According to a recent report conducted in South Africa, Bollywood actors like Shahrukh Khan, John Abraham, and Salman Khan are inspiring the youth of the Indian-origin in South Africa to use steroids to have a masculine body. The study, conducted by Jarred Martin of University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durbin, claims that Bollywood actors are driving the South African youth of Indian origin to use illegal steroid to build muscles and a six-pack body. The report was a continuation of the earlier research conducted by the university about masculine beliefs in South Africa and about the ideas of men of different races about their body images. Jarred Martin’s study focused more on the males of Indian-origin and he researched about the socio-cultural effects on the ideas of Indian males, aged between 13 &19, about their body image and appearances.

The study showed that people of other races consider Indian males as having relatively ‘softer’ masculinity. It’s perhaps because these men come from close-knitted family backgrounds and hence are often regarded as “mama’s boys”. This impression has increased anxiety among South African youth of Indian origin about their body images. Hence, in a survey, in which more than 500 persons participated, the respondents told that they felt a strong pressure to get Bollywood actors like body, a more masculine one. 57 percent men agreed that they wanted to make their bodies look like Bollywood actors’ bodies. But only 5.5 percent men confessed that they have been using illegal steroids to get the Bollywood-inspired six-packs body. One of the respondents said that Bollywood heartthrobs like Salman Khan are so popular with the females, and he wouldn’t mind looking like him. ‘The only way you can get a body like that is by consuming steroids’, said another participant.