Amish Tripathi, a banker turned author, has written the highly successful Shiva Trilogy, a mythical fantasy based on Lord Shiva which shot him to fame in a short span and placed him in the best-selling category. He is a devotee of Lord Shiva and has his roots in the holy city of Varanasi wher
Like several other members of her illustrious family, Mallika Sarabhai has excelled in more than one field.Daughter of renowned classical danseuse and activist Mrinalini Sarabhai and legendary space scientist and institution-builder Vikram Sarabhai, Mallika is a leading Bharatanatyam and Kuch
Girija Devi is one of the finest classical and folk vocalists in the country. Born and brought up in Varanasi, she took forward the legacy of Benaras gharana and mastered semi-classical forms of music like thumri, kajri and tappa. She received Padma Vibhushan earlier this year. At 87, the Que
Pop singer Alisha Chinai is well known for her albums and playback singing in Bollywood. She has worked with prominent musicians like Bappi Lahiri, Anu Malik and Nadeem-Shravan. Her albums like Made in India and Lover Girl were big hits of their time. She gave her voice to actresses lik
Ira Trivedi is an Indian novelist, yoga teacher, entrepreneur and speaker. Her recent book, There is No Love on Wall Street (Penguin, 2011), was released at the Jaipur Literature Festival by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Diaz and has been translated into Greek and Spanish. Her other pub
Kailash Kher’s soulful voice and his folk and sufi style of music has mesmerised people across the world. He is known to incorporate folk language and classical lyrics in most of his songs. He sings in several languages and has released several albums apart from Bollywood songs. He won
Salil Bhatt is an Indian classical musician born in a family that has a 500-year-old legacy in music. He represents the tenth generation of famous Bhatt lineage and is the son of renowned Mohan Veena player, Grammy awardee Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. Like his father who created Mohan Veena, Sa
KR Meera is a Malayali novelist. After working as a journalist for years, she embarked on writing fiction and published her first collection of short stories Ormayude Njarambu in 2002. She is the winner of Vayalar Rama Varma Award, the most prestigious literary award in Kerala, and also of Ke
A classical singer from Patiala Gharana, Begum Parveen Sultana has captivated many with her voice. Born and brought up in a small town Nowgaon of Assam, she gave her first stage performance at the age of 12 in 1962 and soon after became a popular face of Hindustani classical music. Beyond liv
A dancer, choreographer, art administrator, organiser of Delhi Art International Festival and a writer with a mission, Pratibha Prahlad, was honoured with Padma Shri this year. In conversation with Geeta Sahai, she talks about the importance of cultural diplomacy, managing cu
Shovana Narayan is a renowned Kathak danseuse. She is well known as both a choreographer and a performer and has enthralled audiences all across the world. While she has learnt the dancing art from Kathak maestro Pandit Birju Maharaj, she herself is one of the most revered Kathak gurus in the
A 1985 batch IAS officer, Kiran Soni Gupta is also an artist, writer and photographer. Selected by Harvard University for the prestigious Mason fellowship to study public policy, governance and public administration at the Kennedy School of Government, she was also awarded a scholarship for a
Sanjay Subrahmanyan is a renowned Carnatic vocalist who has bagged several awards. The 47-year-old global performer has been chosen for ‘Sangita Kalanidhi’ award of The Music Academy. A qualified chartered accountant, Subrahmanyan became a full-time musician in 2000.
Tabassum Fatima Hashmi, better known as Tabu, has won millions of hearts with her acting not only in Hindi, but also in English, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi and Bengali films. Experimenting with her roles in several films, Tabu has grown as an actor from Vijaypath (1994) to recently released F
Painter Suresh K Nair was born and brought up in Kerala. An alumnus of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) Pune and Visva Bharati University, he is currently teaching art in the department of painting at Banaras Hindu University (BHU). Nair has acquired a major presence in art space
Anuradha Pal is a tabla player, multi-percussionist and music composer. She started playing tabla at the age of ten. She has been a disciple of legends like late Ustad Alla Rakha and Zakir Hussain. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Who’s Who Journal of the World and the Limca Book of Records (1
A British-Indian model-turned-actress, Katrina Kaif started modelling at the age of fourteen after she won a beauty contest in Hawaii. At a fashion show, Kaif got the attention of a London-based filmmaker, Kaizad Gustad, who gave her a break in Bollywood. She has worked with prominent bollywo
Raja Reddy is an eminent Kuchipudi dancer, choreographer and guru. He was drawn towards Kuchipudi since childhood. His main influence was actress Vyjayanthimala Bali. After marrying Radha, Raja motivated her to learn the same dance form under the aegis of eminent Kuchipudi dancers, Sri Vedant
Eminent Odissi danseuse Sonal Mansingh is also proficient in other dancing styles like Bharatnatyam, Kuchipudi and Chhau. Besides, she is a well known choreographer and social activist. Her dancing career began in Mumbai in 1962. Over the years she won international recogniti
Kavita Krishnamurty Subramaniam is a renowned playback singer credited for singing some of the very popular Bollywood songs. Born in Delhi in a Tamil Iyer family, Kavita began her vocal training under Sri Balram Puri (in the Hindustani music) at a very young age. She began her recording caree
