New Delhi: Think of James Bond in Casino Royale, Ranbir Kapoor in Saawariya or Shah Rukh Khan in OSO. There is a stark similarity in all these films. It's the man, not the woman, who is the sex symbol here. The year 2007 saw the male nude as the big draw, perhaps for increasingly gay audiences.

Forty-two-year-old actor finely sculpted like Adonis, Bollywood's very own Marilyn Monroe. And with him, this fresh-faced towel clad Kapoor boy, who decided to bare it all stopping just short of a full monty.

These pretty boys form the epicenter of the many sexualized images that beam at us from the TV and billboards in an industry once dominated by women. Six packs are now giving bursting cleavages and gyrating hips a run for their money.

“I think women are beginning to show what they like. So if boys are becoming the new item numbers, good for them,” says actor, Vidya Balan.

Overt sexuality is something they all seem comfortable with. Suddenly the women in the movies have been relegated to saccharine arm candy as they are allowed to join the dancing, however, the arc lights stay firmly on the man shedding his layers as he performs an item number.

With inspiration coming straight from Hollywood, Bollywood will definitely not trail far behind?

Dr Radhika Chopra says that 2008 will be the year of the new chikna, good looking, fair and most importantly hairless guys.

These boys aren't just adding some spice to female fantasies, even the gay community is happily embracing these new icons of erotica. Recently Abhishek Bachchan was voted as Mumbai's gay icon, a title the actor was a trifle embarrassed about, however didn't complain much about, either.

Male Sexuality is no longer a hush-hush word. It's now flaunt and flash and so far not a word of criticism from anywhere. The year 2008 seems to be the year of the man as hot babe.