‘FAN’ATICAL
It blew my mind away and it has stayed back with me ever since I experienced it in cinemas when I was a teen (the trilogy),” he says.
The Avengers series has its own share of celebrity fans in India. TV actor Karanvir Sharma, a GOT and Avengers follower is a huge fan of the fantasy world. “I love experiencing and exploring stories set in fantasy land. If you look at both GOT and Avengers, they both speak about the greater good — that’s what’s required in the real world too. The ultimate sacrifice is shown — as a human, that’s the emotion you take away from it. It’s all about doing the right thing. But when we put in action or a superhero sequence through it, the turmoil etc, it gets all the more intriguing. All this has a definite connect with the audience. I never thought the fantasy world would be appreciated to this extent — I’m pretty sure even the GOT makers were surprised!” chips in the artiste, who’s a fan of both the Starks — Arya from GOT and Tony from Avengers. With the current season of GOT, Karanvir admits that he didn’t expect this much action so early on in the series. “I was praying that my favourite characters would not die early or abruptly. And as for Avengers, I was disappointed not to see Deadpool in it and we couldn’t see much of hulk into power also. But then again, it had to be the way it had to be. The good thing is the series ending has given birth to new characters,” he smiles.
Some fans are so passionate about these comic and fantasy series that they even indulge in cosplaying — dressing up as their favourite fictional character and taking part in professional competitions. Concept Artiste Medha Srivastava is someone who’s been actively cosplaying for two years. The comic geek says, “I recently dressed up as the Black Panther character Okoye. I got into cosplaying when I was working for a company in Bengaluru and as an artist, I was always into comics. I have several favourite characters including The Hulk and Black Widow from Marvel and Wolverine from X-men. The Avengers finale was hugely emotional for me as a comic nerd. I loved the picturisation and I literally got goosebumps while watching it — the end was heartbreaking” says Medha. As a comic geek and as an artist, she has evolved over the years. “The series have been a huge influence on me. I’ve observed that not just the characters, but even the art style and animation have evolved. To see the whole VFX and character development is interesting — it has helped me in my career too,” says the artist who will soon dress up as Daenerys from game of thrones.
With fantasy fiction and comic series ruling the small and the big screens and managing to attract hordes of followers across the world, it’s safe to say that a lot of us love getting lost in the make-believe world, which ensures that we escape from reality, even if it’s for a bit.