A Quest for Six-Packs, Inspired by Bollywood:
Prashant Talwalkar, the chief executive of one of India’s biggest chains of fitness centers, said bodybuilding was considered a sport of lower-income men until the 1990s, when Mr. Khan popularized weight lifting and having a muscular physique. Mr. Talwalkar recalled working at one of his Mumbai gyms in 1997 when a teenage boy walked in and placed 10,000 rupees, the equivalent of $182 today, on the front counter.
In light of the obesity epidemic among the middle and upper class in India, this is a good thing.
