Burning Star, Crazy Star and Lovely Star: It happens only in South India

In the eye-hurtingly colourful world of Telugu cinema, the Burning Star is currently scorching screens in Singham123. Given his nickname – and all Telugu heroes, big and small have one – you’d expect him to be in some fiery action sequences.

In fact, this movie is a cop story spoof and its hero Sampoornesh Babu evokes lots of laughs. Why would an essentially comic actor be tagged ‘Burning Star?’ No idea really, and the other ‘Stars’ of the Telugu, Kannada and Tamil industries are equally intriguing.

Only in South Indian cinema would an actor be happy to be known as ‘Crazy Star’. That’s what they call Ravichandran and he acted in a film titled Crazy Loka and directed himself in one called, what else, Crazy Star.

As for Upendra, aka Uppi, his fans have been keen to establish that he’s the genuine thing. So, they call him ‘Real Star’.

He’s not fair, but they call actor Prem, the ‘Lovely Star’. Last year, he featured in a film fittingly titled Fair & Lovely.

Darshan is known for his action films and they call him ‘Challenging Star’. Guess it’s because he throws challenges at the baddies in most films.

This one, we can sort of figure out. Puneeth Rajkumar comes from the first family of Kannada cinema, wields huge influence and so they call him Power Star. His brother, Shivrajkumar, meanwhile, has been nicknamed ‘Hat-Trick Star’, a nod to his capacity to deliver back-to-back hits.

Ganesh came into the industry as an outsider and struck gold with Mungaru Male. Perhaps that’s why they call him ‘Golden Star’.

While on the subject of precious things, there’s also ‘Diamond Star’ Srinagara Kitty whose brilliance, we are guessing, dazzles his fans. Then there’s ‘Rocking Star’ Yash who, well, rocks.

Kannada film fans may have christened Puneeth Power Star, but Tollywood has its own ‘Power Star’, Pawan Kalyan, who also happens to have political ambitions.

If you’re thinking big, then how about ‘Mega Star’, which is how fans call veteran actor Chiranjeevi.

Box-office success attaches itself to Venkatesh and he’s the undisputed ‘Victory Star’ of Tollywood.

They call Prabhas the ‘Rebel Star’, not so much because he takes on the system, but because he starred in Rebel in 2012.

The smart Allu Arjun is ‘Stylish Star’ and the unquestioned ruler of the realm – at least according to his fans– is ‘Prince’ Mahesh Babu.

Kollywood fans prefer Tamil titles for their heroes. Ajith worshippers call him ‘Thala’, the head, and Kamal’s global appeal is summed up in the title of ‘Ulaganayagan’.

Vijay is ‘Ilayathalapathy’ to his devoted fans. But there is only one ‘Superstar’. That is Rajinikanth.