List of Famous people born in Punjab, India
Preet Bharara
Preetinder Singh Bharara is an American lawyer, author, and former federal prosecutor who served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2009 to 2017. He served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for five years prior to leading the Southern District. According to The New York Times, Bharara was one of the "nation's most aggressive and outspoken prosecutors of public corruption and Wall Street crime" during his tenure.
Nikhil Nanda
Nikhil Nanda is an Indian businessman. Part of the Nanda family, Kapoor family and Bachchan Family, he is the Chairman and Managing Director of Escorts Limited, an engineering company founded in 1944 by his paternal grandfather, Har Prasad Nanda.
Himanshi Khurana
Himanshi Khurana is an Indian model, actress and singer who works in Punjabi-language films. She appeared in the Punjabi movie Sadda Haq. In 2019, she participated in the reality show Bigg Boss 13 as a contestant.
Mohammed Rafi
Mohammed Rafi was an Indian film playback singer. He is considered as one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Rafi was notable for his versatility and range of voice; his songs varied from fast peppy numbers to patriotic songs, sad numbers to highly romantic songs, qawwalis to ghazals and bhajans to classical songs. He was known for his ability to mould his voice to the persona and style of the actor lip-syncing the song on screen in the movie. He received four Filmfare Awards and one National Film Award. In 1967, he was honored with the Padma Shri award by the Government of India. In 2001, Rafi was honoured with the "Best Singer of the Millennium" title by Hero Honda and Stardust magazine. In 2013, Rafi was voted for the Greatest Voice in Hindi Cinema in the CNN-IBN's poll.
Pankaj Kapur
Pankaj Kapur is an Indian theatre, television and film actor. He is the father of actor Shahid Kapoor with his first wife, Neelima Azeem. He has appeared in several television serials and films. His most acclaimed film roles to date have been that of Inspector P.K. in Raakh (1989), Dr. Dipankar Roy in Ek Doctor Ki Maut (1991) and Abba ji, in Vishal Bhardwaj's adaptation of Macbeth; Maqbool (2004), all three roles which got him National Film Awards.
Veeru Devgan
Veeru Devgan was an Indian actor, director, and action choreographer in Bollywood.
Rajesh Khanna
Rajesh Khanna ,
pronunciation (help·info), born Jatin Khanna; 29 December 1942 – 18 July 2012) was an Indian actor, film producer and politician who is best known for his work in the Hindi cinema. He is referred to as the "First Superstar" of Indian cinema. He starred in 15 consecutive solo hit films from 1969 to 1971, a record unbroken.
Diljit Dosanjh
Diljit Dosanjh is an Indian singer-songwriter, actor and television presenter who works in Punjabi and Hindi cinema. He is recognised as one of the leading artists in the Indian music industry. He also acts in Punjabi movies, with many of them being commercially successful, including Jatt & Juliet, Jatt & Juliet 2, Punjab 1984, Sardaar Ji, Ambarsariya, Sardaar Ji 2, Super Singh, Sajjan Singh Rangroot and Shadaa – which are among the most successful Punjabi movies in history.
Shehnaaz Kaur Gill
Shehnaaz Gill is an Indian actress, model and singer who works in television and films. She began her modelling career with the 2015 music video, "Shiv Di Kitaab" alongside Gurvinder Brar. In 2017, she debuted as an actress in Punjabi film Sat Shri Akaal England. In September 2019, Gill participated in the reality show Bigg Boss 13 where she emerged as the second runner up.
Saadat Hasan Manto
Saadat Hasan Manto was a writer, playwright and author born in Ludhiana active in British India and later, after the partition, in Pakistan. Writing mainly in the Urdu language, he produced 22 collections of short stories, a novel, five series of radio plays, three collections of essays and two collections of personal sketches. His best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics. Manto was known to write about the hard truths of society that no one dared to talk about. He is best known for his stories about the partition of India, which he opposed, immediately following independence in 1947.