List of people from Bengaluru

Last updated September 09, 2025

This is a list of notable people from Bengaluru .

Founder and Architect of Bengaluru

Nada Prabhu Kempe Gowda

Scientists

C V Raman – Nobel Prize in Physics (1930), Bharat Ratna (1954)
M. Visvesvarayya – Bharat Ratna, in 1955, Indian civil engineer, statesman, Diwan of Mysore
C. N. R. Rao – Bharat Ratna (2014) Indian Institute of Science (Material Sciences) Bharat Ratna (2014)
H Narasimhaiah – Indian physicist, educator, writer, freedom fighter and rationalist Padma Bhushan (1984)
Bangalore Puttaiya Radhakrishna – geologist
Kumble R. Subbaswamy – physicist
Sachidananda Kangovi - Aerospace engineer, IT executive, and author

Politicians

H. D. Deve Gowda - former prime minister
H. D. Kumaraswamy - former chief minister of Karnataka
Gundu Rao - former Chief Minister
Siddaramaiah - former Chief Minister
B S Yediyurappa - former Chief Minister
Ramalinga Reddy - former State Home Minister and various ministry, seven time MLA from Bangalore
D. K. Shivakumar - former minister of medical education
B.Vaikunta Vaikunta Baliga - former Law Minister; former Speaker, Mysore State
S.Bangarappa - former Chief Minister
S. R. Bommai - former Chief Minister
George Fernandes - former Defence Minister
Kengal Hanumanthaiah - former Chief Minister
Ramakrishna Hegde - former Chief Minister
Qamar ul Islam - former Housing and Labour Minister
Basappa Danappa Jatti - former Vice-President
M.N. Jois - former M.L.C, Deputy Speaker of Legislative Council - Mysore State
Mallikarjun Kharge - former State Minister (various portfolios); former Union Labour Minister in the Manmohan Singh Government; current leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha
S. M. Krishna - former External Affairs Minister of India; former Governor of Maharashtra; former Chief Minister of Karnataka
H.N.Ananth Kumar - former Union Minister and MP
Kadidal Manjappa - former Chief Minister
Veerappa Moily - Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas; former Chief Minister
K. H. Muniyappa - union minister of state for railways
S. Nijalingappa - former Chief Minister
Nandan Nilekani - Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)
J. H. Patel - former Chief Minister
Veerendra Patil - former Chief Minister
M. A. M. Ramaswamy - Rajya Sabha MP and industrialist
K. C. Reddy - former Chief Minister
Dharam Singh - former Chief Minister
Devaraj Urs - former Chief Minister
H. Vishwanath - former Minister

Kannada writers

Kuvempu – poet, Jnanpith awardee
U. R. Ananthamurthy – Kannada writer, thinker and Jnanpith awardee
Da Ra Bendre – poet, Jnanpith awardee
S. L. Bhyrappa – writer, novelist
V. K. Gokak – writer, Jnanapith awardee
Masti Venkatesh Iyengar – Jnanpith awardee
T. P. Kailasam – Kannada writer, playwright
Chandrashekhar Kambar – Jnanapith awardee for his contributions to Kannada literature
K. Shivaram Karanth – Kannada writer, Jnanapith awardee
Girish Karnad – Kannada writer, playwright, actor, Jnanpith awardee
K. S. Nissar Ahmed – Kannada poet
Sudha Murthy

Other writers

Mahesh Dattani – English playwright and Sahitya Akademi award winner
Ramachandra Guha – historian and Sahitya Akademi award winner
Sangu Mandanna – English-language writer
Anita Nair – English author of the books Ladies Coupe and Mistress
Malathi Rao – English-language writer, Sahitya Akademi award winner
Madhuri Vijay – English-language writer, Pushcart Prize winner

Entrepreneurs

G. R. Gopinath – founder of Deccan Aviation and Deccan 360
Kiran Mazumdar – founder of Biocon, a biotechnology company
N. R. Narayana Murthy – founder of Infosys
Nandan Nilekani – Co-founder of Infosys
V. G. Siddhartha – founder of Café Coffee Day

Sportspersons

Athletics

Ashwini Nachappa – former athlete

Badminton

Prakash Padukone – badminton player
Ashwini Ponnappa

Billiards

Pankaj Advani – billiards and snooker World Champion

Cricket

Mayank Agarwal – Indian cricketer
John Bean – English first-class cricketer and British Army officer
Vijay Bhardwaj – former Indian allrounder
Raghuram Bhat – former Indian left-arm spinner
Roger Binny – former Indian all rounder
Stuart Binny – all rounder
B. S. Chandrasekhar – Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1972
Rahul Dravid – batsman, former India Captain and has taken highest number of catches in international cricket
Dodda Ganesh – former medium pacer
Sunil Joshi – retired all rounder
Syed Kirmani – retired wicket-keeper
Prasidh Krishna – fast bowler
Veda Krishnamurthy – Indian woman cricketer
Vinay Kumar – medium pacer
Anil Kumble – leg spinner, Test Captain, India's highest wicket taker, former Indian National Cricket Team coach
Abhimanyu Mithun – Indian cricketer
Devdutt Padikkal – Ranji player

Manish Pandey – Indian cricketer
Venkatesh Prasad – retired fast bowler; India's former bowling coach
Erapalli Prasanna – retired off spinner
KL Rahul – Indian cricketer
Javagal Srinath – retired fast bowler, match referee
Robin Uthappa – Indian cricketer
Vellaswamy Vanitha – former Indian woman cricketer
Sadanand Viswanath – former Indian wicket-keeper
Gundappa Ranganath Vishwanath – former Indian cricket captain (1979–1980)

Hockey

Ashish Ballal – hockey goalkeeper
Arjun Halappa – Indian hockey team

Motorsports

Arjun Maini – Asian Le Mans Series and Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters driver
Akhil Rabindra – GT4 European Series driver

Nikhil Pai – Indian rallying co-driver
Shreyas Hareesh – Indian motorcycle racer

Swimming

Nisha Millet – Olympian at Sydney Olympics 2000

Tennis

Rohan Bopanna

Entertainers

Kannada and Indian cinema

Dino Morea – actor, supermodel
Ramesh Aravind - actor
Sandeep Chowta - music director, producer
Guru Dutt - actor, director, producer
Dwarkeesh - actor, comedian
Nicole Faria (born 1990) – actress, model, Miss Earth 2010
Hamsalekha - music director, lyricist, dramatist
Jaggesh - actor
Amoghavarsha JS - filmmaker
Kalpana - actress, Minugutare
Puttanna Kanagal - director
Girish Kasaravalli - director
Kashinath - actor
Feroz Khan - actor, editor, producer, director
Sanjay Khan - producer, director and actor
Bangalore Latha - playback singer
Malashree - actress
Manjula - actress
Nithya Menen - actress
Anant Nag - actor, brother of Shankar Nag
Shankar Nag - actor, producer, director
Nayanthara - actress, producer (born in Bengaluru from Malayali ancestry)
Deepika Padukone - model, actress
Prema - actress
Prakash Raj - actor, director, producer
Rajinikanth - actor
Dr. Rajkumar - actor, singer, producer
Puneeth Rajkumar - actor, son of Dr. Rajkumar
Raghavendra Rajkumar - actor, son of Dr. Rajkumar
Shiva Rajkumar - actor, son of Dr. Rajkumar
Ramya - actress, politician
Kiran Rao - producer, screenwriter, and director
V. Ravichandran - actor, director, producer, music director, editor
Anushka Sharma - actress
Soundarya - actress
Srinath - actor, Pranaya Raja, Shubha Mangala
Sudeepa - actor, director, producer, singer, host
Darshan Thoogudeep - actor
Chi. Udayashankar - dialogue writer and lyricist
Upendra - director, actor, producer
Rockline Venkatesh - actor, film producer
Dr. Vishnuvardhan - actor, singer
Yash - actor

Architects

Spiritual leaders

Other notable people

R. K. Baliga – founder of the Electronics City in Bangalore
Shakuntala Devi – known as the "human calculator"
Trivikrama Mahadeva – organiser of funerals for tens of thousands of paupers
Thomas Mohan (born 1959) – wildlife photographer and civil engineer
Maya Rao (1928–2014) – Kathak Guru; founder of Natya Institute of Kathak and Choreography^[1]
Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan AC, (15 March 1977 – 28 November 2008) – military officer
Dr H. N. Shubhada – educationalist

References

↑ GS Kumar (25 August 2014). ofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/kannada/music/Maya-Rao-tookforbidden-dance-to-a-new-level/articleshow/40863459.cms "Maya Rao took forbidden dance to a new level". The Times of India. Retrieved 1 September 2014.{{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[toijuly-1] GS Kumar (25 August 2014). ofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/kannada/music/Maya-Rao-tookforbidden-dance-to-a-new-level/articleshow/40863459.cms "Maya Rao took forbidden dance to a new level". The Times of India. Retrieved 1 September 2014.{{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)

[1]