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. For important Native Americans, also known as Indians, see List of Native Americans
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Arts
- Amrita Sher-Gil, painter
- Birju Maharaj, Dancer
- Jatin Das, painter
- Kelucharan Mohapatra, Odissi dancer
- Mallika Sarabhai, Dancer
- M.F. Husain, Painter
- Protima Bedi, dancer
- Raja and Radha Reddy, Kuchipudi dancers
- Raja Ravi Varma, Painter
- P.C. Sorcar, Magician
- P.C. Sorcar, Jr., Magician
- Manick Sorcar, Animator/Director/Laserist
- Sudha Chandran, dancer
- B V Karanth, musician
- Girish Karnad, playwright
Business and Industry
- See also: Influential businessmen of India
- Ajay Piramal, chairman, Piramal Enterprises Limited
- Amar Bose, founder Bose Corporation
- Arjun Malhotra, co-founder, HCL Technologies
- Azim Premji, chairman, Wipro
- Dewang Mehta, ex-chief of NASSCOM
- J.R.D. Tata, Industrialist, Tata Groups
- GD Birla, Industrialist, Birla Group
- Sohrab Pirojsha Godrej, Godrej Industries
- Jamnalal Bajaj
- Lakshmi Narayan Mittal
- Mukesh Ambani
- N.R. Narayana Murthy, co-founder Infosys
- Sabeer Bhatia, co-founder Hotmail
- Sanjiv Sidhu, founder i2 Technologies
- Shantanurao Laxmanrao Kirloskar, Kirloskar Group
- Subrata Roy, Sahara India Parivar
- Verghese Kurien, founder Operation Flood
- Bobby Kishore, General Manager Microsoft Corporation
- Vijay Mallya, chairman, UB group of companies
- Vinod Khosla, co-founder Sun Microsystems
- Vivek Paul, CEO of Wipro
Cartoonists
- Abu Abraham, in The Guardian
- Ajit Ninan, in the India Today
- Bal Thackeray
- Jug Suraiya
- Kesav, in The Hindu
- Mario Miranda
- Ranga
- R. K. Laxman, in the Times of India
- Shanker, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, The Hindustan Times
- Yesudasan, in The Week
Fashion, modelling and beauty
- For a list of women who have won the Miss India titles see : Miss India
- For a list of Indian Models, see the Category Indian Models
- Dino Morea, model and actor
- John Abraham, model and actor
- Madhu Sapre
- Manish Malhotra, designer
- Milind Soman, model and actor
- Nafisa Joseph, model and VJ
- Ritu Beri, designer
- Rohit Bal, designer
Literature
See also: Indian writing in English
- Allama Iqbal Urdu poet
- Arundhati Roy - Booker Prize for The God of Small Things
- Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
- Dom Moraes, poet, author
- Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Hindi poet
- Jayakanthan, Tamil writer, Jnanpith awardee
- Jhumpa Lahiri - Pulitzer Prize winner for "Interpreter of Maladies"
- Kabir
- Kaifi Azmi, poet
- Kalhana
- Kalidasa, playwright, creator of Shakuntalam
- Kamala Markandaya, poetess
- Khushwant Singh, novelist
- Manil Suri novelist
- Mahadevi Verma, Hindi poetess
- Mirza Ghalib, Urdu poet
- Mulk Raj Anand
- Munshi Premchand, Hindi novelist
- Nissim Ezekiel - poet, art critic
- Rabindranath Tagore - Nobel Prize in Literature, composer of the national anthems of India and Bangladesh
- R.K. Narayan, English short-story writer
- Salman Rushdie - Booker Prize for Midnight's Children
- Shashi Tharoor - Author of The Great Indian Novel besides other books
- Subhash Kak, writer
- Sumitranandan Pant, Hindi poet
- Tulsidas, poet, author of the Ramayana in Hindi
- Vikram Seth, English novelist, poet
- V.S. Naipaul - Nobel Prize 2001 (Trinidad-born, grandson of an Indian, never an Indian citizen)
- Vaikom Muhammad Basheer - Malayalam novelist
- Vayalar Ramavarma - Malayalam poet
Mass Media
- Aniruddha Bahal, writer and Tehelka journalist
- Deepak Chaurasia, consulting editor and anchor, Doordarshan News
- Khushwant Singh
- M. J. Akbar, chief editor, Asian Age
- Prannoy Roy, president, NDTV
- Arun Shourie, journalist
- Pritish Nandy
- Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, research coordinator, Doordarshan
- Saeed Naqvi
- Sanjay Pugalia, director, STAR News
- Sanjay Gupta, Anchor, CNN CNN Page on Sanjay Gupta
- Vir Sanghvi, editor, Hindustan Times
- Vinod Mehta, editor Outlook
- Monita Rajpal, Anchor, CNNCNN Page on Monita Rajpal
Movies
See also: Dadasaheb Phalke Award winners
Directors
- Adoor Gopalakrishnan
- Bimal Roy
- Boney Kapoor
- David Dhawan
- Dev Anand
- Farah Khan
- Farhan Akhtar
- Gulzar
- Gurinder Chadha
- Guru Dutt
- Hrishikesh Mukherjee
- Ismail Merchant
- K C Bokadia
- Kaizad Gustad
- Kamal Amrohi
- Karan Johar
- Mani Ratnam
- Manoj Night Shyamalan (born Indian, later American citizen)
- Mira Nair
- Mrinal Sen
- Nazir Hussain
- Raj Kapoor
- Rajkumar Santoshi
- Ram Gopal Varma
- Ritwik Ghatak
- Sai Paranjpe
- Satish Kaushik
- Satyajit Ray
- Shekhar Kapoor
- Shyam Benegal
- Subhash Ghai
- Subodh Mukherjee
- Shakti Samanta
- Vishal Bharadwaj
- Yash Chopra
Producers
- Amitabh Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Ltd. (ABCL)
- Aziz Mirza, Dreamz Unlimited
- Boney Kapoor, Narsimha Enterprises
- Dev Anand, Navketan Films
- Gulshan Rai, Trimurti Films
- Juhi Chawla, Dreamz Unlimited
- K C Bokadia
- K.T. Kunjumon, Gentleman Films
- Mira Nair, Mirabai Films
- Mohanlal, Pranavam Arts
- Mukesh Bhatt, Vishesh Films
- Pooja Bhatt, initially Pooja Bhatt Productions, Fish Eye Network
- Raj Kapoor, R.K. Films
- Ram Gopal Varma, Varma Corporation Ltd.
- Shahrukh Khan, Dreamz Unlimited
- Sooraj Barjatya, Rajshri Films
- Subhash Ghai, Mukta Arts
- Subodh Mukherjee
- Sunil Dutt, Ajanta Arts
- Yash Chopra, Yashraj Films
- Yash Johar, Dharma Productions
- Bobby Bedi, Kaleidoscope Entertainment
Actors
A-F
- Aamir Khan
- Abhishek Bachchan
- Aftab Shivdasani
- Amrish Puri
- Amitabh Bachchan
- Amjad Khan
- Ajay Devgan
- Akshay Khanna
- Akshay Kumar
- Amol Palekar
- Anil Kapoor
- Annu Kapoor
- Aman Verma
- Anupam Kher
- Ashok Kumar
- Balraj Sahni
- Biswajit
- Bobby Deol
- Chandrachur Singh
- Dev Anand
- Dharmendra (born 1935)
- Dilip Kumar
- Dino Morea
- Fardeen Khan
- Feroze Khan
G-P
- Gemini Ganesan
- Govinda
- Guru Dutt
- Hrithik Roshan
- Jackie Shroff
- Jeetendra
- John Abraham
- Johnny Walker, real name Badruddin Qazi
- Jimmy Shergill
- Kadar Khan
- Kamal Haasan
- Madhavan
- Mammootty, Malayalam actor
- Manoj Bajpai
- Manoj Kumar
- Mehmood
- Mithun Chakraborty
- Mohanlal, Malayalam films
- Naseeruddin Shah
- Navin Nischol
- Om Prakash
- Om Puri
- Pran
- Prem Nazir, Malayalam films
R
- Rajinikanth
- Raj Kapoor (Actor and Director)
- Rajendra Kumar
- Raaj Kumar (Hindi actor)
- Rajeev Kapoor
- Rajesh Khanna
- Dr. Rajkumar (Kannada actor)
- Rakesh Roshan
- Randhir Kapoor
- Rishi Kapoor
- Roshan Seth
S-V
- Saif Ali Khan
- Salman Khan
- Sanjay Dutt
- Sanjay Kapoor
- Sanjay Khan
- Sanjeev Kumar
- Shahid Kapoor
- Shahrukh Khan
- Shakti Kapoor
- Shammi Kapoor
- Shashi Kapoor
- Shatrughan Sinha
- Sivaji Ganesan
- Sunil Dutt
- Sunil Shetty
- Sunny Deol
- Suresh Gopi
- Tusshar Kapoor
- Utpal Dutt
- Uttam Kumar
- Vinod Khanna
- Vinod Mehra
- Vivek Oberoi
Actresses
See List of Indian movie actresses
Music
- Abhijeet, singer
- Alka Yagnik, singer
- Amjad Ali Khan
- A.R. Rahman - Composer
- Asha Bhosle, singer
- Babul Supriyo
- Balamurali Krishna
- Geeta Dutt, singer
- Hemant Kumar, composer and singer
- Hridaynath Mangeshkar, composer
- Ilayaraja, Composer
- Kartik Seshadri,Sitarist
- Kavita Krishnamurthy
- Kay Kay, singer
- Khayyam
- Kishore Kumar, playback singer, actor
- Lata Mangeshkar, singer
- Lucky Ali, singer
- Mahendra Kapoor, singer
- Manna Dey, singer
- MS Subbulakshmi, Classical (Carnatic) Singer
- Mohammad Rafi, singer
- Mukesh, singer
- Nitin Sawhney, composer
- Naushad, composer
- Noor Jehan, singer
- O.P. Nayyar, composer
- Rahul Dev Burman, composer
- Ravi, composer
- Ravi Shankar, Sitar maestro
- S.D. Burman, composer
- Sadhana Sargam
- Salil Chowdhury, composer
- Shamshad Begum
- Sultan Khan
- Suraiya, singer
- Talat Mahmood, singer
- Talvin Singh, composer
- Trilok Gurtu, Percussionist
- Yesudas, singer, devotional and film songs, exponent of Carnatic music
- Zakir Hussain, Tabla maestro
- Zubin Mehta, conductor
Organised Crime
- Chhota Rajan
- Dawood Ibrahim
- Ejaz Lakdawala
- Chhota Shakeel
- Abu Salem
- Veerappan
- Sharad Shetty
- Sunjay Dutt
Philosophers
- Akshapada Gotama
- Badarayana
- Maharishi Debendranath Tagore
- Jiddu Krishnamurti
- Kanada
- Kapila
- Madhva
- Ramanuja
- Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
- Shankara
- Tiruvalluvar
- Vallabha
Politics
- Presidents: President of India
- Dr.Rajendra Prasad,First president of India(1950-62)
- Prime Ministers: Prime Minister of India
- Chief Ministers (Tamil Nadu): List of Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu
A-L
- Amarsinh Chaudhary, (1941-2004) Chief Minister of Gujarat
- Arjun Singh
- Arun Gandhi
- Arun Gawli
- Atal Bihari Vajpayee
- Bal Gangadhar Tilak
- Bal Thackeray
- Baldev Ram Mirdha
- Chakravarti Rajagopalachari
- Charu Majumdar
- Chaudhari Kumbharam Arya
- Dasarath Deb
- E.K. Nayanar
- Feroze Gandhi
- Ghulam Nabi Azad
- Indira Gandhi
- J Jayalalithaa, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
- Jayaprakash Narayan
- Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964)
- Lal Krishna Advani
- Laloo Prasad Yadav
- Nathuram Mirdha
M-P
- M Karunanidhi, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
- Mahatma Gandhi, Father of the Nation, (1869-1948)
- Mani Shankar Aiyar
- Manik Sarkar
- Manmohan Singh
- Manohar Parrikar, Chief Minister of Goa
- Mayawati
- MG Ramachandran, Popularly known as MGR, Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
- Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir
- Mulayam Singh Yadav, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
- Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat
- Natwar Singh
- Nripen Chakroborthy
- P Chidambaram
- P.K. Vasudevan Nair
- P. V. Narasimha Rao
- Pranab Mukherjee
- Pratapsinh Rane, Chief Minister of Goa
R-Y
- R R Patil, deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra
- Rabri Devi (born 1959)
- Rahul Gandhi, MP from Amethi
- Rajendra Prasad
- Rajiv Gandhi (1944-1991)
- Rajiv Pratap Rudy
- Ram Vilas Paswan (born 1946)
- Ravi Shankar Prasad
- S M Krishna
- Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (1875-1950)
- Sharad Pawar (born 1940)
- Sheila Dikshit (born 1938)
- Shibu Soren (born 1944)
- Shivraj Patil
- Somnath Chatterjee
- Sonia Gandhi (born 1946)
- Subhash Chandra Bose (1897-1945)
- Suresh Kalmadi (born 1944)
- Sushilkumar Shinde (born 1941)
- T. Nagi Reddy (communist revolutionary leader of Andhra Pradesh)
- Venkaiah Naidu, BJP
- Vilasrao Deshmukh
- Vinay Katiyar
- Yashwant Sinha (born 1937)
Religion
- Adi Sankara
- Amir Khusrau
- Mata Amritanandamayi
- Sri Aurobindo
- Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
- Farid
- Gautama Buddha - the founder of Buddhism.
- Hazrat Makhdum Bukhari Jahanian Jahangasht
- Hazrat Mueen-ud-Din Chishti Ajmeri Khwajah
- Hazrat Sirhindi
- Hazrat Usmaan Pir Harooni
- J. Krishnamurti
- Jayendra Saraswathi, Shankaracharya of Kanchi
- Kabir
- Lord Mahavir
- Meera
- Narayana Guru
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
- Nizaam-ud-Din Auliya
- Osho Shree Rajneesh
- Prabhupada A.C. Bhaktivedanta
- Prem Rawat
- Ramakrishna Paramhansa
- Sai Baba of Shirdi
- Sathya Sai Baba
- Samartha Ramdas Swami
- Sant Tukaram
- Sant Namdeo
- Swami Vivekananda
- Tulsidas poet, author of the Ramayana in Hindi
- The Ten Gurus of Sikhism - the founders of Sikhism.
Royalty
See also: List of Mughal emperors
- Akbar the Great
- Ashoka the Great
- Aurangzeb
- Babur
- Bindusara
- Chandragupta Maurya
- Chandragupta II (Chandragupta Vikramaditya)
- Jahanara Begum, daughter of Shah Jahan
- Jehangir
- Lakshmibai, Rani of Jhansi
- Mumtaz Mahal
- Rajendra Chola
- Raja Ravi Varma
- Samudragupta
- Shah Jahan
- Sher Shah Suri
- Shivaji
- Tipu Sultan
Sciences
- A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
- Acharya P.C. Roy
- Aryabhata
- Ashoke Sen, theoretical physicist
- Bhaskaracharya
- Birbal Sahni
- Brahmagupta
- C.N.R. Rao
- C.V. Raman
- Satish Dhawan
- George Sudarshan
- Hargobind Khorana
- Harish Chandra
- Homi Jehangir Bhabha
- Jagdish Chandra Bose
- J.J. Rawal, astrophysicist
- Jayant Narlikar
- Ashoka Prasad also Ashoka Johnubiprasad
- Kollagunta Gopalaiyer Ramanathan
- Gurdev Singh Khush
- Lagadha
- M.G.K.Menon
- Madhava
- Madhu Sudan
- G.Balakrish Nair
- Meghnad Saha
- Vandana Shiva
- Nilakantha Somayaji
- Panini
- Pingala
- Raja Ramannann
- Roddam Narasimha
- Vilayanur S. Ramachandran
- Vulimiri Ramalingaswami
- Srinivasa Ramanujan
- Satyendra Nath Bose
- S. Bhagvantam
- Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar
- C.S.Seshadri
- Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
- Vikram Sarabhai
- Yellapragada Subbarao
- Mriganka Sur
- Jamshed Rustom Tata
- Yajnavalkya
- Dr. Rajender Singh Sangwan
Social work
- Anna Hazare
- Arundhati Roy, Narmada Bachao Andolan
- Baba Amte
- Jayaprakash Narayan
- Medha Patkar, Narmada Bachao Andolan
- Mother Teresa, Missionaries of Charity
- Sudha Murty, Infosys Foundation
- Sunderlal Bahuguna, Chipko movement
- Swami Keshwanand, Gramotthan movement
- Vinoba Bhave, Sarvodaya and Bhoodan movements
Sports
- Anil Kumble, Cricket
- Anju George, athlete
- Ashok Kumar, hockey
- Baichung Bhutia, Football
- Chandu Borde, Cricket
- Dhanraj Pillay, Hockey
- Dhyan Chand, Hockey
- Geet Sethi, snooker
- Gopichand, badminton
- Harbhajan Singh, Cricket
- Javagal Srinath, Cricket
- Jeev Milkha Singh, golf
- Jyoti Randhawa, golf
- Kapil Dev, Cricket
- Karan Rastogi, Tennis
- Karnam Malleswari, Weightlifting
- Lakshmipathy Balaji, Cricket
- Leander Paes, Tennis
- Mahesh Bhupathi, Tennis
- Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, cricket
- Milkha Singh, Athlete
- Mohammed Azharuddin, Cricket
- Mohinder Amarnath, Cricket
- Narain Karthikeyan, car racing
- P Harikrishna, chess
- Pargat Singh, Hockey
- Prakash Padukone, Badminton
- Pravin Thipsay, chess grandmaster
- P. T. Usha, Athlete, Asian Games medallist
- Ramesh Krishnan, tennis
- Rahul Dravid, Cricket
- Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Shooting
- Ranjitsinghji, cricket
- Sachin Tendulkar, Cricket
- Sania Mirza, Tennis
- Saurav Ganguly, Cricket
- Sunil Gavaskar, Cricket
- Vijay Amritraj, lawn tennis
- Viswanathan Anand, Chess
Others
- Amartya Sen, Economist, Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, 1998
- Partha Dasgupta, Economist
- Jaishree Odin, teacher
- B.K.S. Iyengar, proponent of yoga
- Balbir Singh Sodhi, victim of September 11-related revenge violence
- Basava Premanand, Skeptic and debunker of gurus
- Bimal Jalan, ex-Governor, Reserve Bank of India
- Irfan Habib, historian
- Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora (1917-2005)
- Lieutenant General Joginder Jaswant Singh
- Kalpana Chawla, first woman astronaut of Indian origin, Columbia astronaut
- Nain Singh
- Noor Inyat Khan, World War II spy, born of an Indian father and descendant of Tipu Sultan
- Rajendra Singh Lodha, chartered accountant
- Rakesh Sharma, first Indian astronaut
- Romila Thapar, (born 1931), historian
- Rumaisa Rahman, smallest born baby in history, and her sister Hima, Indian-Americans
- Ramesh Chandra Lahoti, (born 1940), Chief Justice of India
- Shashindra Pal Tyagi, chief of Indian Air Force
- Sidhartha Basu, quiz master
- Tipu Sultan, (1750-1799)
- Dr V Mohan Reddy, cardiac surgeon