The hotties

SAM HEUGHAN, OUTLANDER

This gorgeous Scotsman has had us heating up over the wedding night sex, itchy over the make up sex in Castle Leoch and torn up over his rape at the hands of Black Jack Randall in Season One. Now, we are in Season Three and he is still keeping things hot.

The explosive factor: Jamie is blackmailed into having sex by an heiress, and while the chemistry he has with Claire is missing, he still makes us sweat a little as he helps Geneva discover sexual pleasure. And there was that excellent butt show again.

KIT HARINGTON, GAME OF THRONES

Jon Snow went from a good-looking man who knew nothing to a leader worth admiring in Season 6, a streak he continued in Season 7. And there was the momentous meeting between Jon and Daenerys Targaryen.

The explosive factor: The first meeting between Jon and Dany was a little bland and the chemistry did get hotter towards the end of the season. But(t) the thrill of their first love-making scene was eclipsed by the reason he’s made it to the list — that first-class ass.

RYAN GOSLING, BLADE RUNNER 2049

The heart-throb of millions took on the sequel of an iconic film and not only held his own against the towering performance of Harrison Ford in the original but struck the perfect note as a new-age Replicant.

The explosive factor: That scene in which he realises that he wasn’t the child of Deckard and Rachael, who is being hailed as the leader of the Replicant rebels, is an emotional one made even more powerful by Gosling’s understated performance.

PEDRO PASCAL, NARCOS

Wagner Moura’s death meant Pedro Pascal had the spotlight all to himself in Narcos Season 3 as Javier Pena, an US DEA agent taking on the drug cartels of Colombia. He brings out the desperation brilliantly and looks stunning while he’s at it. 

The explosive factor: In one of his many casual yet compassionate escapades with a prostitute-cum-source, Pena bares his butt, pushing up the Celsius and giving some serious competition to Kit Harington.

KEANU REEVES, JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2

He exploded onto the screen as the assassin who wanted revenge on the men who stole his car and killed his dog in John Wick. In John Wick: Chapter 2 he is back leaner, meaner and more violent.

The explosive factor: The shootout at the club in Rome with electronic music pumping out and the one in the Roman baths stand out. Oh, and he does kill a man with a pencil!

GAL GADOT, WONDER WOMAN

GG was the perfect mix of feisty, alluring, innocence, kindness, bravery, beauty and humour as Wonder Woman. If her charm left us ahh-ing, her action sequences had us ooh-ing loudly.

The explosive factor: The battlefield scene where Diana Prince sheds her cloak and climbs out of the trench and into the no-man’s land in her Wonder Woman costume. The kind of superhero reveal that will go down in history.

TOM HARDY, TABOO

James Delaney, the prodigal son who is presumed dead, turns up just after his father’s death and embarks on a path of revenge. Dark, visceral, violent, crazy — Tom is a sight to behold.

The explosive factor: There is pulsing sexual tension between him and Oona Chaplin, his half-sister Zilpha, in every single encounter. And when he whispers fiercely into her ear, “One thing Africa didn’t cure is my love for you”, you could go up in flames. Also, he spends a lot of the show semi-naked and sometimes fully naked too.

CHARLIZE THERON, ATOMIC BLONDE

If anyone had doubts about whether a female James Bond would be worth it, Charlize Theron should have answered that question with a hell yeah! A female spy who kicks serious ass, physically, without even cool gadgets that a 007 has, a spy who is not above using her sexuality to get information or to get the job done.

The explosive factor: It’s gotta be that staircase fight, when she is ambushed in Berlin, and the one in the nightclub where she confronts Sofia Boutella.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA, BAYWATCH

On the Oscar red carpet, on the Emmy stage, on American chat shows and now in a Hollywood film, our own Piggy Chops is making a lot of waves, especially as sexy baddie Victoria Leeds in Baywatch.

The explosive factor: Every time she glided in with her cleavage-revealing elegant gowns and dresses she blew it up. We especially like her saucy toast to Dwayne Johnson with that champagne glass.

DILJIT DOSANJH, PHILLAURI

He became popular with his Bolly debut Udta Punjab, but it is with his March release Phillauri that Diljit Dosanjh has become a sex symbol. And to think he played a villager of the early 1900s in it!

The explosive factor: His introduction scene… that sight of Diljit’s Roop Lal — bare-chested and lying on a cot as he’s being massaged — is a sight for sore eyes. As he gets up, the camera focuses on his anklet and then pans on his sexy back as he flexes his muscles, drapes a turban, wears a kurta and goes out into the village to make music…. and win over Anushka Sharma’s Shashi.

SHAH RUKH KHAN, JAB HARRY MET SEJAL

There’s no taking away from how sexy Shah Rukh Khan looked in Jab Harry Met Sejal. Stubble to that white shirt that hugged his torso tight to those honey-brown eyes hidden behind RayBan aviators, this man — even at 51 — makes us go weak in the knees.

The explosive factor: The first sight of Harry emerging from behind the windmills in Amsterdam, a red tie knotted loosely around his neck, to when the song Safar breaks out… there’s something so sexy.

MITHALI RAJ

Oozing confidence, unhindered and fearless, that’s Team India’s captain Mithali Raj. While she had a superb year on field, most notably leading from the front in India’s journey to the World Cup final, she was equally impressive off it, especially in taking on Internet trolls.

The explosive factor: It has to be her debut on the Vogue cover, looking like a million bucks, alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Nita Ambani. Dressed in a black jumpsuit, she looks like the badass she is with smoky eyes, on-point hair and a Sabatini-like smoulder.

RAJKUMMAR RAO, BAREILLY KI BARFI

We’ve been wowed by Rajkummar Rao on screen a number of times this season — Trapped to Newton, but we give him pride of place on this list for that chameleon-like turn in Bareilly Ki Barfi. A meek and bullied man who metamorphoses into someone not to be messed with.

The explosive factor: That moment — aptly called “Badass Babua” in the promos — in which Rajkummar’s Pritam sheds all his shyness and fear to show some serious swag while taking on a gang of goons.

ADITYA ROY KAPOOR, OK JAANU

This man’s been a throb ever since he went Tum hi ho… and billions of women thought he was only singing to them. We loved his cute boy-next-door in OK Jaanu, which may have been lacklustre but ARK’s Adi — that smile, those eyes, that easy charm — made it worth a watch.

The explosive factor: That scene where Adi and Tara can’t wait to get it on and he starts kissing her even before they have reached her hostel door. It’s the first time in the film that we see Adi showing so much passion and just makes our stomachs do a flip-flop. And then is that see-through bandhni shirt in The humma song!

MILIND SOMAN, CHEF

He has been giving us sleepless nights ever since he popped out of that box in Made in India in the ’90s. At 51, he still continues to rule she hearts. He makes it to the list because he’s one of the better things about Saif Ali Khan’s film Chef, even if it is a special appearance.

The explosive factor: The scene in which Milind’s laidback Kerala businessman meets Saif’s Roshan Kalra. He’s seeing Roshan’s former wife Radha (played by Padmapriya) and just that sight of the man, greying yet sexy, in a veshti is enough to leave you wanting So-much-more-of-the-Man.