RANGPUR, India. Here in India, I read the gossip columns in the paper every morning (right after sports). Gossip columns are a guilty pleasure I’ve had since I lived in New York (page 6 of the New York Post).

With the upcoming release of Aamir Khan’s new action/drama movie Ghajini, a lot of the talk in Bollywood has been about the megastars new physique, and primarily about the 8-pack abs he’s now sporting.

8-pack abs? A gym rat myself I’ve had a hard time getting just four. Then again I’ve read that Khan spent four excruciating hours a day with highly respected trainer Satyajit Chaurasia over 13 months to develop those abs, as well as arms and chest. Talk about blood, sweat and tears. He must have shed quite a bit for this role.

It’s paying off.

Khan’s new physique has generated a lot of buzz for Ghajini’s December 25th release. There’s a new Van Heusen clothing line tailored for the look, all tight shirts and tight sweaters for showing off tight abs. Imitating Khan’s lead role, theatre employees around the country will sport close cropped hair cuts for the release.

I’m a fan of Khan and I’m excited to see Ghajini—if I can find a theater with subtitles—but I get the sense all the buzz is less about the actor or the movie itself and more about the look, more about the physicality—the strength. More about the 8-pack abs.

Part of an emerging superpower, I think young Indians are hungry to flex their muscles. Aside from yoga, modern India—the India born in 1947—doesn’t have a reputation for physicality. I mean straight-forward, brute strength.

Spirituality, information technology and cricket may not be enough anymore, especially as young Indians leave home and go global.

After an impressive team performance at the amateur boxing world championship held in Moscow recently, one Indian boxer told reporters “boxing teams from other countries used to consider fighting Indians a free pass to the next round. They never even watched videos of us (to prepare). They don’t do that anymore.”

I see the same attitude in some of the young folks at the gym here in Rajpur, a small town on the outskirts of Dehradun. The gym is barebones filled with shoddy, squeaking equipment and cracked concrete floors. Many of the young people working out seem unfamiliar with that equipment or gym etiquette needed to use it. Instead of sweats or shorts, they work out in blue jeans or khakis, dress sweaters and tee shirts. Gym culture, so prevalent in America, is new to them (of course there are a few exceptions who know exactly what they’re doing).

By the late afternoon the place, aptly named Strength Health and Fitness club, is packed. Hindi pop music blares from the television. Even when the lights go out as they do periodically here, the workouts continue while candles are lit.

The music videos, filled with sexy women and swaying hips, remind me that workouts and nice looking abs aren’t just about getting strong. A friend who grew up here pointed out that its common to see young people going on dates and holding hands, something that used to be discouraged here. He tells me its nice to see.

I guess sex is also a big part of the whole Ghajini buzz and a good reason to work for a set of 8-pack abs. – Mark Schurmann