List of Indians

This is a list of famous and notable people from India. This would include persons who are known to a large number of people and is not based on the extent of their popularity. Neither is the list viewed from the context of the present. Their fame could be brief, what matters is that they were well-known during the peak of their popularity.

Table of contents

1 Arts
2 Business and Industry
3 Literature
4 Mass Media
5 Movies

5.1 Directors
5.2 Actors
5.3 Actresses

6 Music
7 Politics
8 Sciences
9 Religion
10 Sports
11 Others

Arts

Birju Maharaj, Dancer
Mallika Sarabhai, Dancer
MF Hussain, Painter
Raja Ravi Varma, Painter
PC Sorcar, Magician

Business and Industry

J.R.D. Tata, Industrialist, Tata Groups
GD Birla, Industrialist, Birla Group
NR Narayana Murthy, co-founder Infosys
Sabeer Bhatia, co-founder Hotmail
Shantanurao Laxmanrao Kirloskar, Kirloskar Group
Subrata Roy, Sahara India Parivar
Vinod Khosla, co-founder Sun Microsystems

Literature

Also see Indian writing in English

Arundhati Roy - Booker Prize for God of Small Things
Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Hindi poet
Kalidasa, playwrite, creator of Shakuntalam
Khushwant Singh, novelist
Mahadevi Verma, poetess
Mirza Ghalib, Urdu poet
Munshi Premchand, Hindi novelist
Rabindranath Tagore - Nobel Prize in Literature, composer of Indian national anthem
R.K. Narayan, English short-story writer
Salman Rushdie - Booker Prize for ''Midnight's Children
Vikram Seth, English novelist, poet
V.S. Naipaul - Nobel Prize 2001 (of Indian descent, never an Indian citizen)

Mass Media

Aniruddha Bahal, writer and Tehelka journalist
Deepak Chaurasia, consulting editor and anchor, Doordarshan News
M J Akbar, chief editor, Asian Age
Prannoy Roy, president, NDTV
Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, research coordinator, Doordarshan
Sanjay Pugalia, director, STAR News
Veer Sanghvi, editor, Hindustan Times

Movies

Also see: Dadasaheb Phalke Award winners

Directors

Ismail Merchant, Producer and director, Howard's End
Mani Ratnam - Anjali, Roja, Bombay, Dil Se
Manoj Night Shyamalan - Sixth Sense, Signs
Mira Nair - Salaam Bombay, Kama Sutra, Monsoon Wedding
Raj Kapoor - Actor and Director, Awaara, Sangam, Shri 420, Mera Naam Joker
Ram Gopal Varma - Rangeela, Satya, Company
Satyajit Ray - Oscar for lifetime achievement, Pather Panchali
Shekhar Kapoor - Masoom, Mr. India, Bandit Queen
Shyam Benegal
Subhash Ghai

Actors

Aamir Khan - Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Rangeela, Dil Chahta Hai, Lagaan
Abhishek Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan - Sholaay, Zanjeer, Agneepath
Ajay Devgan - Phool Aur Kaante, Company
Akshay Khanna - Dil Chahta Hai, Taal
Akshay Kumar - Khiladi
Amol Palekar - Chitchor, Golmaal
Anil Kapoor - Tezaab, Mr. India
Arjun Rampal
Ben Kingsley (Krishna Bhanji) - Gandhi, Schindler's List
Dev Anand - Guide
Dharmendra - Sholaay
Dilip Kumar - Devdas
Govinda
Hrithik Roshan - Kaho Naa Pyar Hai, Koi Mil Gaya
Jackie Shroff - Hero, Rangeela
Jeetendra
Jimmy Shergill
Kamal Hassan
Madhavan
Manoj Kumar
Mithun Chakraborty
Naseeruddin Shah
Om Puri
Raj Kapoor - Actor and Director, Awaara, Sangam, Shri 420, Mera Naam Joker
Raj Kumar
Rajesh Khanna - Aradhana, Anand
Rakesh Roshan
Rishi Kapoor - Bobby, Sagar
Salman Khan - Maine Pyaar Kiya, Hum Apke Hain Kaun
Sanjay Dutt - Khalnayak
Shahrukh Khan - Baazigar, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge, Devdas
Shammi Kapoor - Junglee, Professor
Shatrughan Sinha
Sunil Dutt - Mother India
Sunil Shetty
Aftab Shivdasani
Bobby Deol
Dino Morea
Fardeen Khan
John Abraham
Manoj Bajpai
Priyanshu
Rajendra Kumar
Saif Ali Khan
Sanjeev Kumar
Shashi Kapoor
Sunny Deol
Tushar Kapoor
Vinod Khanna
Vinod Mehra
Vivek Oberoi

Actresses

Aishwarya Rai, Miss World '94
Amisha Patel
Asha Parekh
Bipasha Basu
Dimple Kapadia
Divya Bharati
Diya Mirza
Esha Deol
Hema Malini
Jaya Bachchan (Bhaduri)
Jayaprada
Juhi Chawla
Kajol
Kareena Kapoor
Karisma Kapoor
Madhubala
Madhuri Dixit
Mahima Chaudhary
Mala Sinha
Mandakini
Manisha Koirala
Meena Kumari
Meenakshi Seshadri
Namrata Shirodkar
Nandita Das
Nargis
Neelam
Nutan
Padmini Kolhapure
Pooja Batra
Pooja Bhatt
Poonam Dhillon
Preity Zinta
Raakhi
Rani Mukherjee
Rati Agnihotri
Raveena Tandon
Rekha
Sadhana
Saira Banu
Shabana Azmi
Sharmila Tagore
Shilpa Shetty
Smita Patil
Sonali Bendre
Sridevi
Sushmita Sen, Miss Universe, 1994
Tabu
Tanuja
Tina Munim
Urmila Matondkar
Vyjayantimala Bali
Waheeda Rehman
Zeenat Aman

Music

A.R. Rahman - Composer, Roja, Rangeela, Lagaan
Asha Bhosle, singer
Geeta Dutt, singer
Hemant Kumar, composer and singer
Hridaynath Mangeshkar, composer
Ilayaraja, Composer
Kishore Kumar, Bollywood Playback singer, actor
Lata Mangeshkar, singer
Mahendra Kapoor, singer
Manna Dey, singer
MS Subbulakshmi, Classical (Carnatic) Singer
Mohammad Rafi, singer
Mukesh, singer
Ravi Shankar, Sitar maestro
Talat Mahmood, singer
Udit Narayan, singer
Yesudas, singer
Zakir Hussain, Tabla maestro
Zubin Mehta, conductor
Kumar Sanu
Abhijit
Babul Supriyo
Anu Malik
Noorjehan
Shamshad Begum
Suraiya
Suman Kalyanpur
Alka Yagnik
Kavita Krishnamurthy
Sadhana Sargam

Politics

Also see President of India

Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi
Jawaharlal Nehru
Mahatma Gandhi
Mulayam Singh Yadav, chief minister, Uttar Pradesh
Narasimha Rao
Rajiv Gandhi

Sciences

Aryabhatta
Bhaskaracharya
Sir C.V.Raman
Hargobind Khorana
Homi Jehangir Bhabha
Raja Ramanna
Srinivasa Ramanujan
Satyendra Nath Bose
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Vikram Sarabhai
Birbal Sahni
Acharya P.C. Roy
S. Bhagvantam
Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose
P.K. Sent
Jagjit Singh
Meghnad Saha
E.C. George Sudarshan
J.J. Rawal
Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar
Jayant Narlikar
Harish Chandra
Kollagunta Gopalaiyer Ramanathan

Religion

Sports

Anil Kumble, Cricket
Baichung Bhutia, Football
Dhanraj Pillay, Hockey
Dhyan Chand, Hockey
Kapil Dev, Cricket
Karnam Malleswari, Weight-lifting
Leander Paes, Tennis
Mahesh Bhupathi, Tennis
Milkha Singh, Athelete
Mohammed Azharuddin, Cricket
Pargat Singh, Hockey
Prakash Padukone, Badminton
P. T. Usha, Athlete, Asian Games medallist
Sachin Tendulkar,Cricket
Sania Mirza, Junior Wimbledon Girls champion
Sunil Gavaskar, Cricket
Viswanathan Anand, Chess

Others

Basava Premanand, Skeptic and debunker of gurus
Amartya Sen, Economist
Rakesh Sharma, first Indian astronaut
Kalpana Chawla, first Indian woman astronaut (Born Indian, later American citizen)