Bengalis have made a mark in every sphere of life. Be it literature, politics, sports, or cinema, Bengalis have changed the era with their rational thinking. Here we are giving a short introduction to prominent Bengali personalities who have made this nation proud.
Table Of Contents hideWhat Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow. – Gopal Krishna Gokhale
Sourav Ganguly – BCCI President and Former Indian Cricket Skipper
- Born to an affluent family in Kolkata, he is one of the greatest ODI batsmen of all time.
- In his cricketing career of 15 years, he changed the face of Indian Cricket.
- Prince of Kolkata, Dada, Maharaja, God of the offside, The Comeback Man, all are his nicknames.
- When Ganguly took over as India captain in 2000, Indian cricket was recovering from the match-fixing scandals.
- Under his tenure, the ICC team ranking went up from eighth to second.
- He nurtured the careers of many young players such as Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir who played under him.
- The 2003 world cup will be his great achievement.
- He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2004.
- He is also the co-owner of Atlético de Kolkata, a franchise of the Indian Super League.
- He was elected the BCCI president unopposed.
Born – 8 July 1972, Kolkata
Abhijit Banerjee – Nobel Prize Winner
- He won the 2019 Nobel prize in economics for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.
- He shared the prize with his French-American wife, Esther Duflo.
- His father was the head of the Department of Economics at Presidency College, Calcutta, West Bengal, and his mother, Nirmala Banerjee is also an Economics professor.
- He received his school education at South Point High School, Kolkata. He completed his study in Economics at Presidency College, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Later, he obtained his Ph.D. from Harvard University.
- He is a Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and lives in lives in Boston.
Born – 21 February 1961, Bombay
Amartya Sen – Nobel Prize Winner
- He was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1998
- He received India’s highest civilian award Bharat Ratna in 1999 for his work in welfare economics.
- Rabindranath Tagore gave Amartya Sen his name, meaning immortal.
- Sen began his high-school education at St Gregory’s School in Dhaka in 1940 and later completed his school education in Patha Bhavana, Shantiniketan.
- He earned a B.A. in Economics from Presidency College, Kolkata.
- He started the Economics department in the newly established Jadavpur University, Kolkata.
- He currently teaches at Harvard University.
Born – 3 November 1933, Shantiniketan
Mamata Banerjee – Chief Minister of West Bengal
- Fondly known as Didi. She is the CM of Bengal since 2011.
- Banerjee started her political career at the age of 15.
- She founded the party Trinamool Congress in 1998.
- She is the first woman who served twice as the Minister of Railways.
- Banerjee began her political career in the Congress party.
- She dresses in simple traditional Bengali clothes and avoids luxuries.
- She coined the famous Bengali Slogan Ma Mati Manush.
- She is a fierce orator and a great artist. She writes poetry too.
Born – 5 January 1955, Kolkata
Pranab Mukherjee – Former President Of India
- 13th President of India from 2012 until 2017 and a senior leader in the Indian National Congress.
- He struggled a lot in his early days and had to swim across the stream to reach his school.
- He served as the Finance Minister of India from 2009 to 2012.
- In 2019, he received the highest civilian honor of India, the Bharat Ratna.
- He held several key cabinet portfolios- Planning Commission head, foreign minister, Defence, External Affairs.
- He is a respected politician and praised for his Negotiation skills.
Born – 11 December 1935, Birbhum, West Bengal
Sushmita Sen – Miss Universe 1994
- Sushmita Sen was crowned the Miss Universe in 1994 at the age of 18.
- She is the first Indian woman to win this title.
- In 2016, 23 years later, she ruled the stage again as a judge.
- She pursued her career in Bollywood and has given many blockbusters.
- At the young age of 25, Sen took a brave step and decided to adopt a baby girl, Renee. She had to fight a court battle for adoption rights. The final decision went in her favor. Ten years later, she adopted a second girl, Alisah, in 2010.
- This classy and beautiful actress lives life on her terms and an inspiration for many women.
Born – 19 November 1975, Hyderabad
Prannoy Roy – Founder NDTV
- He introduced India’s first 24-hour English news channel NDTV 24×7.
- This Calcutta boy completed his schooling at La Martiniere Calcutta and The Doon School, Dehradun. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics.
- He started his career with televised coverage of India’s general elections on Doordarshan.
- He is the pioneer of Election Opinion Polls in India.
Born – 15 October 1949, Kolkata
Soumitra Chatterjee – Star Of The East
- He received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India’s highest award for cinema in 2012.
- He has won 3 national awards.
- He did 14 films with Oscar-winning film director Satyajit Ray.
- First Indian film personality conferred with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France’s highest award for artists.
Notable Films – Apu Sansar, Feluda Series, Charulata, Bela Sheshe, Ghare Baire, Posto, Saat Pake Bandha, Podokkhep, Rupkatha Noy
Born – 19 January 1935, Kolkata
Arundhati Bhattacharya – Former Chairman of the State Bank of India
- She is the first woman Chairman of the State Bank of India.
- She is the only Indian corporate leader listed on Fortune’s world’s leaders list ranked at 26.
- She completed her schooling at St. Xavier’s School, Bokaro. She studied English Literature at Kolkata’s Lady Brabourne College and Jadavpur University.
- She joined SBI in 1977 as a Probationary Officer at the age of 22 years.
- During her tenure, she introduced a two-year sabbatical leave policy for the bank’s female employees to use either for maternity or elder care and free vaccination against cervical cancer to all the bank’s female employees.
- She has joined as an additional director of Reliance Industries.
Born – 18 March 1956, Kolkata
Rani Mukherjee – Film Actress
- She is one of the most talented actresses in Bollywood.
- She was the highest-paid Hindi film actress in the 2000s.
- She has received seven Filmfare awards.
- She married the chairman of Yashraj Films, Aditya Chopra, at a private ceremony in Italy.
- The power couple has a daughter, named Adira.
Notable Movies – Black, Mardaani, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Saathiya, Hum Tum, No One Killed Jessica
Born – 21 March 1978, Mumbai
Ronit Roy – Television Actor
- He is the finest Actor on Television.
- He completed his schooling in Ahmedabad, Gujrat.
- He rose to fame from his role as Rishabh Bajaj in Balaji Telefilm’s serial Kasautii Zindagii Kay.
- He has worked in some hit movies Ugly, Student Of the year, Udaan, 2 States.
- He has come a long way from his struggling days.
Born 11 October 1965, Nagpur
Mouni Roy – Television Actress
- She completed her schooling in Baburhat, Cooch Behar.
- Mouni began her acting career in 2007 with the Ekta Kapoor’s serial, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi.
- She gains popularity with her characters Sati in Devon Ke Dev Mahadev and Shivanya/Shivangi in Naagin.
- In 2018, her debut film was the sports biopic Gold opposite Akshay Kumar.
- Her two upcoming major projects are Mogul opposite Aamir Khan and Brahmastra produced by Karan Johar, co-starring Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, and Amitabh Bachchan.
Born – 28 September 1985, Cooch Behar, West Bengal
Shreya Ghosal – Playback Singer
- She has received four National Awards.
- She started learning music at the age of four.
- In 2000, at the age of sixteen, she participated and won the television music reality show Sa Re Ga Ma on channel Zee TV.
- The same year, she sang five songs in the movie Devdas.
- She won her first national award for the best playback singer for the song Bairi Piya from the movie Devdas.
Born – 12 March 1984, Berhampore, Murshidabad, West Bengal
Mahua Moitra – Indian Politician and MP from Krishnanagar, West Bengal
- Moitra went to school in Kolkata and later graduated in economics and mathematics from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, United States.
- After college, Moitra worked as an investment banker at JPMorgan Chase in New York City and London.
- She made a score of fans with her fireband maiden speech in the LokSabha, where she warned that India is moving towards fascism.
- She has become the face of opposition with her scintillating speeches in Parliament.
Born – 5 May 1975, Kolkata
Jhumpa Lahiri – Novelist
- In 1999, She won the Pulitzer Prize for her debut collection of short stories Interpreter of Maladies.
- She is the daughter of Bengali immigrants, who settled in the United States.
- The Indian-American writer has won Asia’s literary prize for her novel The Lowland, which pivots around the Naxalite uprisings of the 1960s.
- She writes about the experience of Bengali-immigrant in western countries.
Born – 11 July 1967, London
Sabyasachi Mukherjee – Fashion Designer
- He has designed costumes for Bollywood films.
- He has designed the wedding lehengas of top-notch celebrities like Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra, Anushka Sharma.
- He won National Award in 2005 for the best costume designer for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s landmark film, Black.
Born – 23 February 1974, Kolkata
Amala Akkineni – South Indian Film Actress
- Born as Amla Mukherjee, she is called the Maneka Gandhi of South.
- Amala married Telugu Film actor Nagarjuna in 1992.
- Amala was born in Kolkata to an Irish mother and a Bengali Indian Navy officer.
- She has given several blockbusters in South Indian movies.
- He is the co-founder of The Blue Cross of Hyderabad, an NGO in Hyderabad, India, which works towards the welfare of animals and preservation of animal rights in India.
Born – 12 September 1967. Kolkata
Kajol – Film Actress
- She is the daughter of actress Tanuja.
- She holds the record for most Best Actress wins (5 times) at Filmfare.
- She is married to the actor Ajay Devgan.
- She was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth-highest Indian civilian award, by the Government of India for her contributions to the arts.
Notable Films – Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Gupt, Fanaa, My Name is Khan
Born – 5 August 1974, Bombay
Amitava Ghosh – Writer
- He won the 54th Jnanpith award for his outstanding contribution to literature.
- He is best known for his work in English fiction.
- He did his schooling at The Doon School in Dehradun and completed his ph.D. from Oxford University.
- He received the Padma Shri by the Indian government in 2007.
- His famous book The Shadow Lines won him the Sahitya Akademi Award.
Born – 11 July 1956, Calcutta
Arundhati Roy – Author and Social Activist
- She won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction for her novel The God Of Small Things in 1997.
- She is also a political activist involved in human rights and environmental causes.
- She opposes India’s policies toward nuclear weapons as well as industrialization and economic growth.
- She donated her Booker prize money, as well as royalties from her books on the project, to the Narmada Bachao Andolan.
- In January 2006, she declined to accept the Sahitya Akademi Award.
Born – 24 November 1961, Shilong, Meghalaya
