Year of the underdog: Disha Patani, Pooja Hegde, Urvashi Rautela most searched on Google in 2016 

It seems India has moved on from its obsession for Sunny Leone to newer and, by the looks of it, more sedate people trends. The recently released top Google trends for the year 2016 had the names of Disha Patani, Pooja Hegde and Urvashi Rautela heading the list of Top Trending People, while Anushka Sharma, Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone and even Priyanka Chopra were missing. 

The only probable reason for the popularity of Disha Patani and Pooja Hegde on the trend list would be their debuts in 2016. While Patani made her appearance in the big blockbuster biopic, MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, Hegde was faced with the ignominous task of playing the lead in Ashutosh Gowariker's period epic, Mohenjo Daro. Though neither performance earned much praise from critics, it is obvious that the two petite lasses have made an impact online. Urvashi Rautela, on the other hand, has had worse performances in Mastizaade and Sanam Re this year. Yet, it has not prevented her fans from putting her on the top trends. 

The trend for male actors follows a predictable route with Sushant Singh Rajput, Harshvardhan Kapoor, Salman Khan, Sooraj Pancholi, Ranveer Singh and Anupam Kher making the list. Salman Khan took the lead in the most trending movies as well with Sultan edging out Rajinikanth's Kabali with Udta Punjab, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Airlift, Mohenjo Daro following suit. 

With 2017 around the corner, it might be a signal that the internet search is favaouring the underdogs this year.