The Times 50 Most Desirable Women 2020 list features women under 40 from across various fields and puts the spotlight on the young and new breed with immense talent and beauty.
The ranking is based on votes cast in an online poll (www.toi.in/mostdesirablewomen), along with an internal jury.
Rhea Chakraborty tops the list this year:
Last year, Rhea Chakraborty found herself cast in a terrifying role off-screen — one that she never asked for, and one that was forcibly thrust upon her within mere days of Sushant Singh Rajput’s death — the role of the perfect villain.
Before she could even grieve her loss, she was stuck in a circus with no ringmaster, caught in a state vs state, party vs party, agency vs agency tussle and shredded in a misguided, voyeuristic trial by television.
Her innocence or guilt became the ground for heated debates and legal battles between state and central agencies, between estranged political allies, between the police of different states, and between channels demonising or humanising her.
Thrown into the Colosseum, she was a gladiator wrestling several beasts, as they ripped apart her reputation, loved-ones, and career, while the audience watched on.
But she didn’t break, and held her own through it all.
Though she never asked for this ugly role (or to be called a gold-digger, a murderer, a drug peddler and a witch, for that matter), she retained her dignity amidst a barrage of insinuation and abuse.
With her strength, resilience and prolonged restraint, she rose above it.
Showbiz tends to believe that there is no such thing as bad publicity — and that holds true in almost all cases.
But the storm associated with Rhea was something far beyond celebrity gossip or Bigg Boss fights.
It had the scope to smash a career in a field where public perception and fan following is key.
And, in Bollywood as much as in other fields, the men will walk away from scandals — even legal cases and convictions — with their careers largely unharmed, but women are judged harsher and for longer.
Is that legitimate? That is for the industry itself to mull over, along with many other lessons from the year gone by.
As we have emphasised earlier, a superficial reading of the word ‘desirable’ would have you think it is about physical appeal and glamour.
But it’s not just that.
The point is not about charm or physique or good looks alone.
How we see it is that this is about how much you think about a person, about the mind space an individual occupies.
The mantle of Most Desirable is often associated with glamour, and the reigning stars with the blockbuster roles and the big endorsement deals — all things that this year’s winner saw herself lose, one by one, this year.
“
Mere sapne toh ab itne koso door hain…
main sirf ek gehri saans lena chaati hoon, jahan chaar-paanch agencies
mere peeche na padi ho,” she had said then, adding, “
Sapne toh mere kabke pichad gaye, but I’ll fight!”
And she did fight.
As Maya Angelou wrote in her poetic masterpiece, “You may shoot me with your words/ You may cut me with your eyes/ You may kill me with your hatefulness/ But still, like air, I’ll rise…”
The Times 50 Most Desirable Women 2020 list
In the last year, these women have left an impact with their gorgeous looks, ample talent, unshakable confidence and inimitable style.
MEET THE DESIRABLE NEW FACES OF 2020
2.
Adline Castelino
The year 2020 marked her entry into the world of beauty pageants.
This 22-year-old beauty represented India at the Miss Universe 2020 pageant held recently, where she made the country proud by emerging as the 3rd Runner-up.
Her win at this international pageant comes 20 years after Celina Jaitly secured the 4th Runner-up spot in the same contest.
Prior to this, Adline was declared LIVA Miss Diva Universe 2020.
She is actively involved in social work and is also an advocate for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community in India.
8.
Anupria GoenkaShe’s been a part of Bollywood’s big commercial ventures like
Tiger Zinda Hai, Padmaavat and
War.
In 2020, she shot to fame with multiple web shows, the most prominent being MX Player’s much-acclaimed
Aashram.
She also won appreciation for her performance in shows like
Asur: Welcome to Your Dark Side and the second season of
Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors.
This year, this gorgeous girl is raring to go.
9.
Ruhi Singh
Former Femina Miss India Universal Peace and Humanity, Ruhi had a busy 2020 where she shot for web shows back to back.
Recently, she wowed the audience with performances in shows like MX Player’s
Chakravyuh and
Runaway Lugaai, and
Bang Baang on another platform, which are currently streaming.
The actress, who is a fitness enthusiast and an adventure lover, also kicked off a fun live-chat session on Insta with her fans, called
#YuhiWithRuhi, which became hugely popular.
10.
Aavriti Choudhary
This stunning beauty won the LIVA Miss Diva Supranational 2020 title.
Since her win, Aavriti has also been involved with social work in Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh), where she hails from.
She is the face of Minds Foundation, which works towards creating awareness on mental health issues.
Currently, she is preparing to represent India at the Miss Supranational 2021 competition to be held in Poland soon.
13.
Tridha Choudhury
The actress, who has been seen in Bengali and Telugu films in the past, made a mark in the digital space with two popular shows, MX Player’s
Aashram, and the musical,
Bandish Bandits.
While in the musical she made an impact with a small role, she won accolades for her performance in
Aashram.
20.
Triptii Dimri
Known for her performance in her debut film,
Laila Majnu (2018), Triptii, who hails from Delhi, made quite an impact with her nuanced performance in the acclaimed thriller web film
Bulbbul last year.
She also won the Filmfare OTT Award for the Best Actress in a Web Original Film for
Bulbbul.
She has an interesting line-up of projects including
Qala, co-starring Irrfan’s son Babil and a film with Ishaan Khatter.
22.
Priya Banerjee
Over the last few years, Priya was seen in a number of films down South and in the Bollywood film
Jazbaa with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
Currently, in the web space, she is riding high after winning praise for her role in MX Player’s
Hello Mini.
She was also seen in the web series
Twisted Season 3.
This year, she features in the Telugu web show,
11th Hour.
25.
Anuja Joshi
The talented and charming actress was seen in the second season of the web show Broken But Beautiful and MX Player’s
Hello Mini.
Anuja, engaged to actor Ankur Rathee (who was seen in the film Thappad), is managing work between India and the US, where she was raised.
She features in the fourth season of
The Resident, her first Hollywood project.
26.
Shreya Chaudhary
This model-turned-actress was noticed for her performance in the web show Bandish Bandits where she shared the screen with actors like Naseeruddin Shah and Atul Kulkarni.
Previously, Shreya was seen in films like
Dear Maya (2017), and the short film,
The Other Way (2018).
The beautiful actress was once rumoured to be in a relationship with TV actor Karan Tacker.
28.
Neha Jaiswal
This beautiful LIVA Miss Diva Runner-up 2020 is a dreamer and a believer.
A student of architecture from Pune, Neha is a movie buff with a keen interest in sketching and playing the piano.
She’s an ardent fan of Hrithik Roshan and the film,
Dangal.
40.
Shriya Pilgaonkar
In the last couple of years, she’s made a splash in the digital space with performances in shows like
Mirzapur, the much-recent The Gone Game, Crackdown and the film,
Bhangra Paa Le in 2020.
While feature films remain her first love, she’s quite the star in the OTT space.
This multi-talented girl is also a director, producer and writer across mediums — theatre, cinema and digital.
41.
Kalyani Priyadarshan
The actress, who holds the top spot on Kochi Times Most Desirable Women 2020 list, is filmmaker Priyadarshan’s daughter.
She started her career with Telugu cinema in 2017.
In the last four years, she has forayed into Tamil cinema, and in 2020, she made her debut in Malayalam films, with
Varane Avashyamund.
She has many exciting projects lined up in Tamil and Malayalam.
42.
Alaya F
Notable columnist and actress Pooja Bedi’s daughter, Alaya, showed immense confidence and spunk in her debut film,
Jawaani Jaaneman, also starring Saif Ali Khan, which released last year.
She won the Filmfare Award for the Best Debut (Female) for an extremely promising entry into showbiz.
While her future projects are still in the offing, she is hugely popular on social media for her workout videos, sketches and also for her fashionably on-point pictures.
43.
Shreya Dhanwanthary
Her turn as Sucheta Dalal in Hansal Mehta’s much-acclaimed show
Scam 1992 was hugely applauded.
Shreya, a former Femina Miss India finalist, has also been the face of several brands.
After acting in a Telugu film, she made her Bollywood debut with
Why Cheat India opposite Emraan Hashmi.
Shreya has also authored a book,
Fade To White.
Currently seen in the second season of the popular show
The Family Man, she also has Mumbai Diaries 26/11 coming up.
She has dabbled in direction and is a writer, too.
47.
Aaditi Pohankar
She became an actress to watch out for while headlining the web series She, and MX Player’s show
Aashram.
Aaditi, who kicked off her career in acting with the Marathi film,
Lai Bhaari, has also been voted Maharashtra’s Most Desirable Woman 2020.
Her work in the two talked-about shows on leading digital channels has been appreciated.
FOREVER DESIRABLE
We continue to have a separate list for women who will remain ‘Forever Desirable’.
The coveted league includes Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Priyanka Chopra Jonas.
These are women who could’ve easily topped the list several times over in the last few years, given how desirable they still are.
With plenty of young talent keenly waiting to make it to the Top 50 year after year, a separate list only makes space for new entrants to join in.
Watch The Times 50 Most Desirable Women 2020 today at 10.30 pm on Zoom.
