Singham voted the Best Film of 2011

Ormax Media study ranks Singham top favourite in 2011

MUMBAI: The Rohit Shetty directed Singham is the top favourite film of Bollywood audiences in 2011 while the Zoya Akhtar film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and the Imtiaz Ali directed Rockstar take the next two positions respectively, according to a recent study.

The next three positions are occupied by Salman Khan's Ready and Bodyguard just a notch ahead of Shah Rukh Khan's Don 2, according to Ormax Media's consumer-based yearend report titled 'Front Page 2011'.

The latter half of the chart consists of more experimental films that lacked a big star. In particular, No One Killed Jessica performs creditably at No. 7. It is the only film in this list that had an opening weekend of less than Rs 150 million and yet found appreciation on the strength of its content.

Commenting on the results, Ormax Media CEO Shailesh Kapoor said, "There are various award shows that give away Best Film awards. However, this ranking is based on structured consumer data from more than 32,000 cinegoers across India. There can't be a bigger award than this!"

The ranking of the top ten favourite Bollywood films of 2011 was derived on the basis the 'Word of Mouth' (WOM) score of the film, using data collected through consumer research throughout the year. The WOM score represents the percentage of audiences who liked the film enough to recommend it strongly to their friends.

While box office business is heavily influenced by the opening weekend of a film, the WOM score reflects the audience feedback on the content alone, irrespective of the marketing or the distribution of the film.