India, Sept. 3 -- The early 90s were a period of change of guard for Bollywood. The heroes who had ruled in the 80s - Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Khanna, and Rishi Kapoor - were ageing or past their prime. New stars like Sanjay Dutt and Sunny Deol had taken over, but an increasingly younger population was on the lookout for soft, romantic stars. Even as the three Khans were still a few years from reaching their peak, other actors were vying to fill the void. Among them was one name who was billed as the next superstar. An overnight sensation, this man vanished almost as quickly as he shot up.

In 1990, even as Dil, Ghayal, and Kishen Kanhaiya topped the Bollywood box office charts, Mahesh Bhatt's Aashiqui arrived as a breath of fresh air. The...