Outside the studio gates, a gaggle of 30 odd children from the neighbouring slums, hands raised, swirl like frenzied dervishes, and yell in unison, ``Shaktimaaaaaaannn.'' Further afield, in small-town India: Begu-Sarain, Kota, Indore, children are allegedly killing themselves in the name of this desi super-hero. In the latest incident, less than a week ago, a 12-year-old boy in Bhubaneshwar hung himself to death, in his supposed attempt to disappear like Shaktiman.

On the sets in Mumbai, Khanna, in characteristic declamatory tone, challenges these deaths. In December he hired the Globe detective agency to look into the suicides and claims that the findings are startling. ``The deaths have occurred, no doubt, but none of them has been inspired byShaktiman. This morning he flew to Delhi with the findings to allay fears of Doordarshan top brass who have given him a run of 104-episodes.

The 40-something actor claims that there is a concerted effort to malign him on the part of ``any of the following: a) political enemies; b) the gutka lobby; c) jealous rivals''.

Tempting though it is to dismiss the statement as the ravings of a loony conspiracy theorist, the actor argues his case passionately: ``I have yet to receive findings from Bhubhaneswar but in none of the other cases has the police corroborated press reports that the deaths were inspired by the serial. Moreover in some instances it was mentioned that the children set themselves on fire, or they were hurt playing with bow and arrow, but Shaktiman depicts none of that. I am just trying to make a good serial with which the children can identify, and wherein I can impart some good values to them.'' The irony of course is that perhaps the children identify a bit too strongly with his super-hero.Each day that he shoots a bunch of children wait outside the MBC studio for a glimpse and when Khanna in his Shaktiman costume of tight maroon buttoned up pants, velvet top with gold trimmings and boots and gloves agrees to pose for pictures, they are ecstatic. Some caress the costume, some press against his six-foot-plus frame and others just whirl giddily.

``Such deaths, as have been reported are not a new phenomenon,'' says child psychologist Anjali Chhabria. ``When Superman became a rage the world over there were several incidents of accidental deaths when children tried to fly out of the window.'' It is possible, she believes, that the children feel so strongly about Shaktiman that they want to find out whether he will come to their rescue.

For a man who even eight years after Mahabharata often greets reverential strangers with Ayushyamaan bhav, Shaktiman is destiny's second chance to carve out another image, ``Possibly even larger than Bhishma Pitamah's.'' And Khanna is not one to question fate.While critics may accuse Shaktiman of poor production quality, tacky FX, hammy acting, Khanna's faith in the power of Shaktiman overrides all that.

Along with his sponsors Parle G, he organises Shaktiman carnivals, hugging, shaking hands with thousands of children, promises to send his little viewers Shaktiman costumes, liaises with schools, parents to launch the Shaktiman Ke Dost certificates for all those kids who give up `at least one bad habit,' starts Shaktiman comics in association with Diamond Comics, and delivers little homilies on mind, body, spirit, soul in each episode. And on his way to all that, he occasionally stop at the bank, smiling beatifically.According to MARG statistics, despite the odd time slot, Shaktiman feature regularly among the top ten serials of Doordarshan. ``Many children who watch this programme come from poor to lower middle class background, they do not have the sophistication to sift the real from the make-believe, secondly for several of them it is possible that thisShaktiman is representative of magic, of security,'' says Chhabria.

Khanna, is not inclined to such introspection. ``No actor has built this kind of a bridge with children,'' he says and which is why his detractors are trying to do ``hanky-panky.'' A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and a supporter of the ideology of Hindutva he darkly hints at sabotage by parties like the Janata Dal. But far more probable, he concedes, is the possibility that propaganda is the brain child of gutka manufacturers lobby which he has been targetting in the serial. ``I was dismayed to find that these guys were targetting the children with Shaktiman gutka, Shaktiman supari, and Shaktiman zarda. So I decided to come down heavily on them through my serial. Perhaps they did not like that.''