He became the hero who filled people’s hearts with hope. In his films, he fought the corrupt system and the power brokers a situation that appealed to the youth of the early-seventies. Amitabh emerged as a different kind of an action hero, as a Messiah, a Superhero, who seemed like an answer to all people’s problems. Analysing this actor’s impact on society would probably need a thesis by itself.

Amitabh Bachchan has appeared in over 150 films, many of them, particularly those from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, were huge hits. He married Jaya Bhaduri, herself an accomplished actresses, at the peak of her career.

Due to his enormous popularity, not to mention the close association with the Gandhi, family, he was elected to parliament with a huge majority from his home city of Allahabad. But his stint in politics came to an abrupt end when he was embroiled in some political scandals. He gave up his seat in parliament, swearing off politics forever. His name was later cleared from the controversy.

He took a sabbatical from films for a few years. In this period, the actor grew a beard, flaunted his grey hair and floated his company ABCL. The exercise caused him more pain than gain. After five years, he announced his return to the 36mm but the magic had faded. He was no longer the `Angry Young Man’ As an actor, he cannot be faulted, yet `Suryavansham’, `Bade Miyan Chotte Miyan’, `Lal Badshah’, `Mrityudand’, `Major Saab’ each one of them crashed at the BO.

Recently, Amitabh took on a new role, as a host of the television show `Kaun Banega Crorepati’ and created history once again. He is back where he belonged. In people’s hearts. In their homes of people four times of week, charming them in that deep baritone of his. The Big B on the Small screen.

The new millennium has seen Amitabh Bachchan in the spotlight again, albeit in a different avatar. Bagging the No.1 spot on the BBC’s millennium poll earlier in the year, he has undoubtedly been this years household favourite having charmed prime time audiences with his Kaun Banega Crorepati, the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, which changed the TV ratings game in India. Now he joins the 400 other wax statues at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in London. After an initial survey conducted by the British Tourism Authority to select an Indian film star for a statue, Bachchan polled the largest number of votes among the short-listed stars for the honour which included Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Aishwarya Rai and Anil Kapoor,

As a kid, Kareena would accompany sister Karisma on the sets, but was never interested in movies. After completing high school, Kareena headed straight to Harvard to attend the summer school but returned to India to pursue a career as an actress. Kareena’s debut movie was JP Dutta’s ‘Refugee’ opposite Abhishek Bachchan. Kareena was so magnetic on screen that she left a great impact on the audiences in her debut movie.

After ‘Refugee’, Kareena gave three superhits, ‘Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai’, ‘Ajnabee’ and ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham’. Kareena was on a roll in the beginning of her career unlike sister Karisma, who had to struggle to make it to the top. Kareena however; had a career setback in 2002 and 2003 when all her movies started bombing at the box-office. Kareena tried to prove her talent by playing a prostitute in the parallel cinema movie ‘Chameli’ which released in 2004; it

was followed by ‘Yuva’ and ‘Dev’ but none of the movies do any good for this classy actress. Kareena, who met Shahid Kapoor during the making of ‘Fida’, fell in love with the young actor and started dating him. Second half of 2004 got in some relief for Kareena as she had two hits, Abbas-Mastan’s ‘Aitraaz’ and Priyadarshan’s ‘Hulchul’. Kareena has also done movies with Shahid, like ‘Fida’ which was a flop, but ‘36 Chinatown’ and ‘Chup Chup Ke’ were big hits. In 2006, Kareena won admiration for her role in ‘Omkara’. Kareena is the brand ambassadress for big brands like Lux, Pepsi, Citizen Watch and Garnier Nutrisse hair products. Kareena is one of the highest paid actresses in Bollywood and charges on an average $800,000 per movie. Kareena and her boyfriend Shahid were also a part of the World tour ‘Rockstars’ in 2006.Now The Shahid Chapter is closed and he is with Saif Ali Khan.

Hailing from the state of Jharkhand, Mahendra Singh Dhoni made his debut in the end of 2004 and has since been a regular in the Indian national team. An aggressive batsman and secure wicketkeeper, Dhoni has changed the perception of ‘gentleman’s game’. He, along with a few other new-age cricketers, has shown how to give an eye for an eye.

Having played 65 one-day internationals, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has an impressive average of 47 and a swashbuckling strike rate of 98. His capability of audacious strokeplay at the time of need have made him one of the key players in Indian team. Dhoni has ravaged the reputations of the world’s best bowling attacks with his powerful and daredevil hits. This is the only way he knows of playing cricket

Dhoni got his big break in the Indian team courtesy his exploits against Pakistan A, in the triangular tournament in Kenya, where he destroyed bowling attacks with disdain. After making his one-day international debut against Bangladesh in Chittagong in December 2004 Dhoni remained subdued in the first four matches he played.

It was his fifth one-dayer, against Pakistan at Vishakapatnam, which heralded MS Dhoni’s arrival at the big stage when the dashing wicket keeper cracked a dazzling 148 from just 123 balls. Dhoni followed it with another cracker of an innings against Sri Lanka on 31 October 2005, when he clobbered his way to a mammoth 183 off just 145 balls, thus breaking Adam Gilchrist’s record for the highest score by a wicketkeeper in ODIs

During this blitzkrieg, Dhoni also broke Saeed Anwar’s record of most runs scored off boundaries by scoring a total of 120 runs off 4s and 6s eclipsing the previous record of 118.

Riding on the good showing in the One-Dayers, Dhoni made his Test debut against Sri Lanka and in only his fifth Test, scored his maiden century to help India avoid follow-on against Pakistan. Ever since, Dhoni has been a crucial member of the Indian side.

Rahul Gandhi is the latest in the Gandhi-Nehru family to enter electoral politics in India. The few who have met him don’t recall him saying much. The few who have heard him, say he is of a shy disposition.

The entire Gandhi family is known for its unparalleled educational Background. Rahul Gandhi is no different. He completed his schooling from modern school in New Delhi. He was enrolled for History (Hons) at St. Stephen’s college and stayed there for one year in New Delhi. However finally he successfully accomplished a four-year AB course in Economics at Harvard University.

Rahul Gandhi officially stayed away from politics till 2004. In May 2004, he stood for the lower house of parliament from his constituency of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. The state helped him to win by a wide margin and offered on opportunity to Rahul Gandhi to become the second member of the fifth generation of the Nehru-Gandhi family to enter into active politics. It was in fact a great achievement for this young politician as he won the seat by a margin of 300,500 votes.

The campaign for this parliamentary Election from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh was managed by his younger sister Priyanka Vadra. His victory was widely commemorated by the media many enthusiasts, specially the younger citizens of India.

This victory offered Shri. Rahul Gandhi an opportunity to make his mark in the political career. Thereafter, he was sought to cultivate support from his admirers. However, this has not been an easy journey as he strived hard to work up his profile through the media and stay away from the scandals of coalition politics. Rahul Gandhi is currently concentrating on the political and other major issues of Uttar Pradesh.

Hillary Clinton was the first child of a U.S. Marine drill instructor turned factory worker, and his wife, who was born to neglectful teenage parents. While little has been written of her early childhood, her father has been described as strongly confrontational.

Sen. Hillary Clinton is lifelong, is a devout Methodist, and was especially active in church groups as a teenager. Hillary was a Goldwater supporter, dubbed Goldwater Girls, while in high school, and was President of the Young Republicans at Wellesley College.

Like many baby boomers, her politics became more liberal as the Vietnam War raged. By the time she was selected valedictorian of her Wellesley class, she was a Eugene McCarthy Democrat.

She chose Yale over Harvard Law School after a cocktail party run-in with an chauvinistic Harvard professor, and soon after, met Bill Clinton in a Yale library.

In 1975, Hillary Rodham moved to Arkanas and married Bill Clinton, wearing an off-the-rack cotton wedding dress she bought the day before their wedding. She started her career anew in Little Rock with the Rose Law Firm.

Theirs has been a rocky, tempestuous marriage, in which serious rifts were played out on the public stage. Many speculate that Bill and Hillary would have divorced, had there not been an adored child.

Others close to the Clintons insist, however, that Bill and Hillary are deeply bonded, as shown by the fact that their marriage has endured for over 30 years. (See more at Profile of Bill Clinton, Spouse of 2008 Candidate.)

Sen. Clinton was elected to the Senate in 2000 and reelected in 2006 after serving as First Lady during her husband’s two terms as President and 12 years as Arkansas governor. She’s an ‘08 candidate for the Democratic party nomination for the presidency.

Mrs. Clinton was an activist First Lady, staunchly supporting children’s issues, womens’ rights and universal health care for all Americans. In 1993, she notoriously chaired the failed Task Force on National Health Care Reform.

Sen. Clinton is a strong, outspoken leader with sharp intelligence, political sensibilities, predilection for working hard, and persistence in pursuing her agenda.

Clinton touts herself as an aggressive fighter, and openly savors the tough thrust and parry of political campaigning. In private, she’s reputed to be much warmer and friendlier than her public persona would suggest. She commands the respect and loyalty of many who have known her for decades.

Hillary Clinton is widely known as a practical “policy wonk” who enjoys engagement in the fine details of proposals and plans, rather than as a big-picture visionary.

Sen. Clinton is a passionate advocate of health care reform and universal health care, education, and measures to aid middle-class Americans.

Clinton voted to 2002 to support the Iraq War. In 2007, she admitted to regretting that vote, although she has never apologized for her Iraq War vote, as did John Edwards during the 2008 campaign.

As senator, she’s given new priority to issues affecting the military and national security. Reacting to 2004 voting discrepancies, she has deep interest in voters’ right and election reform.

After law school, Senator Clinton joined the impeachment staff of the House Judiciary Committee in its investigation of President Nixon. She also advised the Children’s Defense Fund. After marriage to Bill Clinton, she worked at the Rose Law firm in Little Rock. She was twice named by Time magazine as a top 100 lawyer nationally. She was also First Lady of Arkansas during her husband’s 12 years as Governor.

Born to father Prabhu Das, a clerk in Telecommunication department and mother Ram Rathi, Mayawati graduated from the Kalindi College in Delhi and studied law in the University of Delhi before taking up a school teacher job. She was greatly influenced by Dalit leader Kanshiram and joined active politics when Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was formed in 1984. She entered Parliament for the first time in 1989 and in 1994, she entered the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh. She became the Chief Minister of U.P. for the first time on June 3, 1995 and remained in office till October 17, 1995. Her second term as the Chief Minister in 1997 lasted only for six months. As the Chief Minister she took up many historic steps for the upliftment of dalits. She formed the State Women’s Commission to ensure economic and social development of women.

Mayawati first won a Lok Sabha seat contesting from Bijnor constituency in 1989. While a Rajya Sabha member, she became chief minister of a short-lived coalition government in Uttar Pradesh in 1995. She again held the post for a short period in 1997. In 2000, Kanshiram announced Mayawati as her successor and she became the chief of the BSP. She again became chief minister of Uttar Pradesh for a somewhat longer time in 2002-2003.

In 2001, Mayawati was accused of forcing her MLAs to hand over money from their MLA fund, given for constituency development, to BSP fund. Shortly thereafter 140 corruption cases were filed against her. In 2002, She was again charged with misappropriating Rupees 175 crore in a Taj Corridor project providing tourist facilities in Taj Mahal in Agra. Many eyebrows were raised when Mayawati declared her personal assets worth Rupees 52 crore in 2007.

Despite the corruption charges, Mayawati stormed back to power in 2007 assembly elections winning absolute majority, first by any party since 1991 in Uttar Pradesh. In the elections, she for the first time came out of her Dalit-only vote banks by including upper caste people including Brahmans in her poll arrangements. After her win, she distributed ministerial berths among upper caste people too. This is seen as a major shift in caste politics in India.

She began her career acting in minor roles as a supporting artist in the Malayalam cinema industry, while also attending an acting studio, to follow her dream to act. After her debut in the Malayalam film industry, she acted in Telugu language films in which Asin gained Indian cinema’s attention in 2003 by playing the role of Vasantha in Shivamani 9848022338 , her first major hit.

The Tamil language film, Ghajini, is her first blockbuster, and since then she has acted in over twenty Indian films, with her main intention being Tamil language ventures. She, like many other actors has had a rich upbringing into the industry, with her father, Joseph Thottumkal being a noted businessman & ex-C.B.I officer and her mother, Celine Thottumkal, being a doctor.

Asin Thottumkal debuted in the Malayalam film Narendra Makan Jayakanthan Vaka in 2001, directed by Sathyan Anthikkad. Her breakthrough as an actress came with her first Telugu language film when she played the role of a Tamil girl in the successful Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi opposite Ravi Teja.

Aamir Khan has one younger brother Faizal who is a VJ and an Actor and two sisters Nikhat and Farhad. Aamir Khan was married to Reena Dutt and having two children son Junaid and daughter Aira. But in 2002 he was legally separated with his wife.

Aamir Khan was born into a film-industry clan. His father Tahir Hussain is a producer; his uncle Nasir Hussain was a director. Aamir Khan has acted in a few films directed by his cousin Mansoor Khan. Aamir Khan is the brother of Faisal Khan, with whom he acted in the 2000 film Mela.

Aamir Khan began his career as a child-actor in the film Yaadon Ki Baraat (1973), when he was eight years old. He acted and wrote the screenplay for the film Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke (1993). He has also done playback singing for himself in the successful film Ghulam (1998).

His early list of sterling performances include films like Dil (1990), Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin (1990), Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander (1992) and Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke (1993). His comic performances in Andaz Apna Apna (1994) and Ishq (1997) and tapori roles in block busters Rangeela (1995) and Ghulam (1998) with the hit number ‘Aati kya khandala’ established him as a very versatile actor.

In 1996, he got the Best Actor award for his outstanding performance in Raja Hindustani, a smash hit at the box office which placed him among the top heroes of Bollywood. His performance in Earth (1998) as the Ice-Candy man received rave reviews from Indian as well as International critics. Sarfarosh (1999) and Dil Chahta Hai (2001) were again blockbuster films. Dil Chahta Hai created a new trend of looks and hairstyle for youngsters.

Lagaan, produced and acted by himself, received the Oscar Nomination of 2002 in the Best Foreign Film category. Lagaan is the third Indian film to be selected for Oscar Nominations. His next film Mangal Pandey- The rising, about the leader of the 1857 mutiny and his fight against the British rule, flopped at the box-office. In 2006, Rang De Basanti, despite its unconventional theme and treatment, has been embraced whole-heartedly by the audience.

Abhishek made his debut in Bollywood with the movie ‘Refugee’ opposite to Kareena Kapoor in 2000. Though the movie was not considered a success, he was liked by the audiences and the critics respectively.

His early list of movies include films like Tera Jadoo Chal Gaya (2000), Dhai Akshar Prem Ke (2000), Bas Itna Sa Khwab Hai (2001), Shararat (2001), Desh (2002), Kuch Naa Kaho (2003), Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost etc. But none of them were box-office hits. At that time he was struggling for a blockbuster which can prove his talent. Meanwhile he got engaged to Karishma Kapoor in 2002 but their relationship was mutually broken off before the engagement without any explanations by both parties.

In 2004, it was his performance in Mani Ratnam’s ‘Yuva’ proved his mettle as an actor of caliber. His performance earned him the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award as well as other supporting actor awards at some of the major film award functions. Yash Raj Films’s Dhoom, a thriller loosely based on a Hollywood flick, was another hit in the same year. In 2005, he shot to fame with four consecutive hits, Bunty Aur Babli, Sarkar, Dus and Bluffmaster.

Not only is he one of the sought-after stars in Bollywood, Abhishek has also been named as Asia’s Sexiest Male of year 2006 by a British tabloid. The most eligible bachelor of Bollywood, Abhishek Bachchan is today living up to the credentials of the distinguished Bachchan family.

Shahrukh had a food restaurant in Darya Ganj, New Delhi. In 1989, he moved to bombay, and that’s when his acting career began. Shahrukh started his career on a TV serial called “Fauji” which has given him instant recognition. He also acted in another TV soap called “Circus”. HAfter Fauji, a couple of more television serials and Shahrukh joined the big league and gave a smashing hit Deewana with the late Divya Bharati.

As compared to the superstars of yesteryears, Shahrukh’s ride up the ladder was tougher. He had to face the rage of explosion of information and technology while working towards super-stardom. He was required to possess charisma compelling enough to make people rise above the zillion modes of entertainment and be his audience. Shahrukh managed to captivate and the feat, by no means, was easy. After that there was no looking back. Shah Rukh Khan has won several awards for his outstanding performance in Darr (1994), Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), Baadshah (1999) etc. He also formed a popular screen couple with Kajol.

While studying he fell in love with Gauri Chibba who was then studying in Loreto Delhi. He later married her before coming into films. The most talented and hard working actor known to have an inflated ego, for which he works hard to keep it floating. He is having two children a son “Aryaan” and a daughter. He loves his children very much.

Shahrukh Khan the most saleable actor in the business today. Crazy fans or canny distributor. His name is the guarantee. He hedges his bets by working only with best banners and top heroines. But the flip side is that he’s also willing to take risk for friends. Aditya Chopra And Karan Johar were untested entities when he signed on for Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Farah Khan directing his upcoming home production film Main Hoon Na is a first timer too.