SHAH RUKH KHAN

Shah Rukh Khan’s steamy scene with Deepa Sahi in Maya Memsaab may still be a hot YouTube hit, but the father-of-two set two rules for himself the day he became SRK the superstar — to never pose for sexy photoshoots and to never kiss on screen. “I don’t kiss simply because I am not comfortable doing it,” Shah Rukh has always said. Mentor Yash Chopra finally got the Bolly Badshah to do it for what turned to be the director’s last film. The result? Shah Rukh kissed Katrina Kaif (yes, Salman Khan’s ex) not once, not twice, but thrice in Jab Tak Hai Jaan! And though it was no more than a cursory brushing of the lips (left), at least shy Shah Rukh will know that in showbiz you must never say never again. Would we the t2 girls want to be be kissed by SRK? Of course! But not on screen, please. Sadly, from the evidence of Jab Tak, he romances so passionately but kisses so uncomfortably.

Raja Hindustani

3 Idiots

AAMIR KHAN

No such problems for the rival Khan though. Aamir Khan has been a pro at getting up very close and very personal with his heroines, notching up an impressive kissography. From his first film Holi in which he awkwardly brushed lips with Kitu Gidwani to the smooches with Juhi Chawla in Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak to Madhuri Dixit in Dil, there’s been a liplock in almost all Aamir films. In Baazi, a sizzling Mamta Kulkarni put an ice cube to good use on Aamir while the Aamir-Karisma Kapoor wet kiss in Raja Hindustani became the talk of tinseltown for lasting close to a minute and for the innumerable rehearsals that Aamir insisted on. Aamir also demonstrated his kissing skills to Alice Patten in Rang De Basanti and who can forget that cute locking of the lips with Kareena Kapoor in the final scene of 3 Idiots. For Aamir, naak kabhi bhi beech mein nahi aati!

t2 pick: With Kareena in 3 Idiots for being the cutest; but the one that lingers is the one that might have been in Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin — the close dance with Pooja Bhatt in the garage that ends with an unlit cigarette dropping from Aamir’s lips, and a kiss interrupted.

Dhoom:2

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Kambakkht Ishq

7 Khoon Maaf

Love Aaj Kal

Jab We Met

Heroine

HRITHIK ROSHAN

In Dhoom:2, Hrithik Roshan steamed it up in a lip-to-lip with Aishwarya Rai, a few months before she became Mrs Bachchan (Jr). Then his romps with Barbara Mori — from the playful to the passionate — in Kites showed how comfortable the hunk was in getting physical with his heroines. Hrithik crowned it with that tender yet passionate kiss with Katrina Kaif on a dusty Spanish highway in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. No room for aphsos, right Hrithik?

t2 pick: With Katrina in ZNMD — for the build-up, her attitude and their chemistry.

AKSHAY KUMAR

Though he first locked lips with Kajol in a rain song in Yeh Dillagi and then kissed Priyanka Chopra in Aitraaz , it was in Kambakkht Ishq that Akshay Kumar really hit first base with both Kareena Kapoor and Holly hottie Denise Richards. “He’s a good kisser! I can see why he’s India’s sexiest actor,” was Denise Richards’ verdict on Akki the kisser. But ever since, his lips have been sealed (on screen).

t2 pick: With Kareena in Kambakkht Ishq — for being HOT.

JOHN ABRAHAM

John started out early, by kissing and making love to Bipasha Basu in his debut film Jism. Most of us remember Pooja Bhatt’s Paap for the passionate liplocks between John and Udita Goswami. More recently, John — playing a pot-smoking rockstar in 7 Khoon Maaf — had a prolonged smooch with Priyanka Chopra.

t2 pick: With Bipasha in Jism — they really looked into each other, which they, er, were.

SAIF ALI KHAN

Saifeena’s liplock laced with a lot of bare-back action between the sheets in Kurbaan has to be counted as his steamiest, but the Nawab of Pataudi has done it with almost all his co-stars — from Preity Zinta in Salaam Namaste and Vidya Balan in Parineeta to Deepika Padukone in Love Aaj Kal and both Deepika and Diana Penty in Cocktail. Wonder whether new Begum Kareena will now tell Saifu the Snogger enough is enough.

t2 pick: Photo-finish of Kareena in Kurbaan and Preity in Salaam Namaste.

SHAHID KAPOOR

While he first made news as a kisser when a controversial clip of him tonguing his then-girlfriend went viral, Shahid hasn’t done too badly on the big screen either. From the kiss with Kareena in Jab We Met to the passion play with Priyanka in Kaminey to the sensuous locking of lips with Anushka Sharma in Badmaash Company....

t2 pick: With Kareena in Jab We Met — perfect end to a near-perfect love story.

ARJUN RAMPAL

“For the sake of art, I’d even kiss a man!” Well, the looker with the voice to match hasn’t gone that far yet, but he sure has managed to kiss her right. Like that red-hot liplock with Kareena in Heroine and the passionate kiss with Katrina in Raajneeti. Arjun’s passion play with Esha Gupta in Chakravyuh, however, was left out at the edit table.

t2 pick: With Kareena in Heroine — two beautiful people making out.

Delhi Belly

IMRAN KHAN

With uncle Aamir as inspiration, can Imran be far behind? And trust the nephew to do ’em differently — half-dangling out of a moving Maruti 800 with Poorna Jagannathan in Delhi Belly and under a table with Deepika Padukone in Break Ke Baad! In his upcoming Vishal Bhardwaj film Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola, Imran shares a passionate liplock with Anushka Sharma. We’re waiting, Immy baby.

t2 pick: With Poorna Jagannathan in Delhi Belly — a-ha, that’s the way we like it!

Barfi!

Band Baaja Baaraat

RANBIR KAPOOR

The Kapoor beta has lived up to his playboy image by kissing most of his leading ladies. Though a tad awkward in that kiss with Bipasha Basu in Bachna Ae Haseeno, Ranbir was more natural in that passionate lip work with Priyanka Chopra in Anjaana Anjaani. By the time he came to Rockstar, Ranbir was the man in command, evident from that liplock with Nargis Fakhri. And then it was Ileana D’Cruz’s turn in Barfi!.

t2 pick: With Ileana in Barfi! — cute yet passionate.

RANVEER SINGH

The two-film-old Ranveer has a 100 per cent strike rate. While in his debut Band Baaja Baaraat he played a small-towner nervously kissing a girl for the first time after a drink too many, in Ladies vs Ricky Bahl it was a more confident kiss from a street-smart conman. The object of Ranveer’s affection in both films? Rumoured real-life love Anushka.

t2 pick: With Anushka in Band Baaja Baaraat — the first-kiss feel was very real (like the rest of the film).

Bunty Aur Babli

ABHISHEK BACHCHAN

He hasn’t kissed wife Aishwarya on screen, but the junior Bachchan did lock lips passionately with Rani Mukerji in Bunty Aur Babli and with Lara Dutta in Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. Not to forget that lip-to-lip with ‘jiggery-poo’ John in Dostana!

t2 pick: With Rani in Bunty Aur Babli — no wonder the Bolly buzz then was that they were an item.

AJAY DEVGN

Are they, aren’t they? Though he nearly kissed Manisha Koirala in Kachche Dhaage and did a heavy-duty sensuous scene with Mahima Chaudhary in Dil Kya Kare, the only time Ajay Devgn came within kissing distance on screen was with Aishwarya Rai in the penultimate stages of Khakee. However, the tricky camera angle would have us believe that it was more of a cheat kiss.

king of kissing

EMRAAN HASHMI

Bollywood’s serial kisser has kissed — hold your breath! — 27 of his leading ladies since the time he debuted with Footpath in 2003. Kissing Mallika Sherawat atop a ledge in Murder to that sensuous bareback make-out with Tanushree Dutta in Aashiq Banaya Aapne to the erotic passion play with Jacqueline Fernandez in Murder 2, Mr Lucky Lips has done it all.

“Out of the 30 films I have done, I have kissed my leading ladies in 27.... If you take an average of five in every film, that would be about 150 kisses on screen,” Emraan had told t2 on a visit to our office in August.

A kiss for that math, man! and then there is...

SALMAN KHAN

He is ever-Ready to take off his shirt, but he is no Dabangg when it comes to kissing on screen. Bolly’s box-office hero number 1 has one won’t-do ‘commitment’ — the kiss. The closest this Khan came to doing it was in Yuvvraaj where he almost brushed lips with then-girlfriend Katrina Kaif. “I feel awkward... kissing on screen is a very big deal for me and hats off to Emraan for portraying it so well in each of his films,” says the Tiger.

This is one ‘commitment’ we have always Wanted the best-looking Khan to break!