‘I’M A TROLL, BUT ONLY WHEN PROVOKED’

Civil engineering student Aryan Gurung has idolised Akshay Kumar since he was 12.

Now 19, the Hyderabad boy spends his time searching the web for rumours about the star that he can loyally refute.

“I’ve watched each and every interview of his and have done so much background research that I know he is genuinely a nice guy,” says Gurung. “But there are so many haters on Facebook and Twitter who are jealous of his success that I have to shut them up.”

So, in 2016, he started the page ‘Troll Akshay Kumar Haters’ on Facebook. It has more than 36,000 followers.

The objective of the page, he says, is to identify derogatory posts about the actor and respond to them with ‘facts and statistics’.

“Fans of other actors purposely spread fake news about Akshay, just ahead of his releases, saying he is siphoning money in the name of charity,” he says, petulant. “That’s how I got entangled in the world of troll wars. We don’t want to abuse other actors. But if these fans troll Akshay, we have to retaliate.”

The page is run by him and eight friends. “Given a choice I just want to highlight the good deeds of Akshay, because that is what a true fan does. But recently, some fans leaked the pirated version of Akshay’s latest movie, Toilet Ek Prem Katha, before the release and kept sharing the spoiler. Then, it was up to us to give them a fitting reply.”