Shakuntala Devi was an Indian mental calculator, astrologer, and writer, popularly known as the "Human Computer". Her talent earned her a place in the 1982 edition of The Guinness Book of World Records. However, the certificate for the record was given posthumously on 30 July 2020, despite Devi achieving her world record on 18 June 1980 at Imperial College, London. Devi was a precocious child, and she demonstrated her arithmetic abilities at the University of Mysore without any formal education.
Vidya Balan is an Indian actress. Known for pioneering a change in the portrayal of women in Hindi cinema with her roles in female-led films, she is the recipient of several awards, including a National Film Award and seven Filmfare Awards. She was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2014.
Amit Sadh is an Indian actor who is known for his work in several films and television productions. He is best known for his performances in films like Kai Po Che! (2013), Sultan (2016) and Gold (2018). In recent years, he has become well-known for his roles in web series. He played Inspector Kabir Sawant in three seasons of Breathe streaming on Amazon Prime Video. He won the Filmfare OTT Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
Jisshu Sengupta is an Indian actor, producer, television presenter, who predominantly works in Bengali, Hindi and Telugu films alongside a few Kannada films.
Abohomaan is a 2010 Bengali-language film by Rituparno Ghosh, which explores the nuances of relationships through a married film director who falls in love with an actress who is the same age as his son. The film stars Deepankar De, Mamata Shankar, Ananya Chatterjee, Jisshu Sengupta, Riya Sen and is produced by Mahesh Ramanathan, Reliance Big Pictures. Rituparno Ghosh, Arghyakamal Mitra, Mahesh Ramanathan and Ananya Chatterjee won National Film Awards in 2010 for Best Director, Best Editor Best Bengali Film and Best Actress respectively. The film was screened in the Marché du Film section of the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.
Ishita Moitra is a screenwriter based in Mumbai, India.
Amrita Puri is an Indian actress who mainly works in Hindi films and web shows. She made her acting debut with the romantic comedy-drama Aisha (2010), which earned her the Stardust Award for Breakthrough Performance – Female and also received Filmfare Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She had her first commercial success with the 2013 buddy sports drama Kai Po Che!.
Mahaguru is a 2007 Indian Bengali-language action thriller film directed by Anup Sengupta, starring Mithun Chakraborty, Debashree Roy, Jisshu Sengupta, George Baker and Anu Choudhury.
Ek Nadir Galpo: Tale of a River is a 2008 Bengali-language Indian feature film directed by Samir Chanda and produced by Sangeeta Ajay Agarwal and Leela Chanda, starring Mithun Chakraborty, Shweta Prasad, Jisshu Sengupta, Anjan Srivastav, Nirmal Kumar and Montu Moha Patra.
Indian actress Vidya Balan made her acting debut in 1995 with the sitcom Hum Paanch, following which she made several unsuccessful attempts at a film career. Vidya then appeared in music videos for Euphoria, Pankaj Udhas, and Shubha Mudgal all directed by Pradeep Sarkar. She had her first film release with a leading role in Goutam Halder's Bengali film Bhalo Theko (2003). In 2005, she starred in Sarkar's Parineeta, an adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel, which won her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. Rajkumar Hirani's Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006), a successful comedy sequel, saw her play a radio jockey opposite Sanjay Dutt.
Ek Je Chhilo Raja is an Indian Bengali drama film directed by Srijit Mukherji, under the banner of SVF Entertainment Pvt Ltd, starring Jisshu Sengupta in the title role of Maharaja Mahendra Kumar Chowdhury as well as the Bhawal sanyasi. The film also stars Jaya Ahsan, Aparna Sen, Anirban Bhattacharya, Anjan Dutt, Rudranil Ghosh and Sreenanda Shankar. The movie was released during Durga puja 2018. Most of the film was shot at Kathgola in Murshidabad. The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali at India's 66th National Film Awards.
Sanya Malhotra is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. She has had supporting roles in the sports film Dangal (2016) and the action film Jawan (2023), both of which rank among the highest-grossing Indian films. Her other commercially successful films were the comedy Badhaai Ho (2018) and the biopic Sam Bahadur (2023).
Photograph is a 2019 Indian romantic drama film written, co-produced and directed by Ritesh Batra. It stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Sanya Malhotra in the lead roles. The film follows a street photographer Rafi, who tries to convince Miloni to pose as his fiancee so that his grandmother stops pressuring him to get married.
Mahalaya (2019) is an Indian Bengali language drama film directed by Soumik Sen and produced by Nideas Creations and Productions Pvt Ltd. The film narrates an incident in Bengal in 1976, when Birendra Krishna Bhadra narrated and Pankaj Mullick composed widely popular Mahisasuramardini program, which had been playing on All India Radio since 1931 on the eve of Mahalaya, was replaced by a new program Durga Durgatiharini, narrated by Bengali film actor Uttam Kumar and composed by Hemanta Mukherjee. Subhasish Mukhopadhyay played the role of Bhadra and Jisshu Sengupta played the role of Uttam Kumar.
Durgamati is a 2020 Indian Hindi-language horror thriller film written and directed by G. Ashok which is a remake of his own Telugu–Tamil bilingual film Bhaagamathie (2018). It stars Bhumi Pednekar as an IAS officer, with Arshad Warsi, Jisshu Sengupta and Mahie Gill playing supporting roles. The film is produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar and Vikram Malhotra under T-Series, Cape of Good Films and Abundantia Entertainment.
Anupamaa is an Indian Hindi-language television drama series that premiered on 13 July 2020 on StarPlus and streams digitally on Disney+ Hotstar. Produced by Rajan Shahi and Deepa Shahi under the banner of Director's Kut Productions, it is a remake of Star Jalsha's Bengali series Sreemoyee. Rupali Ganguly plays the titular role and formerly starred Sudhanshu Pandey, Madalsa Sharma and Gaurav Khanna. Since October 2024, the series stars Ganguly with Adrija Roy and Shivam Khajuria as second generation leads.
Shaakuntalam is a 2023 Indian Telugu-language Mythological film romantic drama film written and directed by Gunasekhar. It is produced by Neelima Guna under Gunaa Teamworks and distributed by Sri Venkateswara Creations. Based on a popular play Abhignyana Shakuntalam by Kalidasa, the film features Samantha in the title role of Shakuntala and Dev Mohan as Dushyanta, the king of Puru dynasty along with Mohan Babu, Jisshu Sengupta, Madhoo, Gautami, Aditi Balan and Ananya Nagalla in supporting roles. In the film, Shakuntala and King Dushyant marry, but Dushyant forgets all about Shakuntala due to a sage's curse.
Sherni ( transl. Tigress) is a 2021 Indian Hindi-language thriller film directed by Amit V. Masurkar and produced by T-Series and Abundantia Entertainment. The film stars Vidya Balan in the leading role of an Indian Forest Service officer, alongside Sharat Saxena, Vijay Raaz, Ila Arun, Brijendra Kala, Neeraj Kabi and Mukul Chaddha in supporting roles. The film premiered on Amazon Prime Video on 18 June 2021.
Jisshu Sengupta is an Indian actor, producer, television presenter and anchor who predominantly works in Bengali, Telugu cinema, in addition to few Hindi and Kannada language films. Sengupta made his debut through a Bengali TV series, Mahaprabhu where he portrayed the role of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu; the role gained him much recognition. Subsequently, he made his film debut with Priyojon (1999), which became a debacle at the box office. In 2002, he played Tagore in Sukanta Roy's ambitious venture Chelebela alongside Debashree Roy playing Kadambari Devi. following which he appeared in a spate of critically and commercially unsuccessful projects. He made his Bollywood debut with Shyam Benegal's National Award winning film Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero (2004). A turning point came in his career when he collaborated with Rituparno Ghosh for the latter's Abohomaan, which earned him critical acclaim. His subsequent collaborations with Ghosh for films which include Noukadubi and Shob Charitro Kalponik brought him a higher degree of critical and commercial success. Sengupta's collaborations with other directors for films such as Jaatishwar, Ek Je Chhilo Raja, Posto enabled him to become one of the most sought out actors in Bengali cinema.
Anupama: Namaste America is an Indian Hindi-language drama television series which aired on 25 April 2022 on Disney+ Hotstar. Produced by Rajan Shahi and Ishika Shahi under Director's Kut Productions, it stars Rupali Ganguly and Sudhanshu Pandey. It is an eleven-episode prequel series to Star Plus's Hindi television series Anupamaa which concluded on 6 May 2022.
