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The new millennium packaged a new world of entertainment and fresh new faces emerged as senior stars graduated to serious roles. Cinema was changing and young filmmakers were responsible for this. They brought in new systems, were more professional and marketing was the new mantra. In 2001 four films fought for acclaim. Karan Johar who debuted with Kuch Kuch Hota Hai made a bigger and more intricate film Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. Ashutosh Gowariker made Lagaan a kind of tribute to Bimal Roy. Madhur Bhandakar surprised everybody with a docudrama on the life of bar dancers called Chandni Bar and finally Farhan Akhtar, chip of the old block Javed Akhtar and director to define new age cinema with Dil Chahta Hai.
In the following decade if Aamir Khan emerged as the marketing king, meticulously planning his every film and promotion be it Ghajni, 3 Idiots or years later PK. Salman Khan emerged as the 100crore club emperror after Ready, Bodyguard, Ek Tha Tiger and Prem Ratan Dhan Payyo crossed 100 plus mark.This put pressures on other actors to deliver super successes as well be it Shah Rukh, Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar or Hrithik Roshan.
The actors no more did just films, they were brand ambassadors and made more money via commercials / brands/ shows than movies. Now the heroines got married, had babies and returned to arc lights and heroes spared time for hobbies and other businesses. In the year 2008 two largest sources of cultural inspiration in India joined hands to create the Indian Premier League and these teams were owned by actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty. The IPL was a great exercise in brand building. In a few hours Abhishek Bachachan became the pioneer for first Kabbadi and then football.
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