The name Rajnikanth is almost synonymous with god in Tamil Nadu with Tamilians being quite famous for their fanaticism for Kollywood stars. This love for their stars is reflected in festivals as well.

Hence, during festivals like Pongal, greeting cards of film stars sell to a large extent. This is true not only in Chennai but in Mumbai as well.

Gunashekhar who has a greeting card stall in Matunga sets up the stall every year for about 15 days around the time of Pongal. And he claims he sells around 600 to 1,000 cards a day. "We get the cards from Chennai and sell it here. The sales of the greeting cards with pictures of film stars is much more than the other cards."

According to him, mostly youngsters and students buy these cards to send it to their family and friends back home. And that is the reason why film star cards sell a lot more than other cards. "Only when some old people come, they buy cards with pictures of gods," he says.

Rajnikanth's cards are always very popular, but this year sales of the actor Vijay's cards have also been a lot. Among actresses Trisha and Asin seem to be the most popular. "Out of the total cards, the sales of film star cards amount to around 80 to 85 %. And among film star cards, 90 % of the sales have been of Rajnikanth and Vijay's cards," says Gunashekhar.

The sales of greeting cards have declined over the years. With the soaring popularity of cell phones, everyone prefers to call their loved ones rather than send cards to them. Ramu, who works with Gunashekhar admits that the sales are much lower this year.

"Nowadays almost all college students have mobile phones. And calling their family and friends is also a much cheaper affair," he says. According to him, sales have been hit not only here but also in Chennai. Gunashekhar says, "In the coming years it only looks like the sales of greeting cards will decrease further. There is no hope that the sales will pick up."

Ilayaraja, an 18-year-old boy who had come to the shop to pick up cards for his friends bought two cards of Vijay and one of Trisha. He says, "I am buying these cards to send it to my friends in Chennai. My favourite actor is Vijay."