Looking back at the entire journey of 12 years, reflecting in front of her eyes, she sat back and realized how far she has come, especially with zero background and lack of support prior to entering into the industry. It was solely just with her passion and skills being polished day by day just to be seen by the people from the industry. People around her have no influence or interest in the industry. It was merely a rare luxury and dreams like hers were not heard of in common, especially for a girl of 16 years old. The industry is none other than the Indian cinema industry.

While most people watch movies for their own entertainment, she was watching them from different perspectives and viewpoints. It was not just an entertainment for her but she started noticing the sound mix and the clips that come along with the dubbed voices as well as the editing mixing around them. She started focusing on how the backend works, going on for each movie and started studying them online to comprehend the process flows more. If she tends to ask people around her for more information regarding this work, she does not get appropriate responses. It will just be a brief with no complete answers or responses that would attack her for even having interest in these kinds of arts. From a very young age, she knew that she wanted to be a part of that world, but she had no idea how.

Two years go by, and she completed her major examination with confidence and thus, she completed her school. As for her results, she would need to wait for another 4 months and until then, she was figuring out what to do to occupy herself. While others might see that particular period as a complete waste of time, she had used the time just to build her dreams by sharpening her skills more. She realized that she is definitely an underdog, coming from this simple home but aiming for the huge industry that is in a completely different country and very far from her reach.

At the same time, there was a man who came on TV shows frequently who anchored so well and made people laugh so hard. He had his own skills of anchoring where he appeared to be completely different than the other hosts because he did not make it as a formal method of anchoring but he made it completely interactive and a fully two-sided communicative type of anchoring. Hosts that came on TV shows after him started taking up his footsteps to attract more audiences towards them. That’s how much he has set up the standard of being an anchor of many shows on the particular TV channel. He was super attractive in what he does and he has easily attracted her, who has a vision to be a part of the similar industry too.

During her free time, she has truly made him an inspiration and started following his day-to-day shows and studying more about him to understand who he is as a person. That was the point she had decided to genuinely cherish him as an inspiration and a brother. She was completely attracted to him and started to keep him on her wish lists and prayers, as he has become the next-door boy to her, whom she started cherishing day to day. He has done two minor movies, and he was aiming for the third one for the year at that point in time. She understood that he has bigger dreams ahead of him and she started watching him even more closely on how he has been pursuing his dreams, especially on how much work he has been putting into his current circumstances to reach the level further. Slowly, she started having some inner desires to communicate with him and tried various ways of attempting that just to let him know that he has a sister from another family and another country that would root for him and his success in everything he does in his life.

Predominantly, she could not bring this up to anyone around her, as they would just see it as her being a normal fan of someone from a TV show. She was not capable of even explaining that she is not looking at him as just a TV show’s host but also someone beyond that—someone who can surely inspire her to keep going and be stronger in what we do; someone who can achieve larger than TV shows; someone who would undeniably be a bigger person in a few years’ time as a silver screen star; someone who wouldn’t stop at TV shows but continue striving to make huge steps day by day in his career and so on. She decided to stop explaining to those who wouldn’t understand her point of view but she continued trying her best to do what she could just to be seen. She understood that if she had brushed up her skills well and portrayed it in the right way, the same person whom she had been adoring for months from a different country would surely notice her.

Days go by and she comes to know that there is a platform that many celebrities from the industry utilize for communication purposes. She started signing up for it and ensured that he is a part of the site. And the great part is that she could sustain being on the platform because he existed there and most importantly, he was actively connecting with people on the same platform—Twitter, which is called “X” today. She started sending out a few tweets to him, saying that she literally got into this site just to communicate with him. One fine day, it was in the morning at 5.42am on the 2nd of June 2013 that she got a reply from him on my tweet saying that he was reading all of his fans’ tweets. That was a huge day for her to know that he was reading her tweets too. She took that day as the biggest day without knowing what was coming ahead of her in this journey.

On that particular night, she sat down and thought about this, “Am I doing it right?” “Is this what I truly want? To be recognized by celebrities and work in the backend of the industry?” The answer was only yes from within because all she wanted was to be known by him, who has been a part of the industry too. Her heart says, “I don’t want to be known by many people; I just want him to know my existence and my love for him. I just want him to know that there is a sister for him from a different country and then let him show the path for me, which I can take up to continue on my passion. Let me get opportunities to be a part of the industry through him, as I would be truly happy to work on those chances that I get from him.”

On that particular night, she sat down and thought about this, “Am I doing it right?” “Is this what I truly want? To be recognized by celebrities and work in the backend of the industry?” The answer was only yes from within because all she wanted was to be known by him, who has been a part of the industry too. Her heart says, “I don’t want to be known by many people; I just want him to know my existence and my love for him. I just want him to know that there is a sister for him from a different country and then let him show the path for me, which I can take up to continue on my passion. Let me get industry opportunities through him; I'll be happy to work on them.”

The first video she worked on focused on her journey from being a nobody to becoming a dreamer. While creating the video with her own skills, it was truly an emotional journey of his that she was working on. She uploaded the video on YouTube and shared the link to him via a tweet as a birthday gift for him. He liked it and he thanked her for the efforts that she has put in for days to create the 20 minutes of video. That was honestly another huge day for her as he had spared some time to notice her efforts and reply to it. Days go on, and she started sending him tweets and messages to show her respect, love, and joy in cherishing him every day. Almost all attempts of hers were becoming the moments that she had been dreaming of—her work caught his attention more often. More videos were created with lots of brushed-up skills and were uploaded on YouTube as well. All her content on YouTube was only about him, his journey, his movies, his mashup videos, and so on. She learned a lot throughout these video-making processes as well. Every single day was a new thing for her and she developed her skills thoroughly too.

As he grows more with more projects as an actor, he has been growing into a famous star. He has been adored by many people, especially kids. He has worked on building more qualities as a person and thus many people started liking him not just on the big screens but also as an individual. He has been associated with the right people and the right team at the right time from one project to another and thus his growth has been slow and steady at that point in time. She was enjoying his success throughout and at the same time, little fear was knocking on her inner self that once he had grown into one of the big stars, she may not be able to approach him easily as she was doing it at that time.

However, what was surprising was that even as he progressed with successful projects, he continued to support her. He was thoroughly supporting her work by replying to them or at the least, he was doing the least he could by liking or retweeting the link to share around so that more people would watch her work. She was growing along with him, too, with her improved work every time. More people tend to watch her work and compliment her frequently. She was becoming famous online on the social media platforms, including YouTube. She was regarded as his major fan everywhere and she took pride in it. He has even approached to add her on Facebook from his profile and they became friends on that platform. Collectively, she gained lots of fans for her work and many friends from other countries, as his fans turned out to be her friends too. His close university friends approached her and recognized her works too. They became her pillars, helping her grow alongside their friend who was reaching new heights at that time. With all these, her connection was increasing until her YouTube channel reached at least 18,000 subscribers. From nobody to holding a channel of almost 18k subscribers, she does see her growth there in her dream industry. Her years of relentless efforts were paying off very well as a few young artists were noticing her too and one opportunity has led her to another. She became well known as a good video maker and a good video editor, where she was appreciated for her eye for detail and her capability to bring visions to life as well as sheer perseverance. She was completely grateful to him and her group of fans as they stood with her when she was giving her best to achieve her dreams throughout.

One year later, while she was getting stabilized with her studies at a well-known university in her own country, she received an opportunity to work on a short film that is to be released in her country. She did not hesitate about the opportunity and took that up. She worked with the team to edit the entire short film and supported them until it was released. In the end, she was not paid for the work she has done. She released her first attempt to venture beyond her social media platforms, but she received no payment. Honestly, she was not sad or upset about it because all she has seen was how her work got released and how much people were complimenting the edit work that she has contributed.

On one of the days, she has received another opportunity from the TV channel that he has worked on earlier. The opportunity was about winning an entrance ticket to an award show organized by them. The requirement was to submit a video showcasing our favorite star and expressing our admiration for them. She enjoyed making a video showing how much she likes him and sent it to the channel. She was entirely overwhelmed to be receiving an email that she had won the entrance ticket and she could attend the award show for free. She knew at that point in time that all she needed to do was to fly to another country and attend the award show for free and she might get an opportunity to see him in person as well at that show but she also knew that she would not be allowed by her family to travel to another country alone. Thus, although she shared the happy news with the family, she does keep the entrance ticket with her to save it as a memory. She watched the show with her family on the TV instead.
Two years later, she has been receiving news and stories about him coming down to her country a few times, but she was not able to go all the way to another city to see him either. It was truly heartbreaking for her to learn that he had visited her country, but she was still too young to obtain permission from her family to travel the few hours to the city alone. She was receiving messages from her friends asking if she was joining the fan meet that has been organized. At that time, all she had decided was to complete her education well and find the right job in the main city itself. For her to seek the right job in that city could be filled with many reasons, but one of those reasons was it would be easier for her to make plans if he came down again to her country.

Three years later, while sustaining herself making videos on and off, probably not like her old times but somewhere there on the track mostly, she got herself busier with her jobs in corporate after her studies. Her passion could be revolving around the Indian cinema industry but she was making it to be her passion only and not her main job. And, a few months later, finally, she received the news that she had been longing for for 10 years. The man that she has been celebrating from her heart for all these years is coming down to the same country and the same city that she is currently working in. She did not miss the opportunity this time. She prepared gifts and a handwritten letter for him. She wrote everything she could to remind him of who she was and the bond they shared before, believing that because he had become so famous and was receiving so much love from the audiences, she could have faded away.

Finally, the date appeared, which was 11th July 2023, the day that she had been dreaming of for all these years, which was meeting her idol. She saw him in person at the airport, receiving him with so much love along with her club team members. He shook her hand and that glimpse has been so attached in her mind and heart. She had her moments of less than 5 minutes to communicate with him later that night and she gave her gifts to him and introduced herself to him just by her name. He was stunned for a moment, inquired about her well-being, and genuinely recognized her. He signed his autograph for her with the correct spelling of her name without her telling it to him clearly, portraying that he remembered her for sure. It was really an emotional moment for her as she felt like she had achieved her dream by being recognized by him even after some disappearance in between during her journey as well as even after he had become so famous, receiving so much love from many countries. How could he even remember her existence? The question lingered in her brain a lot.

That was truly a meaningful moment for her because she did it all alone, starting off from scratch and now being recognized by him, coming from a different country and different industry and this was the day that she had strived for most years. Another moment that she got was on the 27th of September 2024, when she received another opportunity to meet him during the fan meet organized by his fan club. From receiving him at the airport until the fans meet, it was all beautiful moments that she has been thoroughly cherishing but most importantly, during her turn to see him closely, she did not even introduce herself this time; he remembered her instantly the moment he saw her. And he took some time to communicate with her because she was completely nervous and smiling throughout. Unprompted, he recognized her, marking a significant achievement for her. His friend texted him after that, saying that the big star told him that she had been with him when he was nobody, and now, when he is at this peak today, he wouldn’t forget her easily. How humble and loving can he be? And it was really touching for her to hear that from his friend.

She has successfully ticked her wish after all these years and she knew that being an underdog, she had achieved her impossible dream. She has made the dream possible for those who are still chasing it. She made it eventually! She is none other than Puniswary P. from Malaysia, being a fan of Indian cinema actor Sivakarthikeyan since 2011.
Thank you for reading about my journey of being his fan and a far sister to him since the very beginning.