Mahendra Kapoor was an Indian playback singer. In a long career spanning decades, his repertoire included popular songs such as Chalo ekbaar phir se Ajnabi ban jayen hum dono (Gumrah) and Neele Gagan ke tale (Hamraaz). His name however became most closely associated with patriotic songs including Mere Desh Ki Dharti in Manoj Kumar's film Upkaar. He considered Mohammad Rafi as his Guru. In 1972, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India. He lent his voice to actor Manoj Kumar in most of his films and had a lengthy association with director-producer Baldev Raj Chopra.
Shyam Benegal is an Indian film director, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker. Often regarded as the pioneer of parallel cinema, he is widely considered as one of the greatest filmmakers post 1970s. He has received several accolades, including eighteen National Film Awards, a Filmfare Award and a Nandi Award. In 2005, he was honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest award in the field of cinema. In 1976, he was honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian honour of the country, and in 1991, he was awarded Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian honour for his contributions in the field of arts.
Kaifi Azmi was an Indian Urdu poet. He is remembered as the one who brought Urdu literature to Indian motion pictures. Together with Pirzada Qasim, Jaun Elia and others he participated in many memorable Mushaira gatherings of the twentieth century. His wife was theatre and film actress Shaukat Kaifi.
Sharad Joshi was an Indian poet, writer, satirist and a dialogue and scriptwriter in Hindi films and television. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1990.
Kaka Hathrasi was a Hindi satirist and humorist poet of India.
K. P. Saxena was an Indian satirist and writer. He was employed by the Indian Railways and was a prolific writer for magazines and newspapers. He started writing for Doordarshan's famous serial Bibi Natiyon Wali. He wrote vyangya articles for almost every popular magazine of Hindi. His first book of satire Koi Patthar Se Na Mare was published in 1982. His style is unique and he is very popular among poets in Kavi Sammelans. He was an expert of three Indian language Urdu, Hindi and Awadhi. He was awarded Padma Shri by Government of India, in year 2000. He died on 31 October 2013. He was a regular in Hindi Kavi Sammelan.
Sarita Joshi is an Indian actress. Cited amongst the finest and most significant actors of Gujarati and Marathi theatre, Joshi is known for her Gujarati plays done with her husband Pravin Joshi in the 1970s. She garnered widespread recognition for her role as the matriarch Godavari Thakkar in the Star Plus hit dramedy Baa Bahoo Aur Baby (2005-2010). In 1988, she was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Acting in Gujarati by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. In 2020, she has been awarded with Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award for her contribution in Art. She was recently seen in (2019) Zee TV's Hamari Bahu Silk as a hard-working business woman who hates films especially 'A' grade films. Sarita Joshi is currently seen on Anupama: Namaste America a prequel web series to Star Plus show Anupamaa.
Shilpa Tulaskar is an Indian actress who has acted in Marathi films and Hindi television shows.
Dr. Haldhar Nag is a Sambalpuri poet and writer from Bargarh, Odisha, India. Popularly known as "Lok Kabi Ratna". He was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of India by Government of India in 2016. He was born in a poor family of Ghens. He is best known for his work Kavyanjali, an anthology of English translation of Nag's selected poetry which was launched on 2 October 2016. Recently he released his 3rd volume of work on Kavyanjali. In 2019, Haldhar Nag was awarded Doctorate Degree by Sambalpur University. In the year 2020, Professor Jaishankar Babu, Head of the Department of Hindi, Pondicherry University, organized a two-day international seminar under the guidance of its Vice-Chancellor Professor Gurmeet Singh, in which "Haldhar Nag Ka kavya- Sansar" translated into Hindi from Sambalpuri by renowned Hindi writer-transaltor Dinesh Kumar Mali was released and there was an intensive discussion on his poems by the participants from India and abroad. In the year 2021, under the joint editorship of Professor Jaishankar Babu and translator Dinesh Kumar Mali, the book "'Haldhar ke Lok-sahitya par vimarsh'" and the book "Ramayan prasangon par Haldhar ke Kavya aur yugin Vimarsh " translated by Dinesh Kumar Mali based on Ramayana contexts. published from Pandulipi Prakashan, New Delhi.The popularity of these books Hindi Belt honoured Haldhar Nag with Dr Ram Manohar Tripathi Lok Seva Samman on the Silver Jubilee eve of Acharya Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi Smruti Sanrakshan Abhiyan under the leadership of Gaurav Awasthi in the auditorium of Firoz Gandhi College, Rae Bareli on date 12.11.22. The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has included a review of the literary creations of Padma awardee and noted poet Haldhar Nag. According to sources, students pursuing a Master of Arts (MA) in Folklore and Culture Studies will study folk literature by Nag in a course component titled, ‘Folklore: Canon, Multimediality, Interdisciplinarity, and Social Epistemology’ in their second year. The course book has described Nag as the true representative of orality in the present times. His creations have been reviewed in the category, ‘Case study of orality from East India’.“Nag has based his poems on his surroundings. Folklorists and folklore researchers are vulnerable to multiple challenges with regards to archiving, documentation, and dissemination of the folk material,” TOI reported writer Nandini Sahu, who has designed the MA course for IGNOU, as saying. Notably, writer Dinesh K Mali has written a chapter for the MA programme on Nag’s poetry.'
Shrilal Shukla was a Hindi writer, notable for his satire. He worked as a PCS officer for the state government of Uttar Pradesh, later inducted into the IAS. He has written over 25 books, including Raag Darbari, Makaan, Sooni Ghaati Ka Sooraj, Pehla Padaav and Bisrampur Ka Sant.
Wah! Wah! Kya Baat Hai! is an Indian comic poetry series produced by Neela Tele Films Private Limited which premiered on 15 September 2012 on SAB TV. The series was hosted by Shailesh Lodha and Neha Mehta, known respectively as Taarak Mehta and his wife, Anjali Taarak Mehta, from the long-running series Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah.
Pankaj Dubey is an Indian author, screenwriter, director, producer and social entrepreneur based in Mumbai. He has a Bachelor of Laws degree from Delhi University and a Masters in Applied Communications from Coventry School of Art and Design. Dubey worked for the BBC World Service in London and TV Today Group in New Delhi. He has curated and programmed more than 50 film festivals across India. He was awarded with the Youth Icon Award for Social Entrepreneurship in Gulbarga, Karnataka in 2010 for initiating India's first street film festival for children in slums and villages, the Sadak Chhaap Film Festival. Dubey's debut novel is called What A Loser! in English and Loser kahin ka! in Hindi. Pankaj Dubey is a bilingual author and writes all his titles in English and Hindi. His other novels are 'Ishqiyapa' - To Hell With Love, Love Curry and Trending In Love. Pankaj Dubey has been selected amongst three Asian authors for the Writer's Residency in Seoul Art Space Yeonhui, Seoul, South Korea in 2016. He was also awarded with the 'Global Innoventure Award' for literature and storytelling in the House of Lords in September 2018.
Naheed Abidi is an Indian scholar of Sanskrit and writer. In 2014, she was honoured with Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, for her contributions to the field of literature by the Government of India.
Krishan Kumar Aggarwal was an Indian physician and senior cardiologist who was President of the Confederation of Medical Association of Asia and Oceania (CMAAO), President of the Heart Care Foundation of India and the Past National President of Indian Medical Association. In 2010, the Government of India honored him with the Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian award, for his contributions to the field of medicine.
Gopal Prasad Dubey is an Indian classical dancer, known for his expertise in the Indian classical dance form of Chhau. He is considered by many as the leading exponent of the Seraikella variant of the art form. Dubey was honored by the Government of India, in 2012, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri.
Sunil Jogi is an Indian author. He is a poet of comic verses and the ex-president of the Hindustani Academy, a post holding the rank of a Minister of State in the Government of Uttar Pradesh. He is also a Hindi adviser to the Ministry of Railways & Parliamentary Affairs.
Sunita Jain (1941–2017) was an Indian scholar, novelist, short-story writer and poet of English and Hindi literature. She was a former professor and the Head of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. She published over 80 books, in English and Hindi, besides translating many Jain writings and some Hindi literature into English. She is featured in the Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English and was a recipient of The Vreeland Award (1969) and the Marie Sandoz Prairie Schooner Fiction Award. The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri in 2004. In 2015 she was awarded the Vyas Samman by the K.K. Birla foundation for outstanding literary work in Hindi. In 2015 she was awarded an honorary D.Litt. from the University of Burdhwan, West Bengal.
Leeladhar Jagudi is an Indian teacher, journalist and poet of Hindi literature. He is the author of several poetry anthologies including Natak Jari Hai and Shankha Mukhi Shikharon Par and is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award, for his 1997 anthology, Anubhav Ke Aakash Mein Chand. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2004, for his contributions to Hindi literature.
Sushil Kumar Jain known professionally as Sushil Doshi is an Indian journalist, writer, sports commentator and the first cricket commentator in Hindi. Born to Niranjanlal and Madan Kunwar at Indore, in the second largest Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, he graduated in engineering from Shri Govindram Seksaria Institute of Technology and Science (SGSITS) Indore and started his commentating career in 1968 at the Nehru Stadium for a Ranji Trophy match between Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Over the years, he is reported to have covered nine Cricket World Cups, 85 test matches and over 400 One Day Internationals, besides several Twenty20 Internationals. His contributions are reported in making cricket commentary in Hindi popular. He has also written two books in Hindi on sports, Khel Patrakarita published in 2003 and Cricket Ka Mahabharat, published in 2016.
V L Nghaka is an academician from the Indian State of Mizoram known for his efforts for the propagation and development of the Hindi language in Mizoram. He authored the first Hind-Mizo dictionary and got it published in the year 1965. In the year 2022, Govt of India honoured V L Nghaka by conferring the Padma Shri award for his contributions to literature and education. As per his citation for Padma Shri award, "He built a cultural bridge between Hindi and Mizo language by drafting a Hindi-Mizo dictionary. As an interpreter, he was instrumental in bringing the government and Mizo people closer.”
