The Covid-19 pandemic translated into a boom for OTT platforms in India. With people locked indoors, and nowhere to go, streaming TV became the only entertainment outlet for Indians – a fact corroborated by the list of titles most searched by Indians on Google.
Google released its annual ‘Year In Google’ this morning, and it is clear that web series were the most searched shows in India. In the field of movies too, those movies that premiered directly on OTT hogged the top ten list of most searched movies.
Interestingly, the most searched web show in India is not an Indian show, but the Spanish show, Money Heist, which streams on Netflix. Sushant Singh Rajput’s untimely death meant that his film Dil Bechara became the most searched film in India on Google. Netflix’s Chris Hemsworth starrer Extraction is the only foreign film to make it to the list.
Globally, Contagion was the only old movie to make it to the most searched films list. Interest in the film spiked due to its uncanny resemblance to the current Covid-19 pandemic.
Raunchy film 365 DNI or 365 Days was the only lesser known films to make it to the top ten most searched films on Google globally, mainly due to its copious and explicit sex scenes.
Surprisingly, the most searched show on Google globally turned out to be the true crime documentary series, Tiger King!
No Indian film or show made it to the global list of top ten most searched films or shows on Google.
Check out the Top Ten most searched films on Google India:
Most searched movies –
1. Dil Bechara
2. Soorarai Pottru
3. Tanhaji
4. Shakuntala Devi
5. Gunjan Saxena
6. Laxmii
7. Sadak 2
8. Baaghi 3
9. Extraction
10. Gulabo Sitabo
And here are the Top Ten most searched web shows on Google India:
1. Money Heist
2. Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story
3. Bigg Boss 14
4. Mirzapur 2
5. Paatal Lok
6. Sex Education
7. Breathe: Into the Shadows
8. Dark
9. Bandish Bandits
10. Special ops
Top Ten most searched movies on Google, globally:
1. Parasite
2. 1917
3. Black Panther
4. 365 Dni
5. Contagion
6. Tenet
7. Enola Holmes
8. Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey
9. Mulan
10. Jojo Rabbit
Top Ten most searched shows on Google globally:
1. Tiger King
2. Big Brother Brasil
3. Money Heist
4. Cobra Kai
5. The Umbrella Academy
6. Emily in Paris
7. Ozark
8. The Queen’s Gambit
9. Outer Banks
10. Locke & Key
Other interesting things that Google’s Year In Search threw up are the following:
The only entertainment related topic in the list of overall searches on Google India –
Dil Bechara
The only Indian actor in the list of most searched actors globally –
Amitabh Bachchan, at number 3
The only Indian celebrity in the list of celebrities who passed away in 2020 –
Sushant Singh Rajput, at number 4