Potential of Salman Khan's six-pack soft power

Salman Khan bookending 2014 with flying kites in Ahmedabad with soon-to-be-Prime-Minister Narendra Modi in January and kicking off President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s reelection campaign in Sri Lanka in December could be a pointer to a new role not only for the Bigg Boss, but also for India’s soft power in the future. Movie stars with dabangg political aspirations are fairly common in this part of the world and enough of them have made it to important government and legislative posts to prove there is a box office-ballot box synergy. However, Salman Khan testing his pulling power beyond India’s shores opens up an entirely different and exciting avenue for our celluloid champs.

With the India story growing worldwide, it is not farfetched to imagine that Indian stars could eventually exert influence beyond the diaspora when it comes to politics. The subcontinent — if not the UK, whose elections are due in May — would be an obvious constituency. Of course, those countries’ politicians would have to put aside jingoistic feelings to take advantage of the reach created by Indian films and their swashbuckling leading lights. If more follow Salman Khan’s lead just in this region, they may soon be asked by interested parties to do more than just walk the red carpet at film award events and wave at India Day parades. Jai ho!