Brahmastra beats KGF Chapter 2, The Kashmir Files and Kantara, is most Googled Indian film of 2022

Search engine Google has unveiled its ‘Year in Search 2022’, a rundown of the biggest trends in search it saw over the past 11+ months of the year 2022. And as per the list, even though it wasn’t the most commercially successful Indian film of the year, Ayan Mukerji’s Brahmastra Part One- Shiva generated more buzz than any other film. The film topped the movies search list for the year, beating several other popular blockbusters like KGF: Chapter 2, RRR, Kantara, and The Kashmir Files. Also read: Ranbir Kapoor wants break to eat amid never-ending Brahmastra promotions. Watch

Brahmastra, which starred Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Mouni Roy, along with extended cameos from Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, and Nagarjuna. The high-budget fantasy adventure earned over ₹400 crore. Given its scale, it was a hugely anticipated film and hence, led the search charts for all Indian movies this year. It was followed by Yash-starrer Kannada blockbuster KGF 2, which is the highest-grossing Indian film of the year. Vivek Agnihotri’s sleeper hit The Kashmir Files rounded up the top three in the list.

Four films from the three south industries follow, including Telugu sensation RRR at 4, Kannada hit Kantara at 5, and Kamal Haasan’s comeback Tamil venture Vikram at 7. The most striking entry is at number 6–the Telugu hit Pushpa: The Rise, which released last year but still managed to dominate the search trends in 2022 long enough to beat many of this year’s hits. As with the box office, films from the south edged Bollywood in the list. Only four Hindi films found a place in the top ten as opposed to five from the south. Apart from Brahmastra and The Kashmir Files, Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha and Ajay Devgn’s Drishyam 2 also found place in the top 10.

Rounding off the list is the only Hollywood entry–Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder. Though both Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness did more business than Thor 4, the latter polarised more people, perhaps contributing to its high search trend.

Unlike last year when Suriya’s Jai Bhim had topped the list, this year was all about commercially successful or big-budget films. Barring Laal Singh Chaddha, all the films in the top 10 were commercial successes (though the case with Brahmastra is ambiguous given its high budget).

See full list:

1) Brahmastra: Part One – Shiva
2) K.G.F: Chapter 2
3) The Kashmir Files
4) RRR
5) Kantara
6) Pushpa: The Rise
7) Vikram
8) Laal Singh Chaddha
9) Drishyam 2
10) Thor: Love and Thunder