There are a lot of reasons why Bipasha Basu deserves to be at numero unto spot on Maxim's annual Hot 100 list. She's bloody good at what she does, has the kind of sex appeal most Bollywood divas can only dream about, and after close to a decade in the industry, is still hotter than a room full of her contemporaries standing around in bikinis.

It was this Bong beauty that almost single-handedly revamped the Bollywood heroine with her oh-so-sexy performances in movies like Jism and Raaz. Suddenly, words like sexy and dusky were no longer bandied about as derogatory or insulting, rather it was this new-age Bollywood heroine who was comfortable with her sexuality, that people wanted to see, and Bipasha was that woman. Detractors could say whatever they wanted to say, Bipasha had come out on top. And personally, we love the woman on top!