Dharmendra Kewal Krishan Deol is an Indian actor, producer and politician who is primarily known for his work in Hindi films, as well as in a few Punjabi films. Sometimes nicknamed the "He-Man" of Bollywood, Dharmendra is widely regarded to be amongst the most handsome Indian actors of his time. He received the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour, from the Government of India in 2012. Dharmendra has worked in over 300 films in a career spanning over six decades, He is considered one of the most successful actors in the history of Hindi Cinema.
Pullela Gopichand is a former Indian badminton player. Currently, he is the Chief National Coach for the India national badminton team. He won the All England Open Badminton Championships in 2001, becoming the second Indian to achieve this feat after Prakash Padukone. He runs the Gopichand Badminton Academy. He received the Arjuna Award in 1999, the Dronacharya Award in 2009 and the Padma Bhushan – India's third highest civilian award – in 2014.
The Khel Ratna Award, officially known as the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, is the highest sporting honour of India. It is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India.
The Dronacharya Award, officially known as Dronacharya Award for Outstanding Coaches in Sports and Games, is sports coaching honour of the Republic of India. The award is named after Drona, often referred as "Dronacharya" or "Guru Drona", a character from the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata of ancient India. He was master of advanced military warfare and was appointed as the royal preceptor to the Kaurava and the Pandava princes for their training in military arts and astras. It is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. Recipients are selected by a committee constituted by the Ministry and are honoured to have done "outstanding and meritorious work on a consistent basis and enabled sportspersons to excel in international events" over a period of four years. Two awards are designated for the lifetime contribution in coaching where the achievements in producing "outstanding sportspersons" over a period of 20 years or more are considered. As of 2020, the award comprises a bronze statuette of Dronacharya, a certificate, ceremonial dress, and a cash prize of ₹15 lakh (US$19,000).
Syed Mohammed Arif, popularly known as Arif Saahab, is an Indian badminton coach. He is a recipient of Dronacharya Award and Padma Shri Award by the Government of India.
Ripudaman Singh, known as R.D. Singh, is an Indian athletics coach from Hanumangarh, Rajasthan. He is a recipient of Dronacharya Award, by the government of India. He is India's first Dronacharya awardee coach in the category of sports for specially abled.
Om Prakash Bhardwaj was an Indian boxing coach. In 1985, he was awarded the Dronacharya Award, India's highest award in the field of coaching of sports and athletics. He is India's first Dronacharya awardee coach for boxing.
Purnima Mahato is an Indian archer and archery coach from Jamshedpur, India. She has won the Indian national archery championships and a silver medal at the 1998 Commonwealth Games. She was a coach for the Indian national team at the 2008 Summer Olympics and was selected to coach the team at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She was awarded Dronacharya award from President of India for 2013 on 29 August 2013.
Sunil Dabas is a coach of national female Kabbadi team of India. Over the years, she has coached her team to win seven international gold medals, including the 2010 Asian Games and the World Cup-2012. She was awarded the Dronacharya Award in 2012, and Padma Shri in 2014 by Government of India.
Radhika Madan is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films and television. After graduating from Jesus and Mary College, she began her acting career with the television soap opera Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi (2014–2016). She made her film debut with Vishal Bhardwaj's drama Pataakha in 2018, for which she won the Screen Award for Best Female Debut.
Gopal Purushottam Phadke was an Indian sports coach from Pune, in the Indian state of Maharashtra. He was a specialist coach of kho kho, a sports of Indian origin as well as of other sports disciplines such as swimming, Mallakhamb and Kabbaddi. After securing a diploma in engineering, he worked at the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC), but left the company to take up sports coaching as a full-time job. He was reported to have provided coaching to physically handicapped children in swimming using a custom built tank constructed at his own expense and is credited with efforts in popularising the sport in other countries such as Australia. He was involved with Arya Krida Dharak Mandal, an organization which promoted kho kho and other sports and was a member of the advisory committees of All India Radio, Doordarshan and the selection committee of Dronacharya award. He died on 20 October 2009 at his residence in Pune, succumbing to liver cirrhosis. He received the Dronacharya Award, the highest Indian award for sports coaching, in 2000, the only coach from the sport of kho kho to receive the award. A former vice president of the All India Association of Dronacharya Awardees, Phadke was honoured by the Government of India in 2003 with Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award.
Priyadarshi Pulikonda is an Indian actor and comedian who works in Telugu films. He gained recognition for his role in Pelli Choopulu (2016). In addition to supporting roles, Priyadarshi played the lead in films such as Mallesham (2019), Mithai (2019), and Mail (2021). His performance in Mallesham (2019) appeared in the "100 Greatest Performances of the Decade" by Film Companion.
Tarak Sinha was an Indian cricket coach who ran the Sonnet Cricket Club in Delhi. In a coaching career that spanned over fifty years, he coached over 12 cricketers who went on to play international cricket for India and more than 100 first-class cricketers. Some of his famous students included Ashish Nehra, Aakash Chopra, Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan and Anjum Chopra. He also briefly served as the coach of the India women's national cricket team between 2001 and 2002.
Harendra Singh is an Indian field hockey coach and former international player. He is a former head coach of India's men's, women's and junior teams.
Sunny Kaushal is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. After working as an assistant director on the films My Friend Pinto (2011) and Gunday (2014), he made his acting debut in the comedy-drama Sunshine Music Tours and Travels (2016). He gained recognition for his supporting part in the sports biopic Gold (2018), and has since starred in the web series The Forgotten Army - Azaadi Ke Liye (2020) and the film Shiddat (2021). He is the younger brother of famous Bollywood actor Vicky Kaushal.
Gurcharan Singh is an Indian cricket coach and former first-class cricketer. He coached 12 international and over 100 first-class cricketers, and is the second cricket coach to be awarded the Dronacharya Award. Recently Gurucharan Singh was also awarded with fourth highest civilian award Padma Shri by the Indian Government.
Sunita Sharma is reportedly India's first woman cricket coach. Having trained dozens of first-class and international cricketers, she received the Dronacharya Award in 2005.
Hridayam (transl. Heart) is a 2022 Indian Malayalam-language coming-of-age romantic drama film written and directed by Vineeth Sreenivasan. It was produced by Visakh Subramaniam through Merryland Cinemas and co-produced by Noble Babu Thomas through Big Bang Entertainments. The film stars Pranav Mohanlal, Kalyani Priyadarshan and Darshana Rajendran. The film's songs and background score was composed by Hesham Abdul Wahab.
India
