For a third year, Sunny Leone, Hindi film actor of Indo-Canadian and American origin, remained the most searched personality in India during 2014. Leone pipped Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was the second on the list amid the aggressive digital campaigns during the Lok Sabha elections. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of the top most searched personalities this year, coming ahead of Bollywood biggies — the first time a politician has gained more search popularity than entertainment celebrities,” internet major Google said. “The historic 2014 Lok Sabha elections emerged as India’s first digital election and revealed that an online presence mattered considerably for all political parties.” The term ‘Elections 2014’ topped Google India’s trending lists in 2014, followed by FIFA 2014, iPhone 6, GATE 2015 and IPL 2014. (2014: YEAR IN SEARCH - WHO GOOGLED WHAT) ‘YIS’ offers a perspective on the year’s biggest interests, major events and searches that ruled the web in India. Sunny Leone continued to be the most searched personality, just ahead of perennial favourites Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif and Deepika Padukone.

Cricket came second only to Bollywood in trending searches, with Virat Kohli emerging at the top of the charts, just ahead of Sachin Tendulkar, whose popularity endures even after his retirement, it said. “The finding is a clear testimony of India’s growing interest in issues of importance. The 2014 Lok Sabha elections pointed to the power of digital media and also to the unprecedented demand for information,” Google India Managing Director Rajan Anandan said. Also, there has been an exponential increase in the number of Internet searches this year, not only on desktops but also smartphones, a trend reflective of India’s growing digital emergence as the next billion Indians begin to embrace the power of the Internet, Anandan said. Bollywood thriller, Ragini MMS 2 topped the chart this year as the most searched movie, while popular tracks included Bang Bang’s title track and Honey Singh’s ‘Blue eyes’. Increasing smartphone sales in India and a growing demand for internet access on handheld devices has seen a huge spike in internet search on mobile devices in 2014. Railway enquiries, cricket news and online shopping, followed by songs and film clips, were among the top searches on handheld devices. Weather information, games and wallpaper downloads also formed a large section of these searches.

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