Beautiful people of 2012

Aisha Linnea
We love Aisha Linnea Akthar for her classically beautiful face. The actress and writer of Slackistan and Gol Chakkar shows beauty and talent can coexist in perfection. Aisha has done high profile fashion shoots and ads for Q Mobile with Atif Aslam and Levi‘s star-studded Now Is Our Time campaign with Adnan Malik, Bilal Khan, Zoe Viccaji, et al. Aisha can be credited as one of the pioneers that have helped uplift the independent film industry in Pakistan and that too through our sleepy capital, Islamabad.

Osman Khalid Butt
Osman Khalid Butt has acted, looked good, modeled and written. But a huge part of his charm is his humour, with which he won over Pakistan this year when he put out vlogs addressing all kinds of national issues such as Meera’s Twitter account, that episode of Maya Khan’s morning show, and his own spin on the obsessively-watched Humsafar. The first of these videos came out late last year, in which Butt put to use all the words banned by the PTA. This year he appears in the serial Eik Nayi Cinderella, looking as dapper as ever, but we hope he has tons more videos up his sleeve for 2013!

Syra Yousuf
Syra Yousuf is just so darn cute! Often seen flashing a big smile, the petite model/actress has been part of several high profile ad campaigns and hugely popular TV dramas, including Mera Naseeb, Bilquis Kaur, where she plays rather subdued roles, and most recently Tanhaiyan: Naye Silsilay, in which she is the bubbly, enthusiastic Serena. Recently married to actor Shahroz Sabzwari, Syra has had, we think, a pretty good year.

Fawad Khan
Fawad Khan is probably the first name on every girl’s personal hot list. We first crushed on him when he was the front man of the rock band EP. The actor/ singer then created chaos in the country with his torrid love-hate relationship with Mahirah Khan on the superhit drama Humsafar. Fawad is back again with Zindagi Gulzar Hai and he so far he isn’t getting on anyone’s good side just yet but it doesn’t matter, we’ll take as much of Fawad Khan on our TV screens as we can. Despite his easily misguided man-boy roles on TV, Fawad is a hot favorite on our list for being, well, hot.

Shahbaz Hamid Shigri
More than just a serious artist type, this young director, though a self-proclaimed workaholic, is actually working towards the lighter side of cinema. He has, along with the short, Sole Search, and its feature-film sequel, Gol Chakkar, directed music videos for The Kominas and Adil Omar. “I appreciate and respect those out there making films to showcase a different side of Pakistan, or dwelling on the dated issue of terrorism, or some other form of extreme realism,” he told Instep last year, “but the film goers of Pakistan also need more than just realism. Something they can watch, and even for a second, escape from of all that and just, laugh. Even a smile would suffice.” Good looking and wants to make people laugh? That’s our vote right there.

Abbas Jafri
Abbas Jafri stormed onto the fashion scene and blew everyone away with his malang hair and long beard. As a model, he single-handedly changed the scene for men, from the epitome of clean-cut perfection to rugged dirt-under-the-fingernails masculinity and left fashion lovers wanting more. His one appearance had fashion designers clamoring for him to be their new face, numerous fashion shoots later, Abbas Jafri emerged as the brand ambassador for Bareeze Man and took home a Lux Style Award for Best Male Model.

Danial Hyatt
The youngest son of numero uno producer Rohail Hyatt, Danial takes after his father, which is a very, very good thing. With his sweet voice and constantly changing looks (long hair, short hair, stubble, beard, French beard, clean shaven), Danial, we think, is one of the cutest and the coolest musicians on the block. His always-changing looks only add to his sweet-tempered charm because as a musician, Danial is very accomplished and plays with three exciting, promising indie acts: Mole, Sikandar Ka Mandar and //Orangenoise. His sweet, kind and casual attitude and the ability to look good without trying too hard is something many mainstream musicians can learn from. Jal, we’re thinking of you. Back to Dan, whether board shorts or jeans and t-shirts, he makes comfort stylish. With his infectious smile, and that musical verve, Danial Hyatt is without question one of our beautiful people of 2012. Enough said.

Neelam Munir
Neelam Munir may accomplish great feats in her career, but she will always be remembered, even if vaguely, as the Chilli Milli Girl! Neelam has since ventured into television acting and proven she is not just a very pretty girl, be it as the angry daughter of broken marriage in Qaid-e-Tanhai, the misguided Zebu in Ashk, or the privileged Meena in Meri Behen Maya.

Bilal Khan
When Bilal Khan arrived on the scene in 2010 with his debut music video of ‘Bachana’, it was hard not to notice him. He’s fairly tall and he’s cute in the traditional sense. And Bilal, it seems, likes to look good, which really isn’t a bad thing. He made the cut for Levi’s star-studded Now Is Our Time campaign with Usman Riaz, Adnan Malik, and Zoe Viccaji and looked cool and casual amidst everyone. He’s starred in Coke Studio twice and not only did he look good but he sounded even better. His sweet guitar-picking and those heartbreaking yet hopeful songs only add to his growing star persona. In the course of just a few years, Bilal has managed to perform not just across Pakistan but in places like the United States of America, United Kingdom, Malaysia, UAE and more recently, Harvard University. At the Lux Style Awards, Bilal opted for a tuxedo, which shows that he cares enough to try. And most of the times, Bilal gets it right.

Faizan Riedingercc
We first took notice of Faizan Riedinger when he started playing live shows with his eclectic indie band Mole. With his curly hair and clean cut perfection, Faizan is amongst the cutest musicians around. The fact that he plays with three eclectic musical outfits such as Mole, Sikandar Ka Mandar and //Orangenoise is testament to his sheer talent. Faizan’s been a part of the music scene for years but he really arrived on the scene in 2011 when his claim-to-fame indie outfit Mole made their national debut via Coke Studio. In 2012, Faizan made another national appearance, but this time the show was Uth Records and the band he was playing with was the shoegaze explosion unit, //Orangenoise