The force remains with the fans

No one can fault Mumbaikars when it comes to enthusiasm with any fandom. With the Star Wars franchise’s latest film — The Last Jedi — having released last Friday, not only have theatres been packed, but the fandom is also raging in the city. The preview shows of the movie, which aired last Thursday, were completely booked out. The city also saw people dressed up as stormtroopers posing outside some of the city’s most iconic buildings. Fans lapped it all up, posing with the space soldiers and going onto social media sites to debate on the movie.

The debate around The Last Jedi has been divided around purists, who love the original George Lucas saga over all the other movies, and those who enjoy anything that the franchise churns out. As people so far removed from Hollywood, why the craze in Mumbai, we ask.

“I think a lot of it has to do with merchandising. Aside from the first three movies, all other films have been promoted through the fact that so many collectibles are sold,” says city-based comic book artist, Abhijit Kini, who has his own share of collectibles.

A stormtrooper takes a picture at a Mumbai selfie point

Musician and pop culture junkie Tejas Menon is another such enthusiast, who has followed the franchise right from the start. “I’ve been a fan of the franchise since I was a kid. I watched the first three when I was very young, since my mother is also a fan. While most people thought the prequels were badly made, I loved them when they came out in 1998. I was hooked. I loved Last Jedi too, despite the fact that a lot of people have varied opinions on it. I don’t think Star Wars could do anything that I’d be too disappointed in,” grins Tejas, adding, “I love collecting their merchandise, especially the artwork and vintage posters. I even did a rather rough cosplay of Han Solo and sent the photo to my mother.”

Film critic Raja Sen feels that the time is right to become a fan of any franchise, be it Star Wars or other series like Doctor Who, Harry Potter and so on. “It’s a great time to be a fan in the digital age. You can wear your fandom on your sleeve — quite literally — and you have platforms on social media that you can go to discuss your interest. It’s a great time to find your niche,” he smiles.

Stormtrooper in Chowpatty

He does warn against excluding non-fanatics, which is a vice that many a fan is guilty of. “A lot of fans also have a condescending attitude towards those who are not. Also, they are so used to a certain track, they are not openminded about any change. I personally watched the film and really liked it. The original films were all about inclusion and I think that this film has definitely captured that message in spades. However, because everyone is so vocal about everything on social media, the negative comments around the film take much more prominence than the positive ones,” he asserts.

One such dissenter is Jatin Verma, proprietor of Comic Con India, who ensured that he caught the first show of the film. “I became a fan of Star Wars when the prequels to George’s franchise came to India in 1998. A lot of others in the city also caught on to the fandom around the same time. For me, this movie was a disappointment, since it seemed to be all over the place. Star Wars is one of the only franchises that I hold close to my heart and I wish that they would have treated the film differently, like how they had done with Rogue One,” he sighs.