The pro wrestler returns to India for a month-long vacation, and his fans just can’t get enough of him, writes Rama Lakshmi in The Washington Post
After two hours of swaying to thumping Bollywood neo-folk music and listening to stock stage jokes, the fans grew impatient and began chanting for the star of the evening to show up. “We want Khali! We want Khali!”
And when the Goliath-size professional wrestler of that name appeared on stage in a blue cotton shirt, jeans and ponytail, thousands of hands thrust cellphone cameras into the air to capture the image.
“Khali, we love you,” screamed men and women alike. “The Khali bomb!” yelled a male voice. Little boys tried to climb over barricades to get closer to the stage, on a college campus.
In India, public adulation and hysteria like this is usually reserved for stars of cricket or the film industry known as Bollywood. But Khali has earned his frenzied fame by becoming the Indian icon of American TV wrestling. He is the first man from this country to rise high in the American gladiatorial adventure of World Wrestling Entertainment, winning the world heavyweight championship in July 2007.
Previously on AW:
