Sixpackers - Venkatesh & Nagarjuna (1 of 7)

Sylvester Stallone did it way back with Rocky. Arnold Schwarzenegger from Austria took it a step further-he got into body building to get into movies, won Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia (6 times!) and got into Hollywood. A hit by the name of Conan the Barbarian later, Arnold Schwarzenegger arrived and how. Stallone with First Blood revolutionized how we saw macho men. Of course, Bruce Lee with his super toned lean mean body with martial arts training. Jean-Claude Van Damme with Bloodsport took toning to another level. Would Indians be far behind? 'Desi Iron Man' Dharam paji a.k.a. Dharmendra at that time was the typical Jat man, broad shouldered and toned. From there on, Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt made sure every chikna in Mumbai worth his salt hit the gym. John Abraham and Dino Morea, Gladrags winners, body and beauty peagents and international TV and trends played a role in how we look at tyres round our bellies-it was not a sign of prosperity anymore but sheer laziness in hitting the gym. But Hrithik basically turned the heat up by about 50 degrees. Hrithik and his Dhoom 2 dhamaka, and Shah Rukh Khan at 40+ together showed that the average Indian need not just dream of getting the greek god look. If Kareena from her obvious transformation from size 14 to size 0 did it for the ladies, Ash in D: 2 and Bipasha with her bikini act had already set the standard. It crept down south, as it caught on like a forest on fire in Mumbai with everyone from Aamir Khan and Shahid Kapoor (the quintessential chocolate boys, but then, so was SRK) sporting the coveted 6 pack for their next releases and even Ajay Devgan and Shekhar Suman keen to expose and flaunt their newly toned chests. The way Indians look at bodies has changed, and Southies are never far behind. Our buxom beauties would need to hit the gym right away and get the Ileana look. Every wannabe actor today in Hyderabad hits the gym before he looks up an acting course. Let's look at our very own 6 pack club and muscle men. Venkatesh & Nagarjuna Long before the teenyboppers thought about it, their immediate seniors sported bulging biceps every other flick and protein-fed shoulders. They never went as far as actually becoming muscle men, but in a south industry dominated by rice-fed bellies, Victory and Nag set some much needed standards.