Kannada film superstar Vishnuvardhan died of a heart attack early Wednesday morning at the age of 59. Athough I had never heard of him, it seems that almost everybody in Karnataka loved his films (all 200 of them). So many people adored the actor, that more than 400,000 showed up on the streets of South Bangalore to watch his funeral procession (photo above). Unfortunately, some angry fans unable to get a glimpse of their star turned violent and started pelting buildings and buses with stones and setting cars on fire. As a result, many shops across the city closed for the day, and city buses were diverted or halted altogether. Thankfully, all of this happened miles away from our workplace and apartment in Domlur on the east side of the city, so our only experience was viewed through the TV or internet.
At first I was very confused why anybody would react this way over the death of an actor, especially one that was only well known in his own state. I mean it's not like the President died or anybody was assassinated. This guy had a heart attack. But then Vidya pointed out that movies are huge in India, and often the primary source of escape from reality for most of the people that live here. The top actors are highly revered, often more than the country's key politicians. Plus, it is hard to criticize people for acting irrationally when I experienced similar antics in Columbus after Ohio State's big win over Michigan in 2002 that eventually resulted in a national championship. Perhaps the moral of this story is that wherever we are in the world there's likely to be people that act like idiots!?!!"Now, I'm getting verklempt! Talk amongst yourselves. I'll give you a topic. The Prince of Tides was about neither a prince nor tides. Discuss."
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