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Bollywood fans prefer subtle sex: The Times of India
Mumbai, Oct 03: Shah Rukh Khan continues to be the No. 1 heart-throb among all movie goers followed by Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan. Hrithik Roshan is a poor fourth, followed by Vivek Oberoi and Salman Khan in the list of actors a moviegoer `would like to invite to his house`.
Mumbai, Oct 03: Shah Rukh Khan continues to be the No. 1 heart-throb among all movie goers followed by Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan. Hrithik Roshan is a poor fourth, followed by Vivek Oberoi and Salman Khan in the list of actors a moviegoer "would like to invite to his house".
Among female teeny boppers in the 11-20 age group, it is the two ends of the age spectrum — Hrithik Roshan and Amitabh Bachchan — who are the heart stealers. (Does beauty sell better than sex in Bollywood?)
It is the subtle and pretty Aishwarya Rai, among the actresses, who tops the list across all film audiences followed by Kajol and Preity Zinta. The next in line are — Amisha Patel, Rani Mukherjee, Karisma Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit — in that order, have 60-65 per cent first preference votes. On the other hand, Kareena Kapoor and to some extent Bipasha Basu scored low with respondents as they were seen as 'overtly sexual' icons.
"Subtle sexuality seems to be preferred by movie audiences rather than the more arrogant and flamboyant image that Kareena Kapoor represents," says Lintas researcher Gitanjali Kirloskar.
Based purely on popularity ratings, film producers and directors casting their leading ladies could pick any of these four actresses, subject to the script-type, acting fees and shooting schedules. These are some of the conclusions that emerge from a Mumbai-based market survey on film habits and preferences conducted by Lintas market research arm Pathfinders and Lintertainment.
The pilot study on understanding the movie consumer also found that among actors as brands, Aishwarya Rai lent herself successfully to endorsing infotech products. She, thus, emerged among consumers as an 'intelligent' actress.
On the other hand, Bipasha Basu was preferred for alcoholic beverages in keeping with her 'hot' image, while Amitabh Bachchan was seen as a financial products endorser carrying a universal appeal.
The Lintas study is aimed at developing analytical tools for understanding the tastes and preferences for movie audiences so that producers have a more scientific understanding of prospective budgets, the ratings of stars, and popularity of specific movie genres.
Beyond Mumbai, the Pathfinder-Lintertainment research project, branded as 'Film Snaps' hopes to have all-India projections at the end of six weeks.
"Contrary to public perception, 80 per cent of the respondents said movie-going was not a family experience. Heavy viewers tend to be loners who are driven by their strong personal preferences, making film-going an individual experimental outing," Pathfinders' Sankara Pillai told The Economic Times.
Again, multiplex culture does not yet include high budgets for shopping and food-spending for the average Mumbai cinegoer.
For instance, the amount spend for a cinema outing was mainly on tickets (75 per cent), while snacking inside the auditorium area accounted for 18 per cent, and 4 per cent outside the auditorium. Shopping on a cinema outing came at the bottom accounting for only 3 per cent of the spend; but those who did shop spent Rs 200 or more on each outing.
The study also goes to prove that different age types and income groups may have different preferences. That there are strong preference segments among movie-goers, and that it is not an indistinguishable mass as thought of earlier, is just beginning to dawn on the film industry, Pillai adds.
For instance, the 16-20 female teenybopper age group cast their first-preference votes for the 'starkly realistic' genre of movies but said 'no' to educational films. The 30-35 male audiences on the other hand preferred war, action and the sensual story instead.
Purchases of tickets on the black market was influenced by the star cast, storyline and the word-of-mouth publicity for the movie in question; but newspaper reviews and locales of grandeur and expensive sets seemed to have a very marginal impact on those wanting to get in to see a movie at any cost.
Among female teeny boppers in the 11-20 age group, it is the two ends of the age spectrum — Hrithik Roshan and Amitabh Bachchan — who are the heart stealers. (Does beauty sell better than sex in Bollywood?)
It is the subtle and pretty Aishwarya Rai, among the actresses, who tops the list across all film audiences followed by Kajol and Preity Zinta. The next in line are — Amisha Patel, Rani Mukherjee, Karisma Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit — in that order, have 60-65 per cent first preference votes. On the other hand, Kareena Kapoor and to some extent Bipasha Basu scored low with respondents as they were seen as 'overtly sexual' icons.
"Subtle sexuality seems to be preferred by movie audiences rather than the more arrogant and flamboyant image that Kareena Kapoor represents," says Lintas researcher Gitanjali Kirloskar.
Based purely on popularity ratings, film producers and directors casting their leading ladies could pick any of these four actresses, subject to the script-type, acting fees and shooting schedules. These are some of the conclusions that emerge from a Mumbai-based market survey on film habits and preferences conducted by Lintas market research arm Pathfinders and Lintertainment.
The pilot study on understanding the movie consumer also found that among actors as brands, Aishwarya Rai lent herself successfully to endorsing infotech products. She, thus, emerged among consumers as an 'intelligent' actress.
On the other hand, Bipasha Basu was preferred for alcoholic beverages in keeping with her 'hot' image, while Amitabh Bachchan was seen as a financial products endorser carrying a universal appeal.
The Lintas study is aimed at developing analytical tools for understanding the tastes and preferences for movie audiences so that producers have a more scientific understanding of prospective budgets, the ratings of stars, and popularity of specific movie genres.
Beyond Mumbai, the Pathfinder-Lintertainment research project, branded as 'Film Snaps' hopes to have all-India projections at the end of six weeks.
"Contrary to public perception, 80 per cent of the respondents said movie-going was not a family experience. Heavy viewers tend to be loners who are driven by their strong personal preferences, making film-going an individual experimental outing," Pathfinders' Sankara Pillai told The Economic Times.
Again, multiplex culture does not yet include high budgets for shopping and food-spending for the average Mumbai cinegoer.
For instance, the amount spend for a cinema outing was mainly on tickets (75 per cent), while snacking inside the auditorium area accounted for 18 per cent, and 4 per cent outside the auditorium. Shopping on a cinema outing came at the bottom accounting for only 3 per cent of the spend; but those who did shop spent Rs 200 or more on each outing.
The study also goes to prove that different age types and income groups may have different preferences. That there are strong preference segments among movie-goers, and that it is not an indistinguishable mass as thought of earlier, is just beginning to dawn on the film industry, Pillai adds.
For instance, the 16-20 female teenybopper age group cast their first-preference votes for the 'starkly realistic' genre of movies but said 'no' to educational films. The 30-35 male audiences on the other hand preferred war, action and the sensual story instead.
Purchases of tickets on the black market was influenced by the star cast, storyline and the word-of-mouth publicity for the movie in question; but newspaper reviews and locales of grandeur and expensive sets seemed to have a very marginal impact on those wanting to get in to see a movie at any cost.