Which actor in the world has 'cult fan following' as there is for Rajinikanth?

 I think “cult fan following” of some movie stars is largely a South Indian phenomenon, while it is much less in the North and almost non-existent in the other parts of the world. In South, there had been quite a few actors who had enjoyed a cult fan following among the movie going masses.

1 M.G.Ramachandran (M.G.R) : The very first name to come to one’s mind is the matinee idol turned politician M.G.Ramachandran, popularly known as MGR and affectionately called Puratchi Nadigar/Thalaivar (Revolutionary Actor/ Leader), Makkal Thilagam (Pride of the People), Ponmana Chemmal ( Great man with a Golden Heart) or simply as Vadhyar (Teacher). He very assiduously cultivated a larger than life aura around his on-screen and off - screen persona. He would never smoke or drink in any of his films, always appeared chivalrous to women, respectful to elders and the savior of the underdogs. In his real life, he used to help people liberally in their personal lives, and donate lavishly during the times of natural calamities like cyclones or floods. All these raised his status to that of a demi-god among his countless fans, many of whom used to worship his framed pictures at their homes, with reports of some people even erecting temples for him in public. He was largely instrumental in spreading the message of the Dravidian ideology among people, ultimately enabling his party DMK capture power in the state in 1967. He later fell out with M.Karunanidhi and floated his own outfit AIADMK to win elections and become the Chief Minister in 1977, and remained in the post till his death 10 years later in 1987. The poor of Tamilnadu still remember him fondly with love and respect, even after his death over three decades ago.

( M. G. Ramachandran - Wikipedia)

2 N.T.Rama Rao : Another matinee idol who had a cult fan following was the Telugu thespian, N.T.Rama Rao, whose very authentic portrayals of Lord Rama and Lord Krishna in many films made his followers equate him with these gods themselves. In those days, for a large number of people of Andhra Pradesh, after visiting the hill shrine of Tirupati to have darshan of Lord Balaji, their next halt unfailingly used to be the residence of N.T.Rama Rao situated at Habibullah Road, T.Nagar in then Madras. If the matinee idol was in station, he would invariably appear in the balcony and wave to the crowd, and the fans would go rapturous, break coconuts and lit camphor as ‘aarti’ before dispersing. NTR, as he was known, also floated his own political outfit ‘Telugu Desam Party’ (TDP) and won the elections in record short time to become the Chief Minister of the then undivided Andhra Pradesh, taking on the mighty Prime Minister Indira Gandhi still at the peak of her prowess.

( N. T. Rama Rao - Wikipedia)

3 Dr.Rajkumar : It will not be an exaggeration to say that the Kannada thespian Dr. Rajkumar, affectionately called “Nata Saarvabhouma” (Emperor among actors), Bangaradha Manushya ( Man of Gold) or simply as “Annavaru” (Elder Brother) was the heart throb of the millions of his movie fans across the state of Karnataka. An actor and a singer of very high caliber, his on screen performance and off screen persona endeared Dr.Rajkumar to his fans, rising him to the status of a cult figure. His popularity was such, that when Indira Gandhi contested the by-election for Lok Sabha from Chickmagaluru constituency in Karnataka in 1978, the Janata Party stalwarts requested Dr.Rajkumar to contest against her, as he was possibly the only person who could have defeated even Indira Gandhi, but of course he declined, stating that he had no desire to enter electoral politics. In fact, if only Annavaru had decided to follow in the footsteps of peers MGR and NTR,he too could have ended up as the Chief Minister of his state, but he chose not to. This is what one film critic of The Hindu had to say about him very recently in his review of Tamil film Sarkar:

Then there was Dr. Raj Kumar who could have swept any poll effortlessly but decided that affection and love should not be used to attain power only to be misused by kin and clan.

(Source : This 'Sarkar', hardly rules)

( Rajkumar (actor) - Wikipedia)

I can say with genuine conviction that even Rajinikanth can not match these three thespians from an earlier era in his “cult fan following”.

Though people of Kerala are by nature more sober and restrained in their fandom as compared to the other three southern states, I think actor Prem Nazir earlier, and the Mammooty- Mohan Lal duo at present enjoy a fan following which is not much different from that of Rajinikanth, though the fans are not as crazy or demonstrative. Among the Bollywood actors, I think Salman Khan enjoys some kind of a cult status.

In today’s Tamilnadu, actors Vijay and Ajith Kumar seem to have a fanatical if not cult following going by the regular cat fights the fans of these actors wage over the social media space.

Thanks for RTA.

(All images are from internet)

Who has the larger fan following: Salman Khan or Shahrukh Khan?

 Since I’ve been following both Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan closely, I believe I am good candidate to answer this question.

Salman and SRK’s career trajectories have always been gone through ups downs. It has directly impacted on their fan following both positively and negatively. I will analyse their fan following as per different timelines of their career:

1989–1991

When Salman debuted as lead actor through Main Pyar Kiya, he became overnight sensation. It was probably first instance when debutant gave all time blockbuster movie. Due to charming chocolate boy looks, Salman grabbed plenty of female fans. He capitalized on MPK’s success and gave back to back 5 hit movies (Baagi, Sanam Bewafa, Saajan, Patthar Ke Phool and Kurbaan). Meanwhile, Srk hadn't debuted in the movies yet. However, he acted in TV serials like Fauzi and Circus during this time and had gained immense popularity in family audiences.

Overall, Salman Khan was more popular and had more fans during this period.

1992–1994

Salman Khan gave back to back flops in 1992–93 which affected his career badly. Meanwhile, SRK debuted in movies through Deewana movie which became major blockbuster in 1992. Srk was praised for his acting and role. In 1993, he gave back to back 2 blockbuster with Darr and Baajigar. He was highly praised for his negative roles and strong performances which led him to win Filmfare Best Actor Award for Baajigar. At this point, SRK had garned quite popularity however from fan following perspective, Salman was still leading. He reinforced his fan following with Hum Apke Hain Kaun- biggest blockbuster of 90s decade.

1995–2009

In 1995, SRK had major blockbuster with the iconic movie DDLJ. This movie changed fan following picture completely. Movie became quite popular in Indian diaspora audiences. After this movie, Srk established himself as romantic chocolate boy and garned pretty much female fan following. He also became popular in family audiences. He continued his romantic boy legacy with blockbusters like DTPH, KKHH, Mohabbatein, KHNH, Veer Zaara,Om Shanti Om and Jab tak hai jaan. Along with this, he gained significant acting praise through movies such as Devdas, Swades, Chak De India and My name Khan etc. On the other hand, Salman had stable career throughout 90s. He was also capitalising on his romantic and charming boy image to deliver major hits like Jeet, Pyar Kiya to Darna kya, HDDCS, HSSH etc. He also did comedy movies such as Judwa and biwi no 1, action movies like Karan Arjun to grab family audiences and female audiences as fans. 2000s decade was not very good for him. While he gave few hits at starting of the decade, he gave many flops until 2010. During this time he delivered movies like Tere Naam which established his image as macho sigma male and contributed a lot in gathering young male audiences.

At this period, SRK had more fans. His Indian diaspora, female and family audience fans overweight salman khan's male and family audience fans.

2009–2022

During this period, Salman was on his peak of his career. He Gathered a lot of male fans through movies Wanted, Dabangg, Bodyguard, ETT, Kick, TZH. Meanwhile, he also garned a lot of family audience as fans through movies such as Bajrangi bhaijaan, Sultan, Ready. Through this movies, he also got loyal fan following in middle East. Meanwhile SRK was doing good until 2013. Post Chennai express, his movies started to fail and it impacted his fan following badly. His Indian diaspora fans and metro fans were still intact however Salman Khan fans completely overweight them in numbers. During this Salman had delivered three 3 cr footfalls movies(BB, Sultan and TZH) which shows his huge fan following.

From 2023:

Post disastrous performance of zero in 2018, SRK took almost 4 years break and did a come back with Pathaan. His fans who were awaiting keenly for his movies, flocked theatres. Also, Cameo of Salman created a lot of buzz and his fans also came back to theatres to watch Pathaan. Due to collective fan efforts, Pathaan became bollywood’s first 500 cr Indian net collection movie. After this, SRK made Jawan- another mass comercial movie and got bigger success than Pathaan. He became first bollywood actor to deliver two 1 thousand crores worldwide grossing movies. He also came with Dunki in same year which had created a lot buzz since he was working with Hirani for first time, however movies received mix reviews and become average grosser. On the other hand, Salman Khan career went in downward direction. He delivered multiple bad and flop movies. Movies like Dabangg 3, Radhe, KKBKKJ and sikander destroyed his legacy badly and impacted his fan following in tier 1 and tier 2 negatively. Meanwhile movies like tiger 3 who had generated high buzz, turned out to be average at box office.

During this period, Srk grabbed a lot of tier 2 and tier 3 fans which were fortress of Salman once. He also kept his Indian diaspora and metro fans intact. Due to this, at the current point, SRK has more fans than Salman. However, table can turn any time in the future.