Jism 2 star Sunny Leone tops Google 2012 celeb search list in India

31-year-old Leone first became popular in India when she entered the reality television show Bigg Boss (based on UK’s Big Brother series) in 2011. During her stay in the Bigg Boss house, Leone gained nearly 10,000 Twitter followers within first two days.

Her film Jism 2, the sequel to Bipasha Basu-starrer Jism film, went on to collect approximately 35-crore rupees in three weeks despite receiving mixed reviews from critics.

Other personalities that made it to Google India’s top searches for 2012 was dominated by Bollywood personalities. It included veteran actor Rajesh Khanna who passed away in July 2012, model Poonam Pandey, Late director Yash Chopra who died ahead of the release of his last film Jab Tak Hai Jaan, actor Saif Ali Khan who married Kareena Kapoor and Cocktail actress Diana Penty among others.

Among politicians, former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who died of multiple organ failure also made it to the top of the list.

Google top ten searches of India in 2012

Ranking first in India’s top ten Google searches for this year was the first ever banking common written exam from IBPS – the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection. IIT’s GATE exam ranked second and Leone made it third in the top ten Google 2012 general search list.

Bollywood’s 100-crore club films including Ek Tha Tiger and Rowdy Rathore completed the top five searches. HDFC bank and Aakash tablet also made it to the Google India Zeitgeist for 2012. Among the top film searches in India, Ek Tha Tiger ranked first followed by Rowdy Rathore, Jannat, Housefull 2 and Raaz 3. The list also included Barfi and Vicky Donor.

One surprise entry was the online clothing retailer Jabong which ranked tenth in the top Google search for this year revealing Indians’ uptake of online shopping.

Meanwhile Delhi overtook Bangalore (second place) and Mumbai (third place) to become the most searched city in the Google city search list for 2012.

Top 10 list:

IBPS (1)
GATE exam (2)
Sunny Leone (3)
Ek Tha Tiger (4)
Rowdy Rathore (5)
CBSE (6)
Rajesh Khanna (7)
Aakash Tablet (8)
HDFC (9)
Jabong (10)

UK’s most Googled list for 2012

In the UK, Euro 2012 (1), Olympic tickets (2), late singer Whitney Houston (3), Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton (4), 5-year-old Welsh girl April Jones (5) who went missing in October,  Netflix (6), Natwest (7), iPad 3 (8), Gary Barlow (9), and Gangnam style (10) made the top ten most Googled terms for 2012.