews] are short, never crossing the 16-17 minute mark. Condensing footage, which often extends to two hours and more, is no easy task. Abhilash explains why, “These people are unfamiliar faces, viewers may lose interest if you have an unknown face speaking for two hours. We have tried to keep it at 15-odd minutes, and there have been requests for longer episodes. We wanted the experience to resonate, and this works.” The current format evolved over the past few weeks. 

The Fanatic is streaming on the Bhavana Studios YouTube channel