Shah Rukh Khan in Om Shanti Om
Shah Rukh Khan played a humble, dreamy Bollywood extra in the first half of Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om. But after this Om Prakash Makhija died and was resurrected as Om Kapoor, Khan turned up in with a very well-defined six-pack, and immediately made the word the next fitness buzzword.
How effective: A purely ornamental move which really had nothing to do with the character, but the six-pack buzz really helped the film's eventual success.