20 December 29, 2017
INDIA
Bahubali, Bollywood, and Bitcoin: What Indians Googled in 2017 Bigg Boss 11?
What is GST
Bahubali 2 Sunny Leone
How to remove holi color from face? Indians continued to dis-
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play their love for cinema and cricket on Google Search in 2017, but with a twist. In the Bollywood-crazy country, the south Indian fantasy-action blockbuster, Bahubali 2, was the most searched item all year, according to Google data on the top-trending search terms in 2017. The Telugu and Tamil movie, later dubbed into Hindi and Malayalam, was one of India’s highest-grossing films, with earnings of over Rs1,500 crore. It is also among the country’s most expensive film franchises. Searches for the Indian Premier League and cricket scores came in the second and third spots, followed by Bollywood blockbuster Dangal, Half Girlfriend, and others. Hindi film songs dominated the most searched music list as well, along with Despacito, the most popular YouTube video and most streamed song of all time globally. Bollywood actress Sunny Leone, the most-searched in 2015, lost her spot on the overall most-searched list this year. However, the former adult movie star still led the most-searched entertainers list on Google. Trailing her were reality show contestants Arshi Khan and Sapna Choudhary from Bigg Boss. The top entertainers that Indians googled for were: 1) Sunny Leone 2) Arshi Khan 3) Sapna Choudhary 4) Vidya Vox 5) Disha Patani 6) Sunil Grover 7) Shilpa Shinde 8) Bandagi Kalra 9) Sagarika Ghatge 10) Rana Daggubati India’s unique identity number Aadhaar, the “free” mobile phone of Jio, and bitcoin dominated the “How to…” searches this year. Searches
for the cryptocurrency grew sharply in November just as its value peaked, drawing interest from Indian investors. Here are the toppers of the “How to…” list: 1) How to link Aadhaar with PAN card 2) How to book Jio phone 3) How to buy bitcoin in India 4) How to take a screenshot 5) How to remove holi color from face 6) How to file GST returns 7) How to invest in mutual funds 8) How to mine bitcoin 9) How to vote for Bigg Boss 11 10) How to buy ethereum in India Indians were also keen on learning more about the goods and services tax (GST), the biggest policy reform of the year; it was the most searched “What is” term in 2017. Here are the top terms from the “What is…” list: 1) What is GST 2) What is bitcoin 3) What is Jallikattu 4) What is a BS3 vehicle 5) What is PETA 6) What is Jio Prime 7) What is Cassini 8) What is a fidget spinner 9) What is a lunar eclipse 10) What is ransomware
INDO-AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2017 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
-qz.com