Amrish Puri was an Indian actor who was an important figure in Indian theatre and cinema. He is remembered for playing iconic villainous roles in Punjabi, Hindi cinema as well as other Indian and international film industries. To Indian audiences he is the most remembered for his role as Mogambo in Shekhar Kapur's Hindi film Mr. India (1987), and to Western audiences he is best known as Mola Ram in Steven Spielberg's Hollywood film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).
Koodiyattam is a traditional performing art form in the state of Kerala, India. It is a combination of ancient Sanskrit theatre with elements of Koothu, an ancient performing art from the Sangam era. It is officially recognised by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
Mysore Shrinivas Sathyu is a leading film director, stage designer and art director from India. He is best known for his directorial Garm Hava (1973), which was based on the partition of India. He was awarded Padma Shri in 1975.
Vijaya Mehta is a noted Indian Marathi film and theatre director and also an actor in many films from the Parallel Cinema. She is a founder member of Mumbai-based theatre group, Rangayan with playwright Vijay Tendulkar, and actors Arvind Deshpande and Shriram Lagoo. She is most known for her acclaimed role in film Party (1984) and for her directorial ventures, Rao Saheb (1986) and Pestonjee (1988). As the founder member of theatre group, Rangayan, she became a leading figure in the experimental Marathi theatre of the 1960s.
Vikram Gokhale is an Indian film, television and stage actor, notable for his roles in Marathi theatre, and Hindi films and television. He is the son of Marathi theater and film actor, Chandrakant Gokhale.
R. Parthasarathy, commonly known as Indira Parthasarathy or Ee. Paa., is an Indian author and playwright who writes in Tamil. He has published 16 novels, 10 plays, anthologies of short stories, and essays. He is best known for his plays, "Aurangzeb", "Nandan Kathai" and "Ramanujar".
Arundhati Nag is an Indian actress. She has been involved with multilingual Theatre in India, for over 25 years, first in Mumbai where she got involved with Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA), and did various productions in Gujarati, Marathi, and Hindi theatre, and then in Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam and English, in Bangalore.
Om Shivpuri was an Indian theatre actor-director and character actor in Hindi films.
Manohar Singh was an Indian theatre actor-director and character actor in Hindi films. He is best known for his performances in films such as Party (1984) and Daddy (1989). Starting his acting career from theatre, he went on to become a theatre director and later the chief of National School of Drama Repertory Company, 1976 to 1988, before switching to cinema. As a theatre actor his best known performances were in Tughlaq, directed by Ebrahim Alkazi; Himmat Mai and Begum Barve by Nissar and Amal Allana.
Habib Tanvir was one of the most popular Indian Urdu, Hindi playwrights, a theatre director, poet and actor. He was the writer of plays such as, Agra Bazar (1954) and Charandas Chor (1975). A pioneer in Urdu and Hindi theatre, he was most known for his work with Chhattisgarhi tribals, at the Naya Theatre, a theatre company he founded in 1959 in Bhopal. He went on to include indigenous performance forms such as nacha, to create not only a new theatrical language, but also milestones such as Charandas Chor, Gaon ka Naam Sasural, Mor Naam Damad and Kamdeo ka Apna Basant Ritu ka Sapna.
Yecha Gunja Mahendran is an Indian dramatist, actor, singer, playwright and comedian from the state of Tamil Nadu. He has acted in a number of plays and films. He is the son of Y. G. Parthasarathy, one of the pioneers of modern Tamil drama and Rajalakshmi Parthasarathy, founder and dean of Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan group of schools, and nephew of veteran Tamil filmmaker K. Balaji. Mahendra is also the cousin of actress Vyjayanthimala and the co-brother of Rajinikanth and Mohanlal.
Sarita Joshi is an Indian stage, television and film actress and is a veteran actress of Gujarati theatre and Marathi theatre and also Marathi cinema. In 2020, she was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, by the Government of India for her contribution to arts. She is widely remembered for her role as Godavari Labhshankar Thakkar a.k.a. Baa in the Star Plus hit dramedy Baa Bahoo Aur Baby, for which she won many awards. She is known for her Gujarati plays done with her husband Pravin Joshi in the 1970s.
Sedapatti Suryanarayana Rajendran, also known by his initials SSR, was an Indian actor, director, producer and politician who worked in Tamil theatre and cinema.
Uttara Baokar is an Indian stage, film and television actress. She acted in several notable plays, like as Padmavati in Mukyhamantri, Mena in Mena Gurjari, Desdemona in Shakespeare's Othello, the mother in playwright Girish Karnad's Tughlaq, the nautch girl in Chhote Saiyad Bade Saiyad and the lead role of Umrao in Umrao Jaan. In 1978, she also directed Jaywant Dalvi's play Sandhya Chhaya, in Hindi translation by Kusum Kumar.
Chowdasandra Honnappa Bhagavathar was an Indian theatre and film actor, producer, musician and singer. He was best known as a singer and as one of the pioneers of Kannada cinema. He was also active in Tamil cinema. His son Bharath was also an actor who worked in Kannada films and serials.
Channapatna Ramaswami Simha, better known as C. R. Simha, was an Indian actor, director, dramatist and playwright. He was best known for his work in Kannada films and for his work in stage shows. Starting his career in Prabhat Kalavidaru, a theatre group based in Bangalore, he acted in numerous Kannada plays which reached the cult status. He started his own theatre group called "Nataranga" in 1972 and directed many successful plays such as Kakana Kote, Thughlaq and Sankranthi.
Vellore G. Ramabhadran was a Mridangam artiste from Tamil Nadu, India. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 2004.
Mysore Venkatappa Subbaiah Naidu was an Indian stage artiste in the silent movies era. He was an actor and director, well known for the movies Sati Sulochana (1934) in Kannada, which was also the first Kannada talkie, Bhookailas in Telugu and Bhakta Prahlada (1958) in Kannada. He acted in the first Kannada movie and brought distinction to Kannada cinema. He was the father of Kannada actor Lokesh and the grandfather of Kannada TV personality Srujan Lokesh. Recognizing his work in theatre, he was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1961.
Singanallur Venkataramana Iyer Sahasranamam, also known as S. V. S., was an Indian actor and director. Primarily a theatre actor, he also worked in over 200 films, mainly in Tamil cinema.
Adi Pherozeshah Marzban (1914–1987) was an Indian Gujarati Parsi playwright, actor, director, broadcaster known for his efforts in modernizing Parsi theatre. He was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of India in 1964 and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1970.
