My first step towards culturally shocking my folks was to adorn the wall of my room with a bare-chested Salman. Yes, like many others I have also been a Salman Khan fan. But sadly that he has a knack of walking hand-in-hand with controversies.

Though he doesn't command the obeisance of people who would build temples for him as the trend is popular downsouth, he surely is the pioneer of the macho man of Bollywood.

Flexing muscles or tonsuring his head – he is the opium for rushing adrenaline of many striplings across the globe. And we girls can only gawk and gasp at our Adonis. He was the surprise bliss when the 90s were invaded by the tawdry Devgans and Shettys. Yet, he graces the prime space of our newspapers every few months – for the wrong reasons.

Now, advertising agencies are washing their hands of him because of the deer and dungeon fiasco. The people who banked on his brawn appeal are suddenly concerned about the "right" use of mass advertising worth crores. They feel that their colas and shoes will not have adequate buyers due to negative brand imaging. But he was the same man who ran over people in a drunken stupor, thrashed Miss World, and bragged about the D-connections. With this spectacular track record, it just amazes me why advertisers made him promote their wares in the first place?

Next »