This is a list of notable people from Bengaluru.

Founder and Architect of Bengaluru

  • Nada Prabhu Kempe Gowda

Scientists

  • C V Raman – Nobel Prize in Physics (1930), Bharat Ratna (1954)
  • M. Visvesvarayya – Bharat Ratna, in 1955, Indian civil engineer, statesman, Diwan of Mysore
  • C. N. R. Rao – Bharat Ratna (2014) Indian Institute of Science (Material Sciences) Bharat Ratna (2014)
  • H Narasimhaiah – Indian physicist, educator, writer, freedom fighter and rationalist Padma Bhushan (1984)
  • Bangalore Puttaiya Radhakrishna – geologist
  • Kumble R. Subbaswamy – physicist
  • Sachidananda Kangovi - Aerospace engineer, IT executive, and author

Politicians

  • H. D. Deve Gowda - former prime minister
  • H. D. Kumaraswamy - former chief minister of Karnataka
  • Gundu Rao - former Chief Minister
  • Siddaramaiah - former Chief Minister
  • B S Yediyurappa - former Chief Minister
  • Ramalinga Reddy - former State Home Minister and various ministry, seven time MLA from Bangalore
  • D. K. Shivakumar - former minister of medical education
  • B.Vaikunta Vaikunta Baliga - former Law Minister; former Speaker, Mysore State
  • S.Bangarappa - former Chief Minister
  • S. R. Bommai - former Chief Minister
  • George Fernandes - former Defence Minister
  • Kengal Hanumanthaiah - former Chief Minister
  • Ramakrishna Hegde - former Chief Minister
  • Qamar ul Islam - former Housing and Labour Minister
  • Basappa Danappa Jatti - former Vice-President
  • M.N. Jois - former M.L.C, Deputy Speaker of Legislative Council - Mysore State
  • Mallikarjun Kharge - former State Minister (various portfolios); former Union Labour Minister in the Manmohan Singh Government; current leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha
  • S. M. Krishna - former External Affairs Minister of India; former Governor of Maharashtra; former Chief Minister of Karnataka
  • H.N.Ananth Kumar - former Union Minister and MP
  • Kadidal Manjappa - former Chief Minister
  • Veerappa Moily - Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas; former Chief Minister
  • K. H. Muniyappa - union minister of state for railways
  • S. Nijalingappa - former Chief Minister
  • Nandan Nilekani - Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)
  • J. H. Patel - former Chief Minister
  • Veerendra Patil - former Chief Minister
  • M. A. M. Ramaswamy - Rajya Sabha MP and industrialist
  • K. C. Reddy - former Chief Minister
  • Dharam Singh - former Chief Minister
  • Devaraj Urs - former Chief Minister
  • H. Vishwanath - former Minister

Kannada writers

  • Kuvempu – poet, Jnanpith awardee
  • U. R. Ananthamurthy – Kannada writer, thinker and Jnanpith awardee
  • Da Ra Bendre – poet, Jnanpith awardee
  • S. L. Bhyrappa – writer, novelist
  • V. K. Gokak – writer, Jnanapith awardee
  • Masti Venkatesh Iyengar – Jnanpith awardee
  • T. P. Kailasam – Kannada writer, playwright
  • Chandrashekhar Kambar – Jnanapith awardee for his contributions to Kannada literature
  • K. Shivaram Karanth – Kannada writer, Jnanapith awardee
  • Girish Karnad – Kannada writer, playwright, actor, Jnanpith awardee
  • K. S. Nissar Ahmed – Kannada poet
  • Sudha Murthy

Other writers

  • Mahesh Dattani – English playwright and Sahitya Akademi award winner
  • Ramachandra Guha – historian and Sahitya Akademi award winner
  • Sangu Mandanna – English-language writer
  • Anita Nair – English author of the books Ladies Coupe and Mistress
  • Malathi Rao – English-language writer, Sahitya Akademi award winner
  • Madhuri Vijay – English-language writer, Pushcart Prize winner

Entrepreneurs

  • G. R. Gopinath – founder of Deccan Aviation and Deccan 360
  • Kiran Mazumdar – founder of Biocon, a biotechnology company
  • N. R. Narayana Murthy – founder of Infosys
  • Nandan Nilekani – Co-founder of Infosys
  • V. G. Siddhartha – founder of Café Coffee Day

Sportspersons

Athletics

  • Ashwini Nachappa – former athlete

Badminton

  • Prakash Padukone – badminton player
  • Ashwini Ponnappa

Billiards

  • Pankaj Advani – billiards and snooker World Champion

Cricket

  • Mayank Agarwal – Indian cricketer
  • John Bean – English first-class cricketer and British Army officer
  • Vijay Bhardwaj – former Indian allrounder
  • Raghuram Bhat – former Indian left-arm spinner
  • Roger Binny – former Indian all rounder
  • Stuart Binny – all rounder
  • B. S. Chandrasekhar – Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1972
  • Rahul Dravid – batsman, former India Captain and has taken highest number of catches in international cricket
  • Dodda Ganesh – former medium pacer
  • Sunil Joshi – retired all rounder
  • Syed Kirmani – retired wicket-keeper
  • Prasidh Krishna – fast bowler
  • Veda Krishnamurthy – Indian woman cricketer
  • Vinay Kumar – medium pacer
  • Anil Kumble – leg spinner, Test Captain, India's highest wicket taker, former Indian National Cricket Team coach
  • Abhimanyu Mithun – Indian cricketer
  • Devdutt Padikkal – Ranji player
  • Manish Pandey – Indian cricketer
  • Venkatesh Prasad – retired fast bowler; India's former bowling coach
  • Erapalli Prasanna – retired off spinner
  • KL Rahul – Indian cricketer
  • Javagal Srinath – retired fast bowler, match referee
  • Robin Uthappa – Indian cricketer
  • Vellaswamy Vanitha – former Indian woman cricketer
  • Sadanand Viswanath – former Indian wicket-keeper
  • Gundappa Ranganath Vishwanath – former Indian cricket captain (1979–1980)

Hockey

  • Ashish Ballal – hockey goalkeeper
  • Arjun Halappa – Indian hockey team

Motorsports

  • Arjun Maini – Asian Le Mans Series and Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters driver
  • Akhil Rabindra – GT4 European Series driver
  • Nikhil Pai – Indian rallying co-driver
  • Shreyas Hareesh – Indian motorcycle racer

Swimming

  • Nisha Millet – Olympian at Sydney Olympics 2000

Tennis

  • Rohan Bopanna

Entertainers

Kannada and Indian cinema

  • Dino Morea – actor, supermodel
  • Ramesh Aravind - actor
  • Sandeep Chowta - music director, producer
  • Guru Dutt - actor, director, producer
  • Dwarkeesh - actor, comedian
  • Nicole Faria (born 1990) – actress, model, Miss Earth 2010
  • Hamsalekha - music director, lyricist, dramatist
  • Jaggesh - actor
  • Amoghavarsha JS - filmmaker
  • Kalpana - actress, Minugutare
  • Puttanna Kanagal - director
  • Girish Kasaravalli - director
  • Kashinath - actor
  • Feroz Khan - actor, editor, producer, director
  • Sanjay Khan - producer, director and actor
  • Bangalore Latha - playback singer
  • Malashree - actress
  • Manjula - actress
  • Nithya Menen - actress
  • Anant Nag - actor, brother of Shankar Nag
  • Shankar Nag - actor, producer, director
  • Nayanthara - actress, producer (born in Bengaluru from Malayali ancestry)
  • Deepika Padukone - model, actress
  • Prema - actress
  • Prakash Raj - actor, director, producer
  • Rajinikanth - actor
  • Dr. Rajkumar - actor, singer, producer
  • Puneeth Rajkumar - actor, son of Dr. Rajkumar
  • Raghavendra Rajkumar - actor, son of Dr. Rajkumar
  • Shiva Rajkumar - actor, son of Dr. Rajkumar
  • Ramya - actress, politician
  • Kiran Rao - producer, screenwriter, and director
  • V. Ravichandran - actor, director, producer, music director, editor
  • Anushka Sharma - actress
  • Soundarya - actress
  • Srinath - actor, Pranaya Raja, Shubha Mangala
  • Sudeepa - actor, director, producer, singer, host
  • Darshan Thoogudeep - actor
  • Chi. Udayashankar - dialogue writer and lyricist
  • Upendra - director, actor, producer
  • Rockline Venkatesh - actor, film producer
  • Dr. Vishnuvardhan - actor, singer
  • Yash - actor

Architects

  • K. Jaisim
  • Kamal Sagar

Spiritual leaders

  • Shivakumara Swami
  • Balagangadharanatha Swamiji

Other notable people

<!---♦♦♦ Please keep the list in alphabetical order by LAST NAME ♦♦♦--->

  • R. K. Baliga – founder of the Electronics City in Bangalore
  • Shakuntala Devi – known as the "human calculator"
  • Trivikrama Mahadeva – organiser of funerals for tens of thousands of paupers
  • Thomas Mohan (born 1959) – wildlife photographer and civil engineer
  • Maya Rao (1928–2014) – Kathak Guru; founder of Natya Institute of Kathak and Choreography
  • Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan AC, (15 March 1977 – 28 November 2008) – military officer
  • Dr H. N. Shubhada – educationalist
  • Veeranarayana Pandurangi – Sanskrit scholar

See also

  • List of people by India state
  • List of people from Karnataka

References