The present world of humans harbours a huge chunk of hero-worshippers. Hero-worshipping seems to be ingrained in many of the modern human societies. There are reasons for it and very plausible ones. We find a particular society to be a polytheistic society, where many gods and goddesses are worshipped. Each god or goddess has its own band of followers who are very emotionally bonded to their deity. They deeply admire all qualities and attributes of their deities who are their objects of worship. Their deities are their heroes who seemingly inspire them and galvanise them for their positive mundane actions.

But in their interactions with fellow humans too, many of the above members of such a society display a discernible trait of hero-worshipping—in the context of distinctive men and women who are their role models, whom they adore and would like to emulate. Whether heroes are film stars, political leaders, sports stars or other persons with outstanding achievements to their name, hero-worshippers display passionate adulation and imitation of their perceived heroes. Hero-worshippers are not limited to one specific global society. They can be seen across the spectrum of many different global societies. The reference to a particular society was in the context of presenting the defining characteristics of such persons. Hero-worshipping is a human attribute that shows that a person is overawed by the personality cult. He sees in his hero the fulfilment of his own dormant desires and aspirations. He feels, rightly or wrongly, that in emulating his hero or role model lies his fulfilment and salvation.

A hero becomes a demigod for him. His hero’s positive attributes become his guiding and inspiring principles and he becomes blind to the human hero’s negative traits and weaknesses. This kind of behaviour is most starkly visible in the case of people’s matinee idols—famous cinema stars with big fan-following. Political leaders—presidents and prime ministers—too have tremendous fan-following and become cult figures, although most politicians have human weaknesses as much as in average individuals. Outstanding sportspersons also become cult figures.