On Saturday Vijay Deverakonda landed in Patna to promote his first Hindi language film Liger. The crowds were wildly welcoming. Youngsters specially flocked at the hotel where he checked in wanting a picture. News leaked that he was expected at my home for lunch.

There were girls calling up constantly to ask how they can just meet Vijay “for thirty seconds” for a picture. “He charges Rs 10,000 per picture,” I joked. To my shock, some of them offered to show up at my home with the cash.

The Deverakonda craze is growing by the day. Suddenly the A-list brigade in Bollywood has begun to look jaded.

“That’s because Vijay is something more than an A-list favourite. He is an A-lust favourite. Women can’t get enough of him. There is an animal quality to his screen presence ” says Karan Johar who is promoting Vijay as the Next ‘Beast Thing’ in Bollywood.