Indian Icon of the Year 2012

INDIANS VOTE FOR THEIR FAVORITE VUCLIP ICONS OF THE YEAR 2012

As the year comes to a close, Vuclip, the world’s largest independent mobile video and media company, has unveiled the findings of its “Vuclip Icons of the Year 2012” mobile survey. The survey, which was served in three parts and delivered through Vuclip’s mobile site, m.vuclip.com, for a duration of up to a week each, covered leading personalities from across Bollywood, Hollywood, business, sports, women and politics. More than 100,000 responses were received for these surveys. Almost 65% of all respondents were in the age group of 18-35 years, representing the youth population.

Sridevi doing the ‘V’ for Vuclip

Despite big ticket super-hits from the Khans this year and the Khiladi doing the rounds currently, Amitabh Bachchan took away the maximum votes with a 43% share when it came to the year’s most admired Bollywood actor. India’s first female superstar, and the yesteryear’s Hawa Hawai girl, Sridevi, who made her Bollywood comeback after 15 years with English Vinglish, left behind the present day hotties Kareena Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha and Vidya Balan, but won with a narrow margin of votes against Katrina Kaif.

Acknowledging the people’s choice, actress Sridevi said, "I am humbled to see the overwhelming response from my fans. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them once again for their love, blessings and unstinted support towards me and my movies. Whatever I have achieved in life is because of the love and support of my fans."

When it comes to music, no one can beat the music maestro AR Rahman! With 70% votes, he is undoubtedly the most admired Bollywood music composer.  While Sonu Niigaam bagged the title of the most admired male playback singer by winning with a high margin of votes against KK, Mohit Chauhan, Shaan and Sukhwinder Singh; female playback singer Sunidhi Chauhan emerged as India’s heartthrob in a tight finish with Shreya Ghoshal.

With two of the biggest blockbusters of 2012 to his credit, ace filmmaker Aditya Chopra was chosen as the most admired Bollywood filmmaker ahead of Anurag Basu, Anurag Kashyap, Karan Johar and Mahesh Bhatt.

Indians chose Angelia Jolie as the most admired Hollywood actress while Johhny Depp was voted the hottest Hollywood actor of 2012. The most admired International female singer recognition went to Lady Gaga. American singer-songwriter Bruno Mars, who recently performed at the annual Victoria Secret Fashion Show, emerged as the most admired international male singer for 2012, though it was amusing to note that he was more popular among male respondents than females!

Septuagenarian Ratan Tata emerged as India’s Most Admired Business Icon with 53% ayes, followed by Mukesh Ambani at 29%. Sunil Bharti Mittal, Azim Premji and Chanda Kochchar amassed 8%, 6% and 4% votes respectively.

With a 42% share of votes, the 22-year-old badminton ace Saina Nehwal continued her winning streak among mobile fans too, and in a surprise knockout, outclassed cricket’s master blaster Sachin Tendulkar (38%) to become the 2012 Leadership Icon in sports category, albeit not with a big margin. Tennis ace Leander Paes and wrestler weightlifter Sushil Kumar were ahead of India’s first Formula One racer Narain Karthikeyan and Olympics boxer Vijender Singh.

The queen of healthcare, and Apollo Hospitals’ managing director Dr. Preetha Reddy was voted as the most admired woman leader, ahead of Nita Ambani, Ekta Kapoor and Ritu Kumar. Preetha has earlier been listed among the International list of "50 Most Powerful Women in Business" by Fortune last year.

In politics, raking in a 70% share, Rahul Gandhi ranked way ahead of Akhilesh Yadav, Jaganmohan Reddy, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sachin Pilot.

Commenting on the survey findings, Nikhil Naik, Director, India Business, Vuclip, said “With more than 14 million mobile users in India alone, Vuclip has a finger on the pulse of mobile video consumers of all age groups and from all walks of life accessing mobile videos. These findings reflect the opinions and expectations of a hundred thousand Indians on whom they view as an ideal leader. Being the most admired icon means more than just being successful – as J. Gopalakrishnan points out in his book, affability and authenticity are as important as accomplishment and advocacy. A classic example is Sridevi who left an indelible mark on minds of Indian audiences this year with just one appearance.”

Each month, Vuclip delivers more than 1.2 billion minutes of video content on as many as 5500 different mobile handsets globally. In India, Vuclip has over 14 million monthly active users out of the total 45 million users globally.

About Vuclip
For millions of people around the world, Vuclip is an essential part of their daily lives. Vuclip serves video on-the-fly, on any device, and in any country, providing unparalleled reach for its partners. Every day Vuclip delivers more than 25 million videos to consumers in over 200 countries. Vuclip is headquartered in Milpitas, California with offices in Los Angeles, New Delhi, Mumbai, Singapore, Shenzhen and Beijing. Check out Vuclip on your phone: m.vuclip.com