Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan have been ranked among the 50 most powerful people in the world by the prestigious US-based magazine Newsweek magazine in a list topped by President- elect Barack Obama.
At 17th position Sonia Gandhi has been termed the ‘Queen of Indian democracy’ and Shahrukh Khan at 41st place is called the ‘King of Bollywood’
Although India's political scene is riven by factions, Congress remains the strongest national force, and the Italian-born widow of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi rules it unchallenged. In the world's largest democracy, she's queen.
Who is the world's biggest movie star? Brad? Will? Nah. His name is Shahrukh Khan, and he's the king of Bollywood. It's not just that his romantic flicks make gazillions—it's where those gazillions come from. Khan is huge in the Muslim world, even in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the mullahs ban his films. (The movies thrive on the black market.) Their main appeal is certainly the song-and-dance numbers, but Khan (a Muslim married to a Hindu) makes devoutly secular films where love trounces bigotry. Sonia Gandhi gives Khan's DVDs to visitors, especially Muslim ones. Here's hoping tolerance will leap from reel life to real life.
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