List of people from Bangalore

This is a list of notable people from Bangalore.

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

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
 * 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

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

Kannada and Indian cinema

 * Ramesh Aravind - actor
 * Sandeep Chowta - Music Director, Producer
 * Guru Dutt - actor, director, producer
 * Dwarkeesh - actor, comedian
 * Nicole Faria (born 1990) – actress, model
 * 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’s
 * 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

 * R. K. Baliga – founder of the Electronics City in Bangalore
 * Shakuntala Devi – known as the "human calculator"
 * Amit Kumar C Jain – doctor and surgeon
 * 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