Politicians may not be perceived to be popular personalities, but when it comes to 'recall value', they can match even film stars.

A new survey conducted by a media organisation across the country showed that citizens remembered names of film stars and political leaders the most. 

Interestingly, sports stars could not compete with them in 'recall value', while television personalities were least likely to be recalled.

Over 40 per cent of the 22,458 people questioned by Indian Infotainment Media Corporation could recall the names of film stars. The most recalled - in alphabetical order - were Aamir Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Ajay Devgan, Amitabh Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, Kareena Kapoor, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukherjee, Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan.

They were followed by politicians who enjoyed over 30 per cent 'recall value' with Amar Singh, Arun Jaitley, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Manmohan Singh, Mayawati, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Rahul Gandhi, Sitaram Yechuri, Sushma Swaraj and Sonia Gandhi occupying the top 10 spots.

"What was really surprising was that 76 per cent of the respondents could not recall even three names of TV stars. They were mostly known by the names they had in serials," said IIMC official Khandelwal.

Among sports personalities, cricketers, as expected, had the most recall value, with Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Virendra Sehwag and Mohammed Kaif emerging on top.