Fun apart, but somehow I happened to think a little more on this and I could observe an interesting fact about how different people interpret these questions and that in a way reflects in their response. Well, after some amount of analysis I realized, from the answers that I got, I could divide the people under interrogation in two broad categories. One may wonder, how did I land up in deciding these categories? Well I did so, just by asking them one more follow up question "Why"?. Normally, the conversation goes like this,
"Me: Who is your favorite hero?/actress?
Mr.X/Ms.X: Amir Khan/ Kajol
Me: Why?
Mr.X/Ms.X: They are great actors./ I like the way he/she acts."
However, there is an alternate set of conversations which often goes like
"Me: Who is your favorite hero?/actress?
Mr.X/Ms.X: Hritik, Akshay Kumar/ Aishwaria Rai, Sonali Bendre, Kareena
Me: Why?
Mr.X/Ms.X: Oh!! Because they are handsome/Man because she is beautiful."
These conversations are very common and one may think, 'Whats so special about these?'. Well, I found those little special when I looked at these in a special way. In a sense, the question 'Why?' serves as a key that lets you open the way to a person's rational thinking process. This may sound to philosophical, but yes I found it true. 'Why?' has the power to act as a stimulus to a thinking process in the mind of the person being questioned and makes him find every damn reason that makes him think in a particular way so as to justify his answer.
Coming back to the topic, so the first conversation says that Mr.X/Ms.X has interpreted the question in a way which considers 'Good acting' as an essential attribute of a bollywood hero/heroine. On the other hand the second conversation shows that a class of people may consider "good looks" or "attractiveness" as the prime attribute of a bollywood star.
Well, sometimes it may not be that rational too. We may just like some actor just like that, because of some unidentified reason and then we may just project any of his/her good point as an answer to the question 'Why?' just to sound more rational. However, these are the two different thinking patterns that I observed in various people while making a choice for their favorite bollywood star. Its quite common that people who evaluate more on the basis of acting skills, most of the times come up with 'Amir Khan', 'Ajay Devgan' and 'Kajol' as their answers. Also, the people who evaluate more on the basis of looks, beauty and attractiveness tend to have Hritik, Akshay Kumar, Milind Soman, Aishwarya, Kareena as their choices. I hardly found any girl who likes Amir Khan or Ajay Devgan for being attractive or handsome. (Perhaps Kajol is the only girl who found Ajay attractive. Hehe ... just kidding). There are tall, good looking and attractive hunks like Hritik, John, Akshay Kumar who often take the credit for their 'handsomeness' and 'attractiveness'. Similarly, I couldn't find anyone who likes Kareena for her acting :). But most of the boys and men admire her for several other reasons. Well, there are few stars like 'Madhuri Dixit' who possesses good acting skills along with beautiful face and features and often falls under both the categories. But then, this is just an effort for broad classification from my side. Just to let you know, I personally fall in the second category. I feel good looks and attractive personality are additional attributes that separate just an 'actor' from a 'hero'. No offense! Its just a personal belief.
Similar patterns I got to see when I observed the taste of music that different people have. Rather I would say, there is a peculiar distinction in how different people define what good music is. There is a class of people who love songs for the beautiful lyrics and can sacrifice a little about the actual correctness of scale, chords, notes and overall tune. While others including me like songs for their melodious tune, rhythm, general soothing sound and we can not sacrifice on "Suur" factor for sure. I don't bother to listen to a song even in Zulu language as long as its melodious and sounds with respect to the theory of music. A good tune even with crappy lyrics can make me feel good. Yes, I agree, there are many songs which posses both these qualities . But again, its just another effort of classification by me. I don't claim that it is 100% correct. But I am sure that the readers who can make sense out of what I am saying will enjoy it. For me, music is something that is soothing to ears, that can make you dance on the beats or that can make your eyes tear up. Many of my favorite songs are Turkish, Arabic, Tamil, Pashtun(Afghani) even though I can't even say 'Hello' in any of these languages. Forget about understanding the lyrics. In fact, sometimes, the words of an unknown mysterious language pronounced in a beautiful voice can be extremely soothing. Its a personal opinion though.
I agree on the fact that good lyrics is an asset for making a song better. But 'lyrics' can not be a mandatory attribute when it comes to music. Lyrics are more of a poetic sense than musical and are an optional attribute of good music. Otherwise, that would underestimate the power of pure instrumental music. Well, I just felt like justifying my taste of music.
Concluding, we can see, both the questions discussed above are highly subjective. They can easily serve as a topic for debate. However, I feel, rather than debating on the counter opinions and fighting against the opposite, sometimes its kind of fun to give a thought and try to understand other side of the coin. I understand, its difficult to try to digest an opposite point of view. But then, believe me, its fun, its a challenge. One can term it as an effort of experiencing the "Me versus Me". But yes, it may really help one broaden his view. And most importantly it may unknowingly teach us to respect other person's view and way of interpretation. Thats why recently I have been trying hard that I would like Amir Khan and Kajol as my favorites:). Just a try!!! I know its hard. I am not yet successful in doing that. Ultimately, likes and dislikes are often instinctive and seldom have any rational base.
Finally, we must say , 'the difference in thinking' makes each individual so different. Otherwise we all would have been same and would have worked like preprogrammed computers which react to a certain situation only in a specific way. Difference in interpretation and thinking makes the world so unpredictable and adds the essence of randomness, making our 'lives' something more than just a 'preprogrammed routine'.
