You don't have to look bad to be bad. Cinema understands this, and gangsters have long been one of the most glamorous of on-screen professions.
Now with John Abraham in shirt-ripping form for his latest feature, here's a look at 10 gangsters in recent Hindi cinema, who could top any Sexiest Men lists.
Click through the slide show and vote for the actor YOU think makes the SEXIEST gangster in Hindi films!
John Abraham - Shootout At Wadala
John Abraham hasn't had a big release all to himself in quite some time, but he looks set to dominate the spotlight in Sanjay Gupta's upcoming follow-up to Shootout At Lokhandwala.
John plays Manya Surve in the film and the trailers seem intent on showing off his alarmingly sculpted new body. Not that women are complaining.
Akshay Kumar - Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Again
Image: Akshay Kumar in Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai AgainAkshay Kumar wears a fedora in the posters of Milan Luthria's sequel to Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai, and will clearly be bringing a more glamorous approach to the role of Dawood Ibrahim that he is essaying in the film.
The film is said to be a love triangle.
Randeep Hooda - Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster
Image: Mahie Gill and Randeep Hooda in Saheb Biwi Aur GangsterIn Tigmanshu Dhulia's hit film, Randeep Hooda plays the seamy but tough gangster Bablu.
Planted as a spy for political warfare, Bablu falls in love with his mistress -- leading to some highly sexualised scenes -- and plots to help her kill her husband, the Nawab. Things don't turn out that way, but Bablu's impact is significant.
Emraan Hashmi - Once Upon A Time In Mumbai
Image: Emraan Hashmi in Once Upon A Time In MumbaiIn the first Once Upon A Time In Mumbai, Emraan Hashmi played Shoaib Khan, a gangster who spouted heavy and even flowery dialogue from behind a Hulk Hogan moustache.
It was an odd combination but Hashmi made it work very effectively indeed, and created a character with significant screen presence.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui - Gangs Of Wasseypur
Image: Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Gangs Of WasseypurThere's many a gangster to be found in Anurag Kashyap's sprawling two-part epic soaked in blood and profanity, but the only one who could be said to possess sexual charisma is Faizal, played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
He plays the unpredictable character with the coiled intensity of a jungle cat, and the performance is riveting.
Shahid Kapoor - Kaminey
Image: Shahid Kapoor in KamineyThere are two Shahids in Vishal Bhardwaj's Kaminey, and both have speech impediments. That might be the only thing in common between the stammering, meek, good guy Guddu and the lisping, tough, anything-for-a-buck chaalu Charlie.
And it's Charlie who we see dancing, then shirtless, chasing a horse. He might be a bad guy but he works it good.
Shah Rukh Khan - Don
Image: Shah Rukh Khan in DonWhile not comparing him to the Amitabh Bachchan original, Khan gave his version of Don everything he could, playing the character intense, wild and with that cocky insouciance that only Shah Rukh does so well.
Khan's Don is a beast -- and that's just what we like about him.
Ajay Devgan - Omkara
Image: Ajay Devgan in OmkaraThere's a relaxed roughness to Ajay Devgan's Omi Shukla. He smiles, speaks softly and often looks too mellow to be a man of the mob, but when he needs to flex his muscle, he does so with emphatic immediacy.
It is this all-knowing restraint that makes him so charismatic. That, and the brooding.
Shiney Ahuja - Gangster
Image: A scene from GangsterEmraan Hashmi and Kangna Ranaut carried on quite memorably in Anurag Basu's Gangster, but Ranaut was always clear about being a gangster's girl -- and this probably because he was played by the light-eyed and tough Shiney Ahuja.
Shiney was impassioned, flawed and fearlessly impulsive: which might not always lead a character to the right ending but definitely makes him look good.
Vivek Oberoi - Company
Image: Vivek Oberoi in CompanyVivek Oberoi startled us all with his remarkable work in Ram Gopal Varma's fantastic Company.
His Chandu is ambitious, rough around the edges, fearsome in his determination and -- as women at the time attested -- as hot as can be.
Things may have gone south for Oberoi later but his debut in this film was something else.
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