Every year, the men's website askmen.com releases a list of the 99 hottest celebrities on this planet. Millions of people vote to pick their favorite celebrity, and men the world over are more interested in the results of this poll than ones that pick the majority leader in the House of Representatives. I know, men are shallow. However, I am not one of those men. I care. I am also against the crass commercialization of women. But sometimes, one has to make sacrifices for the sake of an audience, and so this year, I am setting aside my usual apathy to take on the unpleasant task of scouring the list for hot desi women.
There is something in this post for everyone, though: the righties can be indignant about the clothes these women wear; the lefties can fume about the list being predominantly white. The others can gawk.
I've scoured the list very, very carefully, and I am afraid the news isn't good. The South Asian representation on the list is pretty skimpy. (yes, I always intend my pun).
Aishwarya Rai, the most beautiful woman in the world, is in the list for the third successive year. She manages to break into the top 50 this year, at number 47.
Crowned Miss World 1994, Indian model Aishwarya Rai has become a superstar in Bollywood (the Indian film industry). But her influence, as Time magazine's Asian edition pointed out in 2004, goes beyond her native land. Aishwarya was a jury member at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, and she's even represented at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in London. [Link]Her black hair and chestnut skin are lovely enough, but those blue eyes make us feel like we're staring into a Bombay beachside sunset. We'd wrap her in a regal sari, place her on a maharajah's throne and serve her every whim, humbly genuflecting to her fantastic charms. [Link]
And at number 73, a girl that should make Siddhartha delirious : Lisa Ray, the Canadian born Polish-Bengali joint production. This Lisa incidentally, is the same girl that wants to settle down in Paris and write novels. Ooh.
This Canadian-born actress of Indian and Polish descent made her feature film debut in 2001 in the offbeat comedy Kasoor. In 2002, she appeared in Takkari Donga and the hit romantic comedy Bollywood/Hollywood. Her American film debut came in 2004, when she starred in another romantic comedy, Arrangement, before she relocated to England to pursue further training as an actress. [Link]
And then, .. that's it! Only two people on the most important list this year. No Sheetal Sheth. No Katrina Kaif. Blasphemous, I know. And sad, if ever anything was. But there is some hope - we've doubled our representation over the last two years and at this rate, we'll take over the list in a mere few decades. Meanwhile, here's some fodder for your brains:
Askmen.com ranks celebrities based on a vague number called the Desirability Score. Aishwarya is at 7.68, while Jessica Alba, the eventual winner came in at 9.07. Mathematically inclined mutineers might notice immediately that Aish is a mere 15% behind Jessica. And here is an interesting titbit snippet: If you employ a more commonly used ranking index, Alba clocks in at 35-25-35 and Aish at 32-25-32. And the difference between those statistics? 15% . Hmm... hidden message, you think?
And those of you that think I made those numbers up, remember it is the brains that matter to me.
