SRK pips Big B as India's favourite entertainer

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR Shah Rukh Khan 29%

The man of the millennium has finally finished second best in a poll, but only just. Shah Rukh Khan won the voting for entertainer of the year with 29%, just one percentage point ahead of the Big B's 28%. Akshay Kumar, who has had a string of hits in 2007, was a distant third with 14%.

Shah Rukh led in Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata and Amitabh in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune. Rajinikanth not surprisingly was the clear favourite in Chennai with 40% of the votes.

What clinched the race for the top slot in favour of Shah Rukh was the fact that he had impressive leads in big cities Delhi and Bangalore, while Amitabh led very narrowly in Mumbai and the other cities where he topped were relatively small.

Vidya Balan, who like Akshay has had more than one hit this year, was the top female entertainer and fifth in the overall list behind Rajinikanth. Her 6% was just a touch more than Katrina Kaif's 5%.

TNN