South superstars who fell in love with Kolkata, created mass hysteria among fans

South superstars shooting in Kolkata is nothing new. Over the years so many actors from South Indian cinema have shot for their films in the city of joy and every time they created a mass hysteria as fans gathered to see a glimpse of their favourite celebs. Even these actors including Vijay, Ram Charan, Chiranjeevi and many others fell in love with the city of joy for its colonial architecture, museums, art galleries, traditional food, music etc.

The megastar was shooting for a film directed by Karthik Sabbaraj in north Bengal in 2018 for almost a month and after it was over, Rajinikanth visited Kolkata on July 10 on his way to Chennai. After reaching Kolkata from Bagdogra, he quietly visited Belur and Dakshineswar and even did devi darshan at Dakshineswar mandir. Next he travelled to Belur Math where he met Swami Smaranananda Maharaj. Rajinikanth even stayed for the sandhyarati, before leaving for the airport in the evening.

The South superstar was in Kolkata in 2016 to shoot some key jail sequences for one of his films. Chiru was heavily impressed with Kolkata’s pleasant atmosphere and promised to return to Kolkata again to spend more time in the city of joy. The colonial architecture, museums, art galleries, traditional food – everything left the popular actor in awe.

Not many people know that Ram Charan's 2013 action entertainer ‘Naayak’ was also shot in Kolkata in October 2012 after wrapping up its schedule in Hyderabad. Director VV Vinayak had shot a major portion of the film in Kolkata earlier in the year and the unit was back to the city of joy to complete the continuity scenes. The tight schedule was only for 7 days and the team shot in and around Kalighat. Despite tight security fans literally mobbed the shooting spot just to get a glimpse of the South star. It created mass hysteria among the local people as they mobbed the shooting spot.

Kannada superstar Puneeth Rajkumar’s untimely death last year left his fans in grief. However, the South actor’s fan base isn’t just limited to Karnataka. One incident in Kolkata way back in 2018 is still being cherished by his fans. Puneeth was mobbed by hundreds of fans when he was shooting for his critically acclaimed horror film ‘Nata Sarvabhouma’ in and around Kolkata’s Khidirpur area. It was the final schedule of the film and the team wrapped it up on a grand scale as the power star spent some time with his fans and even took part in a photo session.

Thalapathy Vijay is one such actor whose fan base isn’t limited to South. One incident in Kolkata way back in 2018 is still being cherished by his fans. Vijay was mobbed by hundreds of fans when he was shooting for his critically acclaimed film ‘Sarkar’ in and around Kolkata’s Khidirpur area. It was a 20-day long schedule and despite tight security fans literally stormed the sets. A large number of fans literally swarmed him for autographs and pictures. The way these fans mobbed him on the sets clearly showed that Vijay’s fan base isn’t restricted to South only.

The natural star of South came to Kolkata in 2021 to shoot for a few key scenes of ‘Shyam Singha Roy’ in Kolkata since the film is set against the city of joy. It was a tight schedule for the actor because of the pandemic but Nani later revealed that he had thoroughly enjoyed his stay in Kolkata and especially loved the Kolkatans’ warm welcome.