The New Youth Icons Of India

By Uren Dhanani 5 April 2008 486 views No Comment

India’s “millennials” are here! They are capitalistic, full of energy and they are hungry for change. With 70% of Indians under the age of 35, the next generation will be the one surging the country forward. With higher access to resources and opportunities, their drive to succeed has also multiplied. And as Indian youth are embracing the global platform and demanding a more cosmopolitan society, they are taking the country in a fundamentally new direction. Those whom the Indian youth look up to are often not considered , but they are ever so important . It is they who define the way many young people make decisions today.

A Shift in Inspiration

“Sachin Tendulkar (left) and Rahul Dravid (right) are worshipped across the country”
Photo: appwiz

For most of the 20th century, freedom fighters were the biggest icons of the Indian youth. They were studied in high schools, symbolized in songs and movies, talked about by politicians and were considered the pride and inspiration of the public in general. During the late 20th century, after two wars with Pakistan, gradually coming out of the economic depression and opening out to the global economy, things began to change. The Majority of the people gradually lost interest in “old politics”, and in inspirations derived from the past. Most youth today are not aware of their local representatives at the district, city or even the state level. Many of my Indian friends would not be able to name even five freedom fighters. Although figures like Mahatma Gandhi are still popular, many freedom fighters have lost their place in the eyes of the people; they seem to have been replaced by movie stars and cricketers. While Amitabh Bacchan’s popularity has snowballed down the decades, that of Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai is fairly new. Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid are worshipped across the country and massive celebrations are held in cities, towns and small villages when India wins a match. The India-Australia Cricket controversy at the beginning of this year got more coverage on the news channels than the inauguration of Pratibha Patil or the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. The youth are breaking away from the old traditions and norms and more willing to be more professionally creative today, thanks to their new icons. This change in trends among the youth is alarming the older generations, resulting in backlashes in the form of Hindutva (often violent religious fervor) among organizations such as the RSS and the Shiv Sena. But do these organizations have a point? There must be something wrong when most of the youth looks up to entertainers as a form of inspiration, right?

A New Direction


“The Ambanis (Anil Ambani in picture) have achieved phenomenal success across the nation and their story has sparked the flames of the Indian Dream.” Photo: Zeeble	“Today Sania Mirza (above) is the youth icon for millions of Indian girls” Photo: The Eternity

Wrong. With a slew of corrupt politicians and overused freedom fighter figures, what else do the youth have to turn to? I personally believe that the Indian youth are, at best, on the right track. Bollywood has taken the country by storm, but nothing is ever stagnant in the unlikely story that is India. While many people today would still mention a movie star (Amitabh Bacchan is the top choice) or a cricketer as their idol, leaders from many other fields have now come into the spotlight. Indian businessmen have now become the inspirations of entrepreneurs not only in India but the world over. The Ambanis have achieved phenomenal success across the nation and their story has sparked the flames of the Indian Dream. The Tatas and the Birlas, billionaire entrepreneurs who have been around for over a hundred years, are finally getting noticed by the youth. Other big sources of inspiration are the successful IT entrepreneurs, such as Azim Premji and Narayana Murthy. Sportsmen from various fields are getting much more recognition than before. Vishwanathan Anand, a chess player, was named the CNN-IBN Sportsman of the Year 2007, while E. Sreedharan, the technocrat behind the Delhi Metro Project, was given the title for public service. An NDTV journalist, Barkha Dutt, won the Padma Shri this year, Vijay Mallya bought an F1 team (and named it Force India ), an Indian-American astronaut Kalpana Chawla, lost her life on the space shuttle Columbia, and Sania Mirza became the first Indian woman to reach the 4th round of a Grand Slam tournament. The list of such achievements goes on and on. India did not lack achievements in the past but the difference this time around is that they are now being noticed. Today Sania Mirza is the youth icon for millions of Indian girls whereas Barkha Dutt represents the hunger to make things right in the country and ridding it of corruption. And yes, even the politicians are being noticed again, scrutinized, and in some cases being labeled as icons. The former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was very popular with the youth, and so was the former President, Dr. APJ Kalam. The youth today might be too young to remember the contributions of the current Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, when he was the Finance Minister, but they most certainly are noticing the current Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, who is immensely admired by the growing number of financially educated people.

The Verdict is Yours

Even at the heart of this constantly changing situation , a lot of old traditions and age-based biases remain. The older population still has a stronghold on politics and this will probably be the case for many years to come. But many changes are now on the horizon. The possibility of a young PM, namely Rahul Gandhi, can spark the enthusiasm of the young in politics. Moreover, since the spotlight on the political arena has already turned on, it will not be long before the older folks start facing hard questions from the young. The very search for an icon symbolizes the spirit of change, the spirit to define the course of one’s own life. And the youth of India are striving to seek out the inspiration for that change, be it in Bollywood, Cricket, or the Indian Parliament.