List of people from Kolkata

Last updated February 07, 2025

List of notable people from Kolkata. Kolkata has been regarded as the cultural capital of India.^[1]

Poets and writers

Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay
Kumudini Basu
Suchitra Bhattacharya
Sukanta Bhattacharya
Buddhadev Bose
Amiya Chakravarty
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
Shakti Chattopadhyay
Nirad C. Chaudhuri
Pramatha Chowdhury
Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury
Dinesh Das
Jibanananda Das
Henry Louis Vivian Derozio
Bishnu Dey
Michael Madhusudan Dutta
Satyendranath Dutta
Sudhindranath Dutta
Sunil Gangopadhyay
Joy Goswami
Amelia Horne
Kaji Nazrul Islam
Sisir Kumar Maitra
Binoy Majumdar
Mohitolal Majumdar
Samaresh Majumdar (b.1944)
Arun Mitra
Dinabandhu Mitra
Premendra Mitra
Dhan Gopal Mukerji
Subhas Mukhopadhyay
Purnendu Patri
Christopher Raja
Annada Shankar Ray
Dwijendralal Ray
Tarapada Ray
Sukumar Ray
Samar Sen
Syed Mujtaba Ali
S Wajid Ali
Badal Sircar, dramatist and theatre director
Rabindranath Tagore, 1st non-European to win a Nobel Prize
Shobhanasundari Mukhopadhyay, Shovana Devi Tagore, folklorist
Mimi Mondal, First Indian English writer who nominated for Hugo Award.
Srijato
Jaydeep Sarangi, English poet (also writes in Bangla) with nine collections

Philosophers and religious teachers

The most famous religious figure of Kolkata is Mother Teresa. Others are (in order of surname):

Bhakti Hridaya Bon (1901—1982)
Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Goswami (1898—1968)
Rajendra Pillai (1968-)^[2]^[3]
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896—1977), founder of ISKCON.
Ramakrishna (1836—1886)
Ram Mohan Roy (1772—1833)
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati (1874—1837), founder of Gaudiya Math.
Keshab Chandra Sen (1838—1884)
Debendranath Tagore (1817—1905)
Bhaktivinoda Thakur (1838—1914)
Swami Vivekananda (1863—1902)

Scientists

List in order of surname.

James Atkinson (1780—1852), surgeon, artist and Persian scholar
R. D. Banerji, archeologist
Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose (1858—1937), Bengali polymath, physicist, biologist, biophysicist, botanist and archaeologist
Upendranath Brahmachari
Asima Chatterjee (1917—2006), chemist
Debendra Mohan Bose (1875—1975), physicist
Satyendra Nath Bose (1894—1974), physicist and polymath from Bengal
Suniti Kumar Chattopadhyay (1890—1977), Bengali linguist
Barun De (1932—2013), historian
Brajendranath De (1852—1932), Indian civil servant and orientalist
Anil Kumar Gain (1919—1978), mathematician and statistician.
J.B.S. Haldane (1892—1964), British-Indian scientist, known for his work in the study of physiology, genetics, evolutionary biology, and mathematics
Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis (1893—1972), Bengali scientist and applied statistician
R.C. Majumdar (1884—1980), historian
P. J. Marshall (b. 1933), historian
Ujjwal Maulik (b. 1965), computer scientist
Subhash Mukhopadhyay (1931—1981), physician
Sisir Kumar Mitra (1890—1963), physicist
Rajat Kanta Ray, historian
Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri (1923—2005), physicist, known for his research in general relativity and cosmology
Tapan Raychaudhuri (1926—2014), historian
C. R. Rao (1920–2023), mathematician and statistician
Prafulla Chandra Roy (1861—1944), Bengali chemist, educationist, historian, industrialist and philanthropist
Meghnad Saha (1893—1956), astrophysicist
Sir Jadunath Sarkar (1870—1958), historian
Sumit Sarkar (b. 1939), historian
Susobhan Sarkar (1900—1982), historian
Tapan Kumar Sarkar (1948—2021), electrical engineer
Ashoke Sen (b. 1956), theoretical physicist
Bikas K Chakrabarti (b. 1952), theoretical physicist & econophysicist
Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay (b. 1968), computer scientist
Sukumar Sen (linguist) historian of Bengali literature

Gallantry Awards winners

Ashoka Chakra

Flight Lieutenant Suhas Biswas

Maha Vir Chakra

Squadron Leader Madhavendra Banerji

Bankers and business people

Amar Kumar Bera
Lakshmi Narayan Mittal
Ravi Modi ^[4]
P. C. Bhattacharya, 7th Governor, Reserve Bank of India
Aditya Vikram Birla
Rama Prasad Goenka (RPG Group)
Sanjiv Goenka
Chandra Shekhar Ghosh (founder of Bandhan Bank)
Radhe Shyam Agarwal
Radhe Shyam Goenka
Rajat Gupta (b. 1948)
Nalini Ranjan Sarkar
Mati Lall Seal
Ellis Jacob (founder of Cineplex Entertainment)
Tiny Rowland (chairman of Lonrho from 1962 to 1993)
Prannoy Roy (b.1949)

Freedom fighters

Performing arts

Artists

Directors

Satyajit Ray, who won the Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in 1992, lived in Kolkata and is considered among the greatest directors of film history.

Other notable filmmakers from Kolkata include:

Cinema actors

Theatre figures

Rudraprasad Sengupta, actor and director
Sambhu Mitra, actor and director
Girishchandra Ghosh father of Bengali theatre
Chitra Sen
Koushik Sen

Photographers

Composers

Hindustani classical singers/maestros

Ustad Allauddin Khan
Ustad Ali Akbar Khan
Pandit Ravi Shankar
Ananda Shankar
Ustad Vilayat Khan
Pandit Jasraj
Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan
Pandit Bhimsen Joshi
Rashid Khan
Naina Devi ^[6]
Pandit Nikhil Banerjee
Ustad Amjad Ali Khan
Ustad Bahadur Khan
Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty
Anjan Chattopadhyay

Hindustani classical instrumentalists

Contemporary Bollywood musicians

Abhijeet Bhattacharya, playback singer
Anupam Roy (b.1982), singer-songwriter
Alka Yagnik (b. 1966), playback singer
Arijit Singh (b. 1987), singer, music producer, recordist and music programmer
Babul Supriyo (b. 1970), playback singer, live performer, television host, actor and politician
Kumar Sanu (b. 1957), playback singer
Pritam (b. 1971)
Sagarika (b. 1970), playback singer and actress
Shreya Ghoshal (b. 1984), playback singer
Shaan (b. 1972), playback singer and actor

Dancers

Prominent dancers of the city include:

Uday Shankar and his wife Amala Shankar
Mamata Shankar
Tanushree Shankar
Ananda Shankar
Sadhana Bose
Sharmila Biswas ^[7]
Shila Mehta, classical dance artist, choreographer, teacher, and composer
Rani Karnaa
Rajeswari Vaidyanathan, Tedx Speaker, trainer, performer and choreographer

Magicians

Kolkata is the magic capital of India and has produced internationally famous magicians and performers, including:

P.C. Sorcar
P.C. Sorcar, Jr.
P.C. Sorcar, Young

Sports

Norman Pritchard, track and field, Olympic medallist (1900)
Richard James Allen, hockey, Olympic(1928, 1932, 1936)
Leslie Claudius, hockey, Olympic medallist (1924, 1928, 1936)
Gurbux Singh, hockey, Olympic medallist (1964, 1968)
Vece Paes, hockey, Olympic medallist (1980)
Leander Paes, tennis, Olympic medallist (1996)
Sourav Ganguly, cricketer, former India national cricket team's captain, sports administrator, former BCCI president
Chhanda Gayen, mountaineer, first Bengali woman to summit Mount Everest
Pankaj Roy, cricketer
Laxmi Ratan Shukla, cricketer
Deep Dasgupta, cricketer
Rohan Gavaskar, cricketer (son of Sunil Gavaskar)
Manoj Tiwary, cricketer
Ashok Dinda, cricketer
Wriddhiman Saha, cricketer
Mohammed Shami, cricketer
Len Stubbs, former cricketer
Chuni Goswami, footballer
Gautam Sarkar, footballer
Shailen Manna, footballer, former India national football team's captain (guided India to Gold medal in 1951 Asiad)
Pradip Kumar Banerjee, footballer
Krishanu Dey, footballer
Sudip Chatterjee, footballer
Subrata Pal, footballer
Subhasish Roy Chowdhury, footballer
Syed Rahim Nabi, footballer
Mehtab Hossain, footballer
Arnab Mondal, footballer
Pronay Halder, footballer
Pritam Kotal, footballer
Narayan Das, footballer
Subhasish Bose, footballer
Mihir Sen, record swimmer
Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, track and field
Arjun Atwal, golfer
Surya Shekhar Ganguly, chess grandmaster
Dibyendu Barua, chess grandmaster
Sandipan Chanda, chess grandmaster
Deep Sengupta, chess grandmaster
Gobar Guha, wrestler
Manohar Aich, body builder, Mr. Universe 1952
Dipu Ghosh, badminton, Arjuna Award
Saurav Ghosal, squash player
Jaidip Mukerjea, tennis player
Jagmohan Dalmiya, sports administrator
Pankaj Gupta, sports administrator
John Holman, cricketer
William Laidlay, cricketer
Hira Mondal, Footballer

Nobel laureates

Six Nobel Prize winners have been associated with Kolkata:

Sir Ronald Ross (1857—1932) — medicine, 1902
Rabindranath Tagore (1861—1941) — literature, 1913; first Asian to win the Nobel Prize
Mother Teresa (1910—1997) — peace, 1979
Amartya Sen (b. 1933) — economics, 1998
Abhijit Banerjee (b. 1961) - economics, 2019
CV Raman - physics

Ramon Magsaysay Award winners

The Ramon Magsaysay Award, sometimes called "Asia's Nobel Prize", is given "to perpetuate his example of integrity in government, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic idealism within a democratic society." Kolkata winners include:

Mother Teresa (1910—1997) — Peace and International Understanding, 1962
Satyajit Ray (1921—1992) — Journalism, Literature, and the Creative Communication Arts, 1967
Gour Kishore Ghosh (1923—2000) — Journalism, Literature, and the Creative Communication Arts, 1981
Mahasweta Devi (1926—2016) — Journalism, Literature, and the Creative Communication Arts, 1997

Others

Samik Bandyopadhyay (b.1940), critic of Indian art, theatre and film
Tanmoy Bhattacharya (b. 1958), politician
William Carey (1761—1834), missioner and reformer
Laksmikanta Roy Choudhury (1570—1649), Brahmin scholar, social and political figure
Alexander Duff (1806—1878), missioner and reformer
Manny Elias (b. 1953), drummer, record producer, original drummer of the Tears for Fears
David Hare (1775—1842), philanthropist and founder of many important and prestigious educational institutions of Kolkata
Mohit Kumar (b. 1992), fashion model and influencer^[8]
Rajendra Prasad (1884—1963), politician, the first President of India (from 1950 to 1962)
Romita Ray (b. 1970), art historian
Radhika Roy (b.1948), journalist
Gayatri Chakravorty Spiv (b. 1942), scholar, literary theorist, and feminist critic
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820—1891), philosopher, academic, writer, translator, entrepreneur, social reformer and philanthropist; key figure of the Bengal Renaissance

References

↑ naiya, Arijit; Anita Desai (2003). Calcutta: a cultural and literary history. Signal Books. p. xiv. ISBN 978-1-902669-59-5.
↑ "Meet Our Team | Damascus Road Community Church". Damascus Road Community Church | Welcome. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
↑ "Rajendra Pillai | Penguin Random House". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
↑ "The Untold Story Of How Ravi Modi Built Vedant Fashions—the Makers Of Manyavar—into A $3.5 Billion Behemoth". Forbes India. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
↑ "Shanu Lahiri dead". The Telegraph (Calcutta). Archived from the original on 7 February 2013. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
↑ "A Tale Of Two Women: In search of their own songs". The Telegraph. 11 March 2012. Archived from the original on 29 July 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
↑ "Katha Kavya Abhinaya". Sangeet Natak Akademi. 2011. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
↑ https://medium.com/@wearemojocreatives/mohit-kumar-fashion-model-of-kolkata-wins-male-model-of-the-year-west-bengal-2023-dce7214ffb6a

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[1] ya, Arijit; Anita Desai (2003). Calcutta: a cultural and literary history. Signal Books. p. xiv. ISBN 978-1-902669-59-5.

[2] "Meet Our Team | Damascus Road Community Church". Damascus Road Community Church | Welcome. Retrieved 28 January 2019.

[3] "Rajendra Pillai | Penguin Random House". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved 28 January 2019.

[4] "The Untold Story Of How Ravi Modi Built Vedant Fashions—the Makers Of Manyavar—into A $3.5 Billion Behemoth". Forbes India. Retrieved 5 December 2024.

[Telegraph-5] "Shanu Lahiri dead". The Telegraph (Calcutta). Archived from the original on 7 February 2013. Retrieved 15 March 2013.

[tele12-6] "A Tale Of Two Women: In search of their own songs". The Telegraph. 11 March 2012. Archived from the original on 29 July 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2013.

[sna-7] "Katha Kavya Abhinaya". Sangeet Natak Akademi. 2011. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 28 May 2013.

[8] ttps://medium.com/@wearemojocreatives/mohit-kumar-fashion-model-of-kolkata-wins-male-model-of-the-year-west-bengal-2023-dce7214ffb6a

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