Sagun KC fell in love with Priyanka Karki’s work the first time she saw her performance in Nai Nabhannu La 2. Karki’s role as a mother in the film impressed KC immensely, she says. So much so that KC started following Karki’s public appearances—from events to fashion shows, even photo shoots. She started tracking her favourite celebrity’s every move.

“She became my role model in no time. I admire her because she has taken the Nepali industry to the next level, and because of her dedication and ability to lead,” says KC. Then, to create a platform where she could express her dedication and admiration for the actor, she started a fan page dedicated to Karki and has been running it since 2017. Her page has more than 100,000 followers on Instagram.

The public’s infatuation with celebrities and influencers is not a new phenomenon. But while fans were earlier limited to physical space to show their dedication, today, with the advent of social media, fans have transitioned into creating pages—particularly on Instagram and Facebook—for their favourite celebrities to show their admiration. But running a social media page is not easy, so why are so many fans dedicated enough to open fan pages in the name of their beloved stars?

For KC, it’s the sheer happiness she gets from operating the account. She says it makes her happy and closer to her role model. That closeness, the association people feel with the celebrities and their glamorous and almost perfect lives, is exactly why people love creating fan accounts, according to psychologists. “Social media allows fans to get real-time updates. This has led to the growth of a fan culture, as they feel a step closer to their beloved celebrities,” says Sujan Shrestha, founder of Psychibigyan Network Nepal, an organisation that promotes mental health awareness.

Another major reason why people create such fan pages (and clubs) has to do with a sense of belonging, of being part of a larger whole. For instance 23-year-old Nabin Basnet started a fan club dedicated to actor Paul Shah in order to build a community of fans on social media. "My motive for opening a fan club was to create a common platform which would allow fans like me to connect and share news related to him," says Basnet.

With more than 5,000 followers on Instagram, and even Shah himself following his fanpage, the page is an expression of his respect towards the actor, he says. From posting Shah’s pictures from photoshoots and clips of his interviews promoting his music videos, the fan club is dedicated to making other fans aware about Shah’s works says Basnet.

But Shrestha, also a faculty member at the Department of Psychology in St Xaviers College, believes this particular nature of the common people having a parasocial relationship—a one-sided relationship, where one side invests their time, efforts and energy in the other, with the other not knowing about them in real life—is becoming more common because of the people’s desire to share common experiences like that of celebrities.

“People idolise celebrities for the fact that celebrities represent the ideal self of many. Emulating them is closing the gap between ideal and real self. This is why people satisfy their unfulfilled dreams and desires virtually through the acts of celebrities, which can be gratified through the medium of fan clubs,” says Shrestha.

These fan pages are becoming such a rage that some fan pages have more followers than the pages of the celebrities. For instance a fan account of actor Pradeep Khadka has 116,000 followers on Instagram, which is 10,000 followers less than Khadka’s official account.

Sushant Aryal, a 16-year-old student who has been running a fan page dedicated to actor Upasana Singh Thakuri, says the reason why he has been running a fan account is to get more followers on Instagram, and thus create a community.

“I was able to gain a following of 40,000 in a span of less than six months, just by opening a fan account,” says Instagram-lover Aryal. And this is also another push factor for the accelerating growth of fan clubs/pages on social media says Shrestha. “As social beings, people want to join a group that boosts their image and identity. Such fan clubs can be a tool to increase a sense of superiority and enhance self-identity by association with a known face,” says Shrestha.

However, fan page admins say these fan pages are nothing but a symbol of their love for these celebrities. “Her [Priyanka Karki’s] work, passion towards the Nepali movie industry, warm response towards the fans, and all time positive energy, all of these things motivated me to start a fan club and seeing all the likes and comments makes me feel happy to see so many people cherish her efforts and hardwork,” says KC.