The hot and the happening in year 2010

As the year 2010 draws to an end, through this photo feature, we take a look at all the hot and happening personalities of the year.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rides Harley Davidson motorcycles and can fly fighter planes. Already established as the alpha-male, Putin in November tested his mettle again, this time by driving a Formula 1 racing car at the speed of 240 kmph near his hometown St Petersburg.

A dancing Michelle Obama became the defining image of the Obamas' maiden visit to India. The US First Lady hit the dance floor not just once, but twice.

The whole country watched Michelle Obama shaking a leg to hit Bollywood number Rang De Basanti during her interaction with school kids in Mumbai.

The world famous president is hard to ignore. When he is not touring the world and addressing or tackling job cuts in US he still manages to stay in news. The affable president took to the basketball court and during the course of the game was elbowed out by a fellow player. The president received twelve stitches on the lip. Thereafter at one of the White House briefings the world renowned orator had trouble pronouncing 'superfluous' and he jokingly attributed it to the basketball incident.

Carla Bruni is an Italian-born French songwriter and a former model, married to French President Nicolas Sarkozy. She accompanied Sarkozy on his visit to India this year; she met HIV positive children in the capital. The couple also visited the Fatehpur Sikri dargah where they prayed for a son. Bruni has three albums to her name and is currently working on her fourth album slated to be released in 2011.

When Priyanka Gandhi appeared at the prayer service on her father's 66th birth anniversary, sporting a hair-style that bore an uncanny similarity to that of her late grandmother Indira Gandhi, people couldn't help but marvel at how strikingly similar the two are.

Not just her hairdo, but even her features and her gait reminded many of the elegant and poised former Indian Premier.

The three time Delhi Chief Minister in no old politician. During the Commonwealth Games she urged Delhi to run to the venues, and while watching one of the performances she also whistled.

After much criticism of the Commonwealth Games it was she who finally got the ball rolling and pulled up the right strings to clear up the entire mess after the dirty pictures of the Games' venue were splashed all over.

The chief minister was seen clapping and cheering enthusiastically during the games.

D Udaya Kumar, an assistant professor at IIT Guwahati, hit headlines in 2010 for designing the Rupee symbol.

His design, based on the Indian tricolor, was selected from among five short listed symbols.

The badminton babes Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa not only gave the country joy by winning a gold medal in the women's doubles event during the Commonwealth Games, but also decided to leave their mark on the dance floor.

Performing during a sports awards ceremony, the two rather shy damsels shook a leg with Indian cricketer S Sreesanth and left their imprints on the night.

Jwala also featured in the highly popular game show Kaun Banega Crorepati, hosted by Bollywood great Amitabh Bachchan and Ashwini was there to cheer her colleague along.

This was the year when one of India's most sought after bachelors got hitched. Mahendra Singh Dhoni apart from leading India to a slew of victories was finally bowled over by a maiden (Sakshi Rawat).

After their wedding, which was a rather private and quiet affair, the newly married couple started making public appearances and the two were no doubt one of the biggest crowd pullers.

MS's new hair-style to their first public appearance at their Ranchi home to a fun outing on the beaches of Goa, Mr and Mrs Dhoni oozed style in whatever they did.

Saina Nehwal's has been a fairytale story this year (2010) with the ace shuttler reaching new heights both professionally and personally.

Not only did she shine on the court, Saina also made a style statement by walking the ramp in bridal wear. She signed new endorsement deals, appeared on the cover page of magazines and all this while continuing to perform at the top level.

According to industry analysts, Saina, who was charging around Rs. 50 lakh per endorsement, is now able to command Rs. 1 crore per deal after her CWG win.

This year belonged to Rafael Nadal. When he was not winning matches on the tennis court, he was serenading one of the most sought after pop divas of the world.

When the video of Shakira's new song gypsy was first aired in early 2010, fans of both Nadal and Shakira were astonished to see the great chemistry shared by the duo in the song.

The intensity shared by the two and later Shakira's visits to watch Rafa play led to rumours about both of them being an item. But both of them have denied being anything more than 'just friends'.

So Rafa was back on court and after regaining his French Open and Wimbledon crowns, the Spaniard went on to win his first US Open title and completed a Career Slam and ended the year as the world's No. 1 male tennis player.

Whether on court or off it, Rafa's style was unmatched.

Sonakshi Sinha: Bollywood's newest darling made a splash with her debut as a demure village belle opposite a Khan in runaway hit Dabangg. There's no looking back now for Shatrughan Sinha's daughter. Next up, she'll be the object of Akshay Kumar's affections in Joker, Saif's in Race 2 and Salman's, again, in Kick.

Katrina Kaif: Nation's sweetheart Kat has been named London daily Eastern Eye's Sexiest Woman in the World third year in a row, pipping contemporaries Freida Pinto and Priyanka Chopra to the post. 2010 belonged to the Sheila Ki Jawani stunner who is currently as high in the filmi food chain as she's ever been

Malaika Arora Khan: As Munni Badnaam, sexpot Malaika gave the Indian male population more than it's fair share of cheap thrills for 2010 and raised the bar for item numbers across Bollywood. She's going to have to work hard next time round to match the year of Munni.

Rajinikanth: The Southern force of nature showed Bollywood his Midas touch with Robot, the Hindi-dubbed version of super duper blockbuster Endhiran. Helped along by plentiful Rajni-style action and Aishwarya's ethereal charms, Robot/Endiran broke box office records in India and abroad.

Lady Gaga: Just in case you've been living on another planet these last 2 years and have no idea just how Gaga-crazed the world is, get this – there are 8, yes 8!, wax models of her in Madame Tussaud's museums around the world. Gaga's outrageous outfits are now immortalized in wax in London, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Berlin, Amsterdam, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Salman Khan: Chulbul Pandey's maverick style from Dabangg turned Salman into box office gold. People magazine voted him Sexiest Man Alive depite the fact that he kept his shirt on for most of the movie, and for his appearance on the magazine's cover

Shah Rukh Khan: The Badshaah of Bollywood got the Shiv Sena's goat with his criticism of the fact that IPL had not picked up any Pakistani cricketers. The resulting mayhem nearly derailed his new film, My Name Is Khan, but SRK's sensitive portrayal of Rizwan Khan, dealing with Asperger's Syndrome in a world gone mad, made up for the chaos that led up to the film's release.

Yana Gupta: A wardrobe malfunction rescued Yana Gupta from near oblivion. We don't know if her flasher act was intentional but if attention is what she wanted, attention is what she got.

Lakshmi Menon: After taking Paris and Milan, Indian model Lakshmi got naked for the 2011 edition of the very, very exclusive Pirelli calendar. She's going to be seen in the altogether by the rich, famous and powerful across the world, including Prince Andrew.

Angelina Jolie: Brad's significant other took a Salt sized bite out of the Hollywood box office this year. She also figured on New Statesman magazine's list of 50 People Who Matter. Angie continued her humanitarian work, visiting earthquake-hit Haiti and donating $100,000 for flood relief in Pakistan

With her inspiring appreciation of the good, little things in life, Sandra Bullock definitely deserves the People's Woman Of The Year title. Only in her life, the things are not so little. The stunning 46 year old became mother to a son, Louis and won an Oscar for her tear-jerking performance in The Blind Side. And moving on from husband of five years Jesse James, with a brave heart wasn't easy. 2010 was definitely her year. Way to go!

Soccer sensation David Beckham, known for his flamboyance both on and off the field, hogged the limelight in October when he stripped down to his skivvies during a game in Los Angeles. And though it was not the first time for the LA Galaxy star, his fans were definitely not complaining.

During his match against FC Dallas, Beckham was made to change his kit for having blood on it.

Earlier in 2010, Beckham, known for his fetish for body art, got another one inked on his body. His latest tattoo had Jesus sitting on the cross on the right side of his torso.