Indian Screen Apsaras

It is no wonder that a country of a billion people has some of the most beautiful women in the world. Given the wonderful new world of youtube and the availability of videos from all over Bollywood and its sisters in Tollywood etc it is now feasible to show all these beauties on one page and not just the static images that were in vogue earlier.
Be careful as you go over the videos though. Indian movies have been known for some strangely erotic stuff, especially given the supposedly puritanical society created by a mish-mash of first Mughal and then Victorian rule which together pretty much cleansed the country of the past which gave it that tome kama sutra. So I'd recommend that you move off to other pages if you are under 18. For the most part, I'm counting on youtube's age appropriate check mechanisms to manage the viewer appropriateness.

MADHUBALA

No talk of Indian apsaras can start without the all-time favorite Madhubala, the screen Goddess of black and white celluloid. The term bollywood wasn't even coined yet! An untimely death took her but not before she managed to usher in an era of color movies in Indian cinema.



MADHURI DIXIT

Though several beauties before, during, and after Madhubala reigned the screen, there was none like the scorching hot Madhuri Dixit Nene. Madhuri movies became hits due to her songs, and often created new controversy which only made them more popular. The song 'Choli ke peechhe' took this to new heights and it was only the blessing of Mumbai supremo Bal Thackarey which stopped theaters from being burnt down when they showed Khalnayak!



Sridevi came to bollywood after a long successful stint down south. She took the mantle from Rekha and reigned the silver screen until Madhuri essentially took over. A highlight of her career was the movie Mr India. Here she is dancing to an invisible hero.



Aishwarya Rai is probably the one heroine who can safely claim the super status abandoned by Madhuri's marriage (Indian heroines tend to quit the star roles after marriage). Often called a director's actress, here she is in a folksy song.



Before her career imploded due to alcohol abuse, bad relationships, and a general mismanagement of life, Manisha Koirala, a Nepali girl found by Madhuri, appeared to be all set to take her mantle. Though now she's known more for her scenes seducing a young kid in Ek Chhoti Si Love Story, her career got a huge boost with the love story based on the backdrop of Indian Independence Movement: 1942 a Love Story.



Kajol, the daughter of a beautiful actress of yesteryear, was probably the only actress who guaranteed a hit after Madhuri. She recently returned after a mandatory going away period after marriage. Here's a song from her super-hit movie Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge.



Rani Mukherji, Kajol's much shorter cousin, is one of the most bankable heroines of today, despite her reported break-up with the very powerful Amitabh Bachchan camp. Here she's romping with Abhishek Bachchan in one of the superhit movies of recent times - Bunty Aur Babli.



Preity Zinta, another intelligent actress, in a world dominated by bimbos, has been popular lately due to her brave testimony against the Mumbai underworld connections wiht bollywood. But the dimpled girl is also one of the biggest stars of today. Here she is enjoying down under with Saif Ali Khan, son of another hot actress of yester-years - Sharmila Tagore!



So here's my list of the top 10 beauties of Bollywood:

1. Madhubala
2. Madhuri Dixit
3. Sridevi
4. Aishwarya Rai
5. Manisha Koirala
6. Kajol
7. Rani Mukherjee
8. Preity Zinta
9. Priyanka Chopra
10. ...

Do you agree with it? And who should the 10th be? Hema, Rekha, Vyjayanti Mala, Meena Kumari, or even Bipasha or Mallika!! Drop me a line on your favorite!