Gopynathan Velayudhan Nair, popularly known by the stage name Bharat Gopy, was an Indian actor, producer, and director. Considered one of the greatest actors in the history of Indian cinema, Gopy was one of the first actors to be associated with the New Wave cinema movement in Kerala during the 1970s.
Dadi Pudumjee is a leading puppeteer in India and he is the founder of The Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1992.
Ram Mohan was an Indian animator, title designer and design educator, who was also known as father of Indian Animation and was a veteran in the Indian animation industry, who started his career at the Cartoon Films Unit, Films Division of India, Government of India in 1956. He was chairman and chief creative officer at Graphiti Multimedia, a Mumbai-based animation company which was established in 1995, and later he also established the Graphiti School of Animation in 2006.
Aamir Raza Husain was an Indian theatre actor and director, noted for his large outdoor stage productions like The Fifty Day War (2000), based on the Kargil War and The Legend of Ram (2004), based on the epic Ramayana. He was also the creative director of Stagedoor, a theatre company established in 1974, which has staged over 91 productions and more than 1,100 performances.
R. Nagarathnamma (1926–2012) was an Indian theatre personality and the founder of Stree Nataka Mandali, an all-women theatre group based in Bengaluru. A recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, she was honored by the Government of India, in 2012, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri.
Gopal Prasad Dubey is an Indian classical dancer, known for his expertise in the Indian classical dance form of Chhau. He is considered by many as the leading exponent of the Seraikella variant of the art form. Dubey was honored by the Government of India, in 2012, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri.
Bir Bhan Bhatia was an Indian physician and a former member of the Legislative Council of the United Provinces in the British India. The Government of India honoured him in 1954, with the award of Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award for his contributions to medicine, placing him among the first recipients of the award.
Ahindra Choudhury (1896-1974) was an Indian actor, director, theatre personality and the co-founder of Photo Play Syndicate, a Kolkata-based art organization for bioscope shows. A winner of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1958, Choudhury was honoured by the Government of India in 1963 with the award of Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award, for his services to the nation.
Daji Bhatawadekar, was an Indian theatre personality and film and television actor. He was credited with the revival of Sanskrit and Marathi theatre in India. A winner of the Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 1965, he was honoured by the Government of India in 1967, with the award of Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award for his contributions to the society.
Prem Dhawan (1923–2001) was an Indian lyricist, music composer, choreographer and actor of Bollywood known for his patriotic songs, especially for the lyrics and compositions for the 1965 Manoj Kumar starrer, Shaheed. He was a winner of the National Film Award for Best Lyrics in 1971 and was honoured by the Government of India in 1970 with Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award.
Krishnaswami Srinivas Sanjivi (1903–1994) was an Indian medical doctor, Gandhian, social worker and the founder of Voluntary Health Services (VHS), a medical facility in Chennai reported to be serving the lower and middle-class people of the society. He was honoured by the Government of India in 1971 with Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award. Five years later, the government followed it up by awarding him the third highest civilian award of Padma Bhushan in 1976.
Som Nath Sadhu (1935–1982) was an Indian theatre personality known for his contributions to Kashmiri theatre as an actor, playwright and director.
Gitchandra Tongbra, popularly known as G. C. Tongbra, was an Indian satirist, poet, playwright and art academic from Imphal. Born on 6 February 1913 in the Indian state of Manipur, Tongbra was known for his socio-realistic plays such as Mani Manou (1962), Matric Pass (1964) and Upu Baksi (1972).
Madan Lal Madhu (1925–2014) was an Indian poet and translator, known for his translations of Russian classics into Hindi. He was one of the founders of Hindustani Samaj, an Indian community in Moscow and a recipient of the Medal of Pushkin and the Order of Friendship of the former Soviet Union. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri in 1991.
Waman Thakre is an Indian photographer and a former deputy director at the Directorate of Panchayat and Social Service of the Government of Madhya Pradesh. He is a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and the Photographic Society of America and is a recipient of the Shikhar Award of the MP State government. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2007, for his contributions to Arts.
Sabitri Heisnam is an Indian stage actor and one of the notable theatre personalities in Manipuri theatre. She has also acted in the critically acclaimed short film, Scribbles on Akka (2000), directed by Madhusree Dutta, which won the IDPA Award, best script award at Shanghai International Film Festival and the National Film Award for Best Anthropological Film. She is a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award of 1991. The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2008, for her contributions to Manipuri theatre.
Govind Ram Nirmalkar (1935–2014) was an Indian actor and folk theatre artist, known for his contributions to the Nacha folk theatre of Chhattisgarh. His portrayal of the protagonist in Charan Das Chor, an award winning play by Habib Tanveer, won him critical acclaim. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2009, for his contributions to Arts. He was also a recipient of the 2012 Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.
Niranjan Goswami is an Indian mime artist and stage director, credited by many with pioneering the art form of mime in India. He is the founder of Indian Mime Theatre, a group promoting the art of Mukhabhinaya.
Suresh Dutta is an Indian puppet artist, theatre personality and the founder of Calcutta Puppet Theatre, a Kolkata-based theatre group dedicated to puppetry. Born in Faridpur, in the undivided Bengal of the British India, he trained art under Phani Bhushan, a Jatra exponent, and Kathakali under Balakrishna Menon. He has also learnt fusion style of danceform from maestro Uday Shankar. He also learnt Bharatanatyam and Manipuri before moving to Russia, under a scholarship in 1962, to train in puppetry under the Russian puppeteer, Sergey Obraztsov.
Chirapat Prapandvidya is a Thai archaeologist, Sanskrit scholar and an Indologist. He was the founder and the first Director of Sanskrit Studies Centre at Silpakorn University in Bangkok. He has also published over a hundred articles on Sanskrit and Indology. In the year 2022, Govt of India honoured Chirapat Prapandvidya by conferring the Padma Shri award for his contributions to literature and education.
