Celebs on interesting fan moments and more

Fan means everything to a celebrity. It’s their unconditional love and support that motivates the latter’s inner performer to do better. They, therefore, share a special lifelong bond. In this feature, celebrities talk about their most interesting fan experience. And, how do they react when fans go overboard especially while clicking selfies, taking autographs or sending messages on social media:

This has to be my first as it was very surprisingly unexpected. Three girls came to my doorstep, rang the bell and said they wanted to click a selfie with me. I was very surprised as then I was doing a very small role in Balika Vadhu season 2. Never thought I would still get recognised and that they would find out about me. More surprising was the fact that they came the next day as well with a gift. It was a coffee mug with a picture on it, and it was the selfie they clicked with me. I honestly don’t mind at all when they want to click selfies, and I can stand under the sun and wait with them till they are done and satisfied. But one thing that gets on my nerves is when they repeatedly ask too many personal questions on Instagram, even when I make it clear in the first place that I can’t answer them.

Every day I get different fan mails and messages. One day, by chance, I noticed a hilarious thing is that someone has sent me a marriage proposal saying ‘please marry me and I will get you followers and make you famous’ (laughs). My followers are purely organic and I have never paid a penny to get more followers or a verified blue tick. Sometime back one young girl clicked a selfie with me and then told me that she was confused about some personal thing and asked my advice. I told her what I would do in that situation. After that she had happy tears and hugged me saying you changed my life for good from today. It made my day.

I absolutely love my fans and appreciate how much they care for me. I feel like I am successful because of them. Their love, support, the massive amount of effort they put in just to make me smile, I love all of it! I honestly enjoy every moment of the attention I get from my fans, it’s adorable! Knowing that someone cares so much for you is wholesome. Fans usually love coming. They click pictures and even interact with me for a while, it feels really good. It has become quite normal now. Although, last year on my birthday, a fan sent a cake for me on the set and I went blank for a moment, that’s how happy I was. Happy is a small word, for real. I felt so special, almost like I was on top of the world. It was the first time that a fan did something like this and I felt so good from within knowing that I actually matter to them! I cut cakes every year but that one was a memorable celebration. I cut the cake on the set and we all celebrated together. I’m glad to have such considerate and loving fans who remember my birthday and put in their time and efforts to see me happy! They are everything to me, they make me who I am. With their love, care and support, a lot of this has been possible. All of them are a part of my family! They make me who I am and there is nothing wrong with them wanting to click pictures or just be around me. I love engaging with them. A few days ago when I was on the set, a little girl came running to me, hugged me and said ‘Di, aap bohot ache lagte ho’ and that was so adorable (smiles). It made my day! It is an achievement for me that even kids like watching me and my character. Later, she ran to her mom, grabbed her phone and asked me if I could click a picture with her. Yes, I don’t always have the time to interact with them, or check their messages and mentions. But I make it a point that none of their efforts go unnoticed. So whenever I get free, I always talk to them or reply to them because like I said, THEY ARE THE ONES WHO MADE ME IN THE FIRST PLACE. Sending them love in return is mandatory for me. Talking about social media, they tend to send a lot of texts, comments and messages, and that’s because sometimes they just want a reply from me. Even if it is a ‘hi’, it’s enough for them. I feel like if these guys do so much to make me happy, why not make them happy too? I believe that they know the boundaries. My fans adore and respect me, and the feeling is mutual.

I get compliments from my fans regularly. Recently, one of my fans tagged me on a post on Facebook. She shared a beautiful broken car glass image and she has written that someone broke my car mirror and theft my laptop from car.I was reading with curiosity because that image was very weird and the way she has written anyone will read that post but before I understand that is a fan-made compliment, she has put my name.I was surprised to see my name and I was shocked for 1 min but then I saw her other massage that she is my big fan and her whole family see my show and they love my character and other characters too.

My interesting fan moment will be when I was at a mall and a lady suddenly walked up to me. She looked really angrily at me and said ‘you are very badmaash’. This happened a few years back. I just kept staring at her for a few minutes and asked what did I do and she was like ‘I just want to tell you that you play your character with so much honesty and so much of dedication that one kind of gets lost in your effortless performance’. She also told me, ‘when you play a negative character you kind of elicit our hatred’ and that’s what as an actor is the biggest gift or the biggest compliment for me. She also said that I feel like slapping you when I see your performance (laughs softly).

I wouldn’t call it a fan experience but this experience is very close to my heart. So, after Mayuri I had gone to perform in the US. When my performance got over, there was this old Indian lady who walked up to me and blessed me before saying, ‘beta bahut tarrakki karoge’. While going she asked me to give her my shoes. Explaining the reason behind it she told me, ‘the reason behind why I am asking you for shoes is because it has been many years since I left India. I want to smell the fragrance of India in your shoes because such girls can be born only in India’. This was a very memorable moment for me. So I would not call it a fan experience, but it was a moment that I want to cherish for the rest of my life. Many times it happens that while taking a selfie, people sort of jump on you because they don’t want to miss that opportunity. I tell my fans to have patience and assure them that I will click photos with all of them if they stay calm. I never had a bad experience with any of my fans.