Munnabhai and his 'Gandhigiri' have helped the country rediscover the ideals of the Father of the Nation who has emerged as the most searched for on the internet.
NEW DELHI: Munnabhai and his 'Gandhigiri' seem to have helped the country rediscover the ideals of the Father of the Nation who has emerged as the most popular political leader searched for on the internet.
Among the most popular searches for the year 2007, Mahatma Gandhi has been ranked ahead of ex-President A P J Abdul Kalam, present incumbent Pratibha Patil, Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi, who figure on the list of top ten political leaders compiled by online search giant Google.
Kalam has been ranked at the second position, while Patil is at sixth position. Sonia and Rahul Gandhi have been named at 3rd and 8th positions respectively, while Indira Gandhi occupies the fourth position.
The list also features Rabindranath Tagore (5th), Subhash Chandra Bose (7th), Sarojini Naidu (9th) and Mayawati (10th).
In an accompanying list of top ten sportstars, tennis sensation Sania Mirza emerged as the most popular, followed by Russian Maria Sharapova, Sachin Tendulkar, WWF wrestler John Cena, British football star David Beckham, Brazil's Cristiano Ronaldo, Rahul Dravid, MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguli and Anna Kournikova.
Google said that tennis, cricket and football players were the most popular sports stars searched by Indians.
When it comes to the tinsel town, silver screen beauties have upstaged the male actors with Aishwarya Rai ruling the hearts and minds of the Indians.
The 'Om Shanti Om' girl Deepika Padukone has also earned a spot in the top 10. Rai was followed by Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Katrina Kaif and Shahrukh Khan in the top five.
While Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhisek did not feature on the list, Mallika Sherawat made it to the sixth position, followed by Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor and Rani Mukherjee in the top ten.
Among the movies, Hollywood flick Spiderman and South Indian superstar Rajnikanth's Sivaji beat out many Bollywood hits like Om Shanti Om, Chak De India and Dhoom 2, which figure in top five on the list.
Saawariya was ranked at 6th position, followed by Harry Potter, Ghost Rider, Bhool Bhulaiya and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom.
When it comes to top 10 portals, Google's social networking site Orkut emerged as the most popular, followed by YouTube and Gmail. "Social networking tops the list, followed closely by other platforms of online communications and interaction", the reports said.
Google itself was ranked at 5th position, followed by Indian Railways, Yahoo Mail and Zapak among others.
Among the top ten places of interest, Kerala came on top, followed by Singapore, Goa, Australia, London, Dubai, Rajasthan, Jaipur, Kashmir and Ooty.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}