KARAN JOHAR
OVERWEIGHT BRAT TO MOVIE WHIZ KID
As a child, he was a recluse. As a director, he has his finger on people's pulse. What happened in between could be the stuff of the Bollywood blockbuster 34-year-old Johar has come to be synonymous with.

NAVJOT SINGH SIDHU
STROKE-LESS WONDER TO HIT MACHINE
Dubbed a non-starter, he later knocked spinners for sixes. The 43-year-old MP then threw a laughter challenge.

URMILA MATONDKAR
FRILLS TO THRILL
Before she oozed oomph in Rangeela(1995), she was the girl next door in a frock. Then Ram Gopal Varma's muse played killer and chiller in factory films.

SHAKTI KAPOOR
STUTTERING VILLAIN TO STUNG BADDIE
When a tv channel caught the 48-year-old Kapoor, of the shtick wolf-whistle fame, propositioning a starlet, the reel life image of a man driven by hormones was reinforced.

SACHIN TENDULKAR
BOY WONDER TO BOWED ELBOW
He was the icon Virender Sehwag grew up idolising. Don Bradman compared Tendulkar to himself. The 33-year-old recently hit a classic century, but watch out for the Elbow of God.

REKHA
SOUTHERN SIREN TO CLASSIC DIVA
The beauty, raw at the edges, was determined to make it big. The 52-year-old Umrao Jaan has now emerged as a style icon.

AZIM PREMJI
VEGETABLE OIL DEALER TO TECH TITAN
He turned Wipro into a software leviathan that sailed through inflation and an outsourcing backlash. Undeterred after vice-chairman Vivek Paul walked out, the 61-year-old is now a regular on global rich-lists.

JAYA BACHCHAN
HISTRIONIC QUEEN TO OFFICE-OF-PROFIT DEPRIVED PROPHET
The Abhimaan is intact. The 58-year-old had no sooner arrived as a politician than the Gandhi versus Bachchan drama cut her to the quick. The biggest martyr-stroke in Indian politics had its first casualty with Jaya Bachchan's Rajya Sabha seat, but soon she was re-elected.

SOURAV GANGULY
CAPTAIN COURAGEOUS TO DADA NO-NO
As skipper, the bare-chested Lord of the Lord's wore his heart on his bare sleeve. After a spat with coach Greg Chappell, the 34-year-old is not even in the reserves.

BAL THACKERAY
ROARING TIGER TO FADING PATRIARCH
The monarch of Maharashtra was known for his notorious campaigns against everything anti-Hindu. But the 79-year-old firebrand leader's writ no longer runs even in his own family, with nephew Raj breaking away.

ARUNDHATI ROY
CELEBRATED AUTHOR TO CAUSE JUNKIE
The 47-year-old goddess of big advances made a seamless transition to essayist of large causes and critic of short, socially-sensitive celluloid celebrities.

Index