Pakistani singer becomes ‘sexiest Asian’

Zain pushes Hrithik Roshan to second slot in London weekly’s poll; Fawad ranks third, ‘Chaiwala’ 31st 

DUBAI: Singer Zayn Malik has become the sexiest Asian man of 2016, beating Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan.

The British Pakistani singer was voted the ‘sexiest Asian of the year’ Thursday, once again pushing the ‘bang bang’ actor into second position.  It is the second consecutive year that the former One Direction singer, 23, is on top of the annual poll conducted by London-based weekly newspaper Eastern Eye. 

Zayn Malik, pictured here with supermodel girlfriend Gigi Hadid, has had a hugely successful year with the release of his debut solo material.  The singer/songwriter showed that there was life after the boy band with a rip-roaring start to his solo career, which began with the launch of single Pillowtalk. 

“It was as if he struck a match, casually threw it at the world and stepped back to watch a wildfire sweep across the continents with his songs burning up the charts,” said Asjad Nazir of Eastern Eye. 

The third spot on the list went to Pakistani actor Fawad Khan with Indian TV star Ashish Sharma and superstar Salman Khan completing the top five in the poll conducted on social media. 

Others in the 2016 top 10 include TV and film actors Barun Sobti (6), Shahid Kapoor (7), Vivian Dsena (8), Ali Zafar (9) and Ranveer Singh (10). The highest placed newcomer in this year’s list is 24-year-old Indian TV actor Param Singh (19). Shah Rukh Khan was on number 17 in the list. Pakistani tea-stall seller Arshad Khan has also made it to the list at number 31. 

Khan, who is known on the internet as the Pakistani chaiwala, became famous after his photograph was taken by Pakistani photographer Jiah Ali.  He is the first man ever to be included as an editor's choice, according to the reports. Khan started trending on social media for several days in both India and Pakistan after a picture of his went viral over the internet.