- Amitabh Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan (Hindi: IPA: [/mitab btn/], born Amitabh Harivansh Bachchan on October 11, 1942), is an Indian film actor. He first gained popularity in the early 1970s and has since become one of the most prominent figures in the history of Indian cinema.
- Arun Netravali
Arun N. Netravali (b. May 26, 1946 in Bombay) is an Indian-American engineer and businessman who is a pioneer of digital technology including HDTV. He conducted seminal research in digital compression, signal processing and other fields, including important collaborative work with Thomas S. Huang. Netravali has been President of Bell Laboratories and Chief Scientist for Lucent Technologies. He received his undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, …
- Nandan Nilekani
Nandan Nilekani is an Indian software entrepreneur. He is currently the Co-Chairman of Infosys Technologies Ltd, of which he is also a co-founder, along with N. R. Narayana Murthy and others.
- Abdul Kalam
Abul Pakir Jainulbadeen Abdul Kalam born October 15, 1931, Tamil Nadu, India, usually referred to as Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam ^) is the current President of India. A notable scientist and engineer, he is often referred to as the "Missile Man of India" for his work and is considered a leading progressive, mentor, innovator and visionary in India.
- Jagjit Singh
Jagjit Singh(Hindi: जगजीत सिंह, Punjabi: ਜਗਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ, Urdu: جگجیت سنگھ) (February 8, 1941 -) is an Indian ghazal singer. He sings in Hindi-Urdu and Punjabi languages.
- Girish Karnad
Girish Karnad (born May 19, 1938), is a contemporary writer, playwright, actor and movie director in Kannada language. He is the latest one among seven recipients of Jnanpith Award for Kannada the highest literary honour conferred in India. For four decades, Karnad has been composing plays, often using history and mythology to tackle contemporary issues. He is also active in the world of Indian cinema working as an actor, …
- Mrinalini Sarabhai
Mrinalini Sarabhai (born 1928) is a celebrated classical dancer of India. She is the founder director of the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, an institute for imparting training in dance, drama, music and puppetry, in the city of Ahmedabad. She has received many distinguished awards and citations in recognitions of her contribution to art.
- Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar is the melody Queen of India. Lata Mangeshkar has ruled over the hearts of millions of music lovers throughout the world for the last forty years by the magic of her melodious voice. She was born on 29th September 1928, in Indore (Madhya Pradesh) in a family of musicians. She took to singing at the age of 13. She has sung songs based on classical Indian music and ragas, bhajans or devotional songs, romantic and melancholic songs and so on.
- K. Natwar Singh
Kunwar Natwar Singh, popularly known as K. Natwar Singh (born May 16, 1931, Bharatpur, Rajastan, India) is an Indian politician and has been a cabinet minister. He was for a while a minister without portfolio after having been removed from his post as Minister in charge of External Affairs on November 7, 2005 under a cloud of scandal.
- Bhimsen Joshi
Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi Born February 04, 1922) is a renowned vocalist in India. A descendant of the Kirana Gharana (stream) of Hindustani classical music tradition, he is particularly renowned for "Khayal" form singing.
- Azim Premji
Azim Hashim Premji (born July 24, 1945) is the Chairman & CEO of Wipro Technologies, which today is one of the largest software companies in India. It has its headquarters in the Indian Silicon City Bangalore. He was rated the richest person in the country from 1999 to 2005 by Forbes. His wealth today is estimated at 58,451 crores INR which places him as the fourth richest Indian; behind DLF Chairman Kushal Pal Singh and ahead of Sterlite Chairman [Anil Agarwal].
- Arun Shourie
Arun Shourie (born 1941) is a prominent Indian journalist, author, and politician.
- Naseeruddin Shah
Naseeruddin Shah aka Nasiruddin Shah (b. 20 July, 1950) is an Indian film actor. He has seen success in both mainstream Bollywood movies as well as in art films.
- Verghese Kurien
Verghese Kurien (born November 26, 1921 at Kozhikode, Kerala) is called the "father of the White Revolution" in India. He is also known as the "Milkman of India". He was the chairman of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.(GCMMF). GCMMF is an apex cooperative organization that manages the Amul food brand. He is recognised as the man behind the success of the Amul brand.
- M. S. Swaminathan
Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan is an Indian agriculture scientist, born August 7, 1925, in Kumbakonam, Tamilnadu, The second of four sons of a surgeon. His ancestral home is the island village of Monkompu, Alleppey District, Kerala. He is known as "Father of the Green Revolution" in India, for his leadership and success in introducing and further developing high yielding varieties of wheat in India.
- B. R. Barwale
Badrinarayan Ramulal Barwale, (b. 1931) is an Indian farmer and entrepreneur and the founder of Mahyco, the Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company - one of the first and largest private hybrid seed companies in India. He received the 1998 World Food Prize for his leadership in developing and strengthening the private agricultural sector following India's independence from Britain.
- V C Kulandaiswamy
V C Kulandaiswamy, (born:1929-07-14) is an Indian academician and renowned author. He is currently the Chairman of Tamil Virtual University. He has received the Sahitya Akademi Award for a Tamil literary work, Padma Shri (1992) and Padma Bhushan (2002) for distinguished service in the fields of education and science. He has also received an honorary doctorate from Jaffna University (Sri Lanka) in 1980 in recognition of his contributions to Tamil literature.
- Ratan Naval Tata
"One hundred years from now, I expect the Tatas to be much bigger than it is now. More importantly, I hope the Group comes to be regarded as being the best in India - best in the manner in which we operate, best in the products we deliver, and best in our value systems and ethics. Having said that, I hope that a hundred years from now we will spread our wings far beyond India..." Ratan Tata
- Zakir Hussain
Ustad Zakir Hussain, born March 9, 1951, son of tabla player Ustad Alla Rakha, is a well known classical tabla player in India. He has also won awards and recognitions for his contribution to the world of music.
- Talat Mahmood
Talat Mahmood (February 24, 1924 -- May 9, 1998) was an Indian Bollywood singer and actor. He was a recipient of Padma Bhushan. He was famous for his ghazals, resulting in a title of "king of ghazals" bestowed upon him by fans and critics. Talat has often been described as a singer with a silky voice. His voice never suited loud songs, songs that demanded a high-pitched voice. Shouting or screaming didn't suit him and so he avoided those kinds of songs too.
- Naresh Trehan
Dr. Naresh Trehan, an internationally renowned surgeon and medical administrator, is founder, executive director and chief cardiovascular surgeon for Escorts Heart Institute and Research Center, one of the world's leading heart institutes. Dr. Trehan has served as personal surgeon to the President of India since 1991, has received numerous awards for distinguished service in medicine, and been president of the International Society for Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery.
- Yoshiro Mori
Yoshiro Mori ( Mori Yoshiro , born July 14 , 1937 ) is a Japan ese politician who served as the 85th and 86th Prime Minister of Japan from April 5 , 2000 to April 26 , 2001 . Commonly described as having "the heart of a flea and the brain of a shark," he was an unpopular prime minister mainly remembered today for his many gaffe s and situationally inappropriate actions. He is currently President of the Japan Rugby Football Union .
- Shyam Benegal
Shyam Benegal is a prolific Indian director. Benegal originated what has come to be called "middle cinema". He was initially involved in the advertising industry and produced over 900 advertisements before his interest turned to films.
- Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Manohar Gavaskar (Hindi (Devnagiri):सुनिल मनोहर गावसकर) (born July 10, 1949 in Mumbai, Maharashtra), nicknamed Sunny, was a cricket player during the 1970s and 1980s for Bombay and India. Widely regarded as one of the greatest opening batsmen in the Indian Test history, Gavaskar set world records during his career for the most runs and most centuries scored by any batsman.
- Kuvempu
Kuvempu was born in Hirekodige, Koppa taluk, of Chikmagalur district to a native Kannada family. He was brought up in a place in the lush Malenadu region of Tirthahalli, called Kuppali, of Shimoga district. His education began at his home by an appointed teacher from Dakshina Kannada. He joined Anglo Vernacular school in Tirthahalli to continue his middle school education. He lost his father "Venkatappa Gowda" at the early age of 12 due to ill health.
- Raja Rao
Raja Rao was an Indian writer of English language novels and short stories, whose works are deeply rooted in Hinduism. Raja Rao's semi-autobiographical novel, "The Serpent and the Rope" (1960), is a story of a search for spiritual truth in Europe and India. It established him as one of the finest Indian stylists.
- H. Narasimhaiah
Hosur Narasimhaiah was a physicist, educator, freedom fighter and rationalist from Karnataka, India. He was popularly known as HN. He was conferred Padma Bhushan by Government of India in 1985.
- Girija Devi
Girija Devi (b. May 8, 1929, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India) is an Indian singer and represents the Banaras Gharana of singers. She is adept at different genres of Hindustani vocal music including Khyal, Thumri, Dadra, Chaiti and Kajari, but she excels in the "Poorab ang" Thumri. She has been described as the "last living queen of thumri". Her father Ramdeo Rai was a local Zaminadar and interested in classical Indian music.
- Hariprasad Chaurasia
Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia (b. Allahabad, July 1, 1938) is known internationally as a player of the bansuri, the North Indian bamboo flute. Chaurasia is a classicist who has made a conscious effort to reach out and expand the audience for classical music.
- U. R. Ananthamurthy
Udupi Rajagopalacharya Ananthamurthy, is a leading contemporary writer and critic in Kannada language and considered as one of the most important representatives of the Navya movement. Ananthamurthy is counted among the most eminent Indian authors. He is the sixth person among seven recipients of Jnanpith Award for Kannada language, the highest literary honor conferred in India. He was conferred Padma Bhushan by Government of India.
- Akkineni Nageswara Rao
Akkineni Nageswara Rao (born September 20, 1924 at Venkataraghavapuram, Dist. Krishna, Andhra Pradesh), also known as ANR, is a film actor from Gudivada Andhra Pradesh. He is one of the first fully commercial Telugu Cinema heroes. His films include a diverse range of genres which include mythological, folk tale, social, adventure and drama. He acted with NTR who is one of the greatest actors of India for almost 40 years.They both called each other as brother.
- Prithviraj Kapoor
Prithviraj Kapoor was a noted pioneer of Indian theatre and of the Hindi film industry. He was also the patriarch of the Kapoor family of Hindi films, five generations of which family, beginning with him, have played active roles in Bollywood.
- K. J. Yesudas
Kattassery Joseph Yesudas (usually referred to as Dr. K. J. Yesudas or Jesudas, Malayalam: കാട്ടശ്ശേരി ജോസഫ് യേശുദാസ് , also nicknamed "Gana Gandharvan") (born January 10, 1940) is an eminent Indian classical musician and leading playback singer of film songs in many Indian languages.
- Salim Ali
Sálim Ali, born Sálim Moizuddin Abdul Ali, (November 12, 1896 - July 27, 1987), was an Indian ornithologist and naturalist. Known as the "Birdman of India", Salim Ali was among the first Indians to conduct systematic bird surveys in India and his books have contributed enormously to the development of professional and amateur ornithology in India.
- Sam Manekshaw
Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, MC, ("Sam Bahadur") (born April 3, 1914) is an Indian Army officer. In a long career spanning nearly four decades, Field Marshal Manekshaw rose to be the Chief of Staff of the Indian Army in 1969 and under his command, Indian forces concluded a victorious campaign during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
- Soumitra Chatterjee
Soumitra Chatterjee (born January 19, 1935) is a Bengali actor from India, most famous for his frequent collaborations with the great Indian director Satyajit Ray.
- Shobha Gurtu
Shobha Shirodkar Gurtu (1925 - September 27, 2004) was one of India's most famous singers in the light classical style. She was popularly known as the "Thumri Queen". Born in Belgaum, she was first trained by her mother Menekabai Shirodkar, a professional dancer disciple of Ustad Alladiya Khan of the Jaipur Atrauli gharana. She continued her vocal studies under Ustad Ghamman Khan and also Ustad Nathan Khan.
- Subramaniam Ramadorai
Subramaniam Ramadorai, nicknamed Ram is CEO and Managing Director of Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS). During the past 30 years, S. Ramadorai, has played an integral role in the international development of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). His efforts have helped make TCS one of the world's largest global software and services companies with 85000 associates working in 53 countries, operating out of over 151 offices worldwide, …
- Vikram Sarabhai
Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai was an Indian physicist. He is considered to be the Father of the Indian space program.
- Raj Reddy
Dabbala Rajagopal "Raj" Reddy (born June 13, 1937 in Katoor, India, near Chennai) is a world-renowned researcher in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Human-Computer Interaction. After his undergraduate studies at the College of Engineering, Guindy (now part of Anna University) in 1958, he did a master's degree in Civil Engineering at the University of New South Wales, and a PhD in Computer Science at Stanford University in 1966.