Meera Syal FRSL is a British comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created Goodness Gracious Me and portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, Ummi, in The Kumars at No. 42. She became one of the UK's best-known Asian personalities.
Yash Raj Chopra was an Indian film director and film producer who worked in Hindi cinema. The founding chairman of the film production and distribution company Yash Raj Films, Chopra was the recipient of several awards, including 6 National Film Awards and 8 Filmfare Awards. He is considered among the best Indian filmmakers. For his contributions to film, the Government of India honoured him with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2001, and the Padma Bhushan in 2005. In 2006 British Academy of Film and Television Arts presented him with a lifetime membership, making him the first Indian to receive the honour.
Shahin Badar is an English singer-songwriter who is best known in Europe and North America for her vocals on The Prodigy's single "Smack My Bitch Up" (1997). It earned her a Double Platinum award.
Meena Kumari was an Indian actress and poet, who worked in Hindi films. Popularly known as The Tragedy Queen, she was active between 1939 and 1972. Kumari was described by critics as a "historically incomparable" actress of Hindi cinema. In a career spanning 33 years, she starred in over 90 films till her premature death in 1972.
Ramanand Sagar was an Indian film director. He is most famous for making the Ramayan television series, a 78-part TV adaptation of the ancient Indian epic of the same name, starring Arun Govil as Lord Ram and Deepika Chikhalia as Sita. This TV serial was then widely watched and liked across the country. The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of Padma Shri in 2000.
Harvey Virdi is a British actress of Indian descent. She trained at Academy Drama School in London.
Jamila Massey is a British actress and writer. Massey has had a long career on UK television and radio. She is known for playing Auntie Satya in the long-running radio soap The Archers, Jamila Ranjha in Mind Your Language, and Sanjay Kapoor's mother Neelam in EastEnders.
The National Bravery Awards are a set of awards given annually to about 25 Indian children below 18 years of age for "meritorious acts of bravery against all odds." The awards are given by the Government of India and the Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW). The award was instituted in 1957
Pooja Chopra is an Indian actress. She won the title of Femina Miss India World 2009. She is the first Indian to win the "Beauty with a Purpose" title at the Miss World competition for India. As an actress, Chopra was awarded the Times Most Powerful Woman Award for her contribution to the field of acting. She got her breakthrough with Commando: A One Man Army and since then, appeared in many films.
Peshkar Productions is an intercultural theatre and multimedia art company based in the Northwest of England. It engages in participatory projects and professional productions.
Kuljit Bhamra MBE Hon DMus is a British composer, record producer and musician whose main instrument is the tabla. He is best known as one of the record producers who pioneered the British Bhangra sound and for his many collaborations with musicians from different genres and continents. His MBE was awarded in the Queen's Birthday Honour's List 2009 with the citation For services to Bhangra and British Asian Music. In July 2010 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Exeter.
Dharmputra is a 1961 Hindi film directed by Yash Chopra based on a novel of the same name by Acharya Chatursen. This is Yash's second directorial venture. It was the first Hindi film to depict the partition of India, and Hindu fundamentalism. Produced by his elder brother B.R. Chopra, who was himself uprooted from Lahore, during the partition of India and established B.R. Films in Mumbai in 1956. The film dealt with issues of religious bigotry, fanaticism and communalism amidst the backdrop of the partition. Two years earlier, Yash Chopra had made his debut with Dhool Ka Phool (1959), steeped in Nehruvian secularism, wherein a Muslim brings up an "illegitimate" Hindu child and featured the classic song "Tu Hindu Banega Na Musalman Banega, Insaan Ki Aulaad Hai, Insaan Banega". The theme was reversed in this film as herein a Hindu family brings up an illegitimate Muslim child.
BhaṅgṛāIPA: [ˈpə̀ŋɡɽaː](listen)) is a type of traditional folk dance of Punjab, originating in the Sialkot area of Punjab. It is done in the season of harvesting. According to Manual (2001), bhangra is especially associated with the vernal Vaisakhi festival.
Akshay Kumar is an Indian-born naturalised Canadian actor, television presenter and film producer who works in Hindi-language films. He debuted with a minor role in the 1987 Indian film Aaj. He played the lead in Saugandh (1991) before breakthrough with the suspense thriller Khiladi (1992), first film of the Khiladi series. He established himself as an action hero with Deedar (1992), Mohra (1994), Main Khiladi Tu Anari (1994), Suhaag (1994), Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi (1996) and earned his first Filmfare Awards nominations for the romantic films Yeh Dillagi (1994) and Dil To Pagal Hai (1997). However, several other of his 90s releases performed poorly at the box office leading to a setback in his film career.
Niraj Chag is a London-based musical artist and composer. His musical style mixes Indian classical influences with contemporary stylings and layered, complex beats. Niraj's tracks were initially released on the Outcaste record label and later on his own Buzz-erk label. He has written and produced three albums released under his own name: Along the Dusty Road (2006), The Lost Souls (2009) and Mud Doll (2015).
Virender Lal Chopra was an Indian biotechnologist, geneticist, agriculturalist and a director-general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), known to have contributed to the development of wheat production in India. He was the chancellor of Central University of Kerala, a Chancellor of the Central Agricultural University, Imphal and a member of the Planning Commission of India. An elected fellow of several science academies such as Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, India, European Academy of Sciences and Arts and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), he was a recipient of a number of honors including Borlaug Award, FAO World Food Day Award and Om Prakash Bhasin Award. The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1985, for his contributions to agricultural science.
Gold Award for Best Television Show (Fiction) is an award given as part of its annual Gold Awards for Indian television, to recognize the most popular fiction show of the year.
