Telugu film industry witnessed tremendous rise when legendary stars of the first generation like NTR, ANR, Krishna, Sobhan Babu, Krishnam Raju etc ruled the hearts of their fans and thus introduced the word stardom to Tollywood. All these stars even cultivated their own fan groups, mostly based on their caste. These stalwart actors then introduced their respective sons, the second generation stars, to Telugu silver screen.
While Balakrishna made his successful entry to filmdom from the Nandamuri family, Nagarjuna from the Akkineni’s and Venkatesh from the Daggubati families stepped into films and won all the love and adulation of their fathers’ fans. Then came the tsunami called Chiranjeevi, who, with no filmy background, developed his own fan following.
Then came the third generation actors from these illustrious film families. Current heartthrobs like Pawan Kalyan, Mahesh Babu, NTR, Prabhas managed to impress thier seniors’ fans and secured permanent place in their hearts.
However, things changed with the entry of the younger generation stars like Ram Charan, Allu Arjun, Naga Chaitanya, and now Akhil, even the hardcore fans of these families now have several options to choose one star from one family. For example, a fan may only and exclusively be a Ram Charan fan and he may not be really excited about Pawan Kalyan or Allu Arjun etc. On the other hand, even Allu Arjun has his own set of fans who love him for his dances and style.
Same is the case with Nandamuri and Akkineni stars. While those fans who admire Balakrishna may not follow Young Tiger NTR, the Young Tiger himself has a huge fan following compared to his brother Kalyanram. Coming to the Akkinenis, even as a section of fans shower their love for Naga Chaitanya, a new and large group of fans is already budding for Akhil.
The primary reason for fans branching out within a film family is that these fans choose their favorite stars based on their age groups. For example, college goers may relate more to young stars like Ram Charan and Allu Arjun, while those in mid 20s and early 30s may stick to the likes of Pawan Kalyan, Mahesh Babu, NTR, whom they have been following since their childhood.
It is a good sign for Tollywood that huge mass stars like Pawan and Mahesh have unbeatable fan following even outside their families, which will wipe out caste based fandom in Tollywood. Apart from these family stars, independent stars like Nithiin, Nani, Nikhil etc also have their own fan following, which shows that Tollywood fans are delving beyond film families and caste.
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