Acclaimed singer, musician and actor Ali Zafar held onto his position as the sexiest Pakistani man on the planet for the ninth year in a row. No other Pakistani celebrity has been able to replace this heart-throb so far in this annual online poll. A former winner in 2013, Ali held onto his third position from last year in the 2015 edition of the 50 Sexiest Asian Men list. Popular British singer Zayn Malik topped the long running list compiled by UK based Eastern Eye newspaper for the first time and at 22-years-old became the youngest to ever top the list. Last year’s winner, Bollywood actor, Hrithik Roshan came second following millions of votes from across the globe for the popular annual poll now in its twelfth year.
This rounds off another successful year for Ali, which saw him commence work on his home production Deosai and deliver acclaimed musical performances on the popular Coke Studio. Eastern Eye’s award-winning Entertainment Editor Asjad Nazir, who founded the list and puts it together annually, thinks Ali has done an incredible job representing Pakistan internationally. “Ali has been the highest placed Pakistani in the 50 Sexiest Asian Men List for nine years and consistently maintained his position in the top 10. During this time at the top he has been a great international ambassador for Pakistan and built bridges around the world through music, cinema and social media. Throughout it all he has been a proud Pakistani who has shown his country in a very positive light and with exciting projects on the way this is set to continue,” said Asjad
The mass interest in the 12th edition of the list was such that it was trending on Twitter across India and Pakistan during the voting process.
Popular Indian television stars Barun Sobti (4) and Vivian Dsena (5) completed the top five. Pakistani actor Fawad Khan maintained his impressive recent momentum by coming in at number six, up one place from last year. Others in the top 10 are Salman Khan (7), Shahid Kapoor (8), Shah Rukh Khan (9) and Gurmeet Choudhary (10).
The highest placed newcomer in this year’s list is 24-year-old Indian television actor Parth Samthaan (11).
Just like the 50 Sexiest Asian Women list television stars dominated in a big way. Other small screen stars in the list include Kushal Tandon (13), Gautam Rode (16), Kunwar Amar (17), Rithvik Dhanjani (20), Harshad Arora (23), Shakti Arora (25), Mohit Sehgal (28), Shaheer Sheikh (31), Shabir Ahluwalia (35), Ravi Dubey (40) and Gautam Gulati (43). “There are 29 stars in the list of 50 Sexiest Asian Men for 2015, who are either working in television or made a mark on the small screen before switching to cinema. This not only shows the dominance of TV in the world we live in today, but also shows changing taste of audiences who are choosing to stay at home instead of going to the cinema. Expect more of the small screen stars to be signed for movies in the coming years and more A-list movie stars to take on TV projects,” said Asjad.
Virat Kohli (30) is the only sportsman to make the list and 50-year-old actor Shah Rukh Khan (9) is the oldest in the 2015 countdown.
Others in the 2015 list include Ranbir Kapoor (12), Varun Dhawan (15), Ashish Sharma (18), Ranveer Singh (22), Akshay Kumar (24), Imran Abbas (37), Atif Aslam (39), Emraan Hashmi (46) and Hamza Ali Abbasi (49),
The full countdown of 2015’s 50 Sexiest Asian Men is published in the UK’s most established and popular Asian newspaper, Eastern Eye, on December 18. “What makes the men’s list unique is the large number of guys who vote and see those in the list as role models they aspire to be like. The fact those in the list are so relatable makes it popular,” said Asjad.
