List of Famous people born in Kozhikode, India
Verghese Kurien
Verghese Kurien, known as the "Father of the White Revolution" in India, was a social entrepreneur whose "billion-litre idea", Operation Flood, made dairy farming India's largest self-sustaining industry and the largest rural employment sector providing a third of all rural income. It made India the world's largest milk producer, doubled the milk available for each person, and increased milk output four-fold in 30 years.
I. V. Sasi
Irruppam Veedu Sasidaran, better known as I. V. Sasi, was an Indian film director who made over 150 films in various Indian languages. He is well known for his work in Malayalam cinema of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, although he directed a few Tamil and Hindi films as well. In 2015, he was awarded the J. C. Daniel Award, the highest award in Malayalam cinema.
Sandeep Unnikrishnan
Sandeep Unnikrishnan was an officer in the Indian Army serving in the elite Special Action Group of the National Security Guards. He was martyred in action during the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. He was consequently awarded the Ashoka Chakra, India's highest peacetime gallantry award, on 26 January 2009 by the president Pratibha Patil.
Parvathy Thiruvothu
Parvathy is an Indian film actress who predominantly appears in Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada-language films. Hailing from Kozhikode, Kerala, she made her debut in the 2006 Malayalam film Out of Syllabus. She's well known for her performances in films such as Notebook (2006), Milana (2007), Poo (2008), City of God (2011), Maryan (2013), Bangalore Days (2014), Uttama Villain (2015), Ennu Ninte Moideen (2015), Charlie (2015), Take Off (2017), Koode (2018), Uyare (2019) and Virus (2019). Parvathy made her Bollywood debut with Qarib Qarib Singlle in 2017.
Raghavan
Raghavan is an Indian actor who has acted in more than 100 films. Malayalam actor Jishnu was his son. From early 2000s he is more active on Malayalam television serials.
Neeraj Madhav
Neeraj Madhav is an Indian film actor, rapper and dancer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema.
Rajisha Vijayan
Rajisha Vijayan is an Indian film actress who appears in Malayalam films. She made her acting debut in the 2016 film Anuraga Karikkin Vellam. She has hosted several shows in Malayalam television before foraying into films. She won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress for her performance in her debut film Anuraga Karikkin Vellam.
Jayanan Vincent
Jayanan Vincent is an Indian cinematographer. He is the son of cinematographer and director, A. Vincent, and elder brother to Ajayan Vincent. He is known for his work in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi films and he is a member of the Indian Society of Cinematographers (ISC).
Aparna Balan
Aparna Balan is an Indian badminton player from Kozhikode, Kerala. She was part of the national team that won the silver medal in 2010 Commonwealth Games, also gold medals in 2004, 2006 and 2010 South Asian Games. She is 6 times National Champion in mixed doubles and 3 times National Champion in women's doubles. She represented India in many international badminton tournaments.
John Mathai
John Matthai CIE (1886-1959) was an economist who served as India's first Railway Minister and subsequently as India's Finance Minister, taking office shortly after the presentation of India's first Budget, in 1948. Matthai was born into an marthoma family and graduated in economics from the University of Madras. He served as a Professor and Head in University of Madras from 1922 to 1925. He presented two Budgets as India's Finance Minister, but resigned following the 1950 Budget in protest against the increasing power of the Planning Commission and P. C. Mahalanobis. He was the first Chairman of the State Bank of India when it was set up in 1955. He was the founding President of the Governing Body of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in New Delhi, India's first independent economic policy institute established in 1956. He served as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Mumbai from 1955 till 1957 and then as the first Vice Chancellor of the University of Kerala from 1957 to 1959. His nephew, Verghese Kurien, is generally recognized as the architect of India's White Revolution. Dr. John Matthai Centre, Thrissur, located on the large plot of land donated by his family, is named in his honour. His wife, Achamma Matthai was an Indian social worker and a women's rights activist. The Government of India honoured her in 1954 with the award of Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award, for her contributions to the society,