| Name | Khushwant Singh |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Khushal Singh |
| Caption | Khushwant Singh at a reading in New Delhi |
| Birth date | February 02, 1915 |
| Birth place | Hadali, British India |
| Occupation | Journalist, Writer, Historian |
| Religion | Agnostic |
An important Indo-Anglian novelist, Singh is best known for his trenchant secularism, his humor, and an abiding love of poetry. His comparisons of social and behavioral characteristics of Westerners and Indians are laced with acid wit. He served as editor of several well-known literary and news magazines, as well as two major broadsheet newspapers, through the 1970s and 1980s.
He was educated at Modern School, New Delhi, Government College, Lahore, St. Stephen's College in Delhi and King's College, London, before reading for the Bar at the Inner Temple.
Singh has edited Yojana, an Indian government journal; The Illustrated Weekly of India, a newsweekly; and two major Indian newspapers, The National Herald and the Hindustan Times. During his tenure, The Illustrated Weekly became India's pre-eminent newsweekly. After Singh's departure, it suffered a huge drop in readership.
From 1980 through 1986, Singh was a member of Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1974 for service to his country. In 1984, he returned the award in protest against the siege of the Golden Temple by the Indian Army. In 2007, the Indian government awarded Singh the Padma Vibhushan.
Singh is said to wake up at 4 am each day and write his columns by hand. His works range from political commentary and contemporary satire to outstanding translations of Sikh religious texts and Urdu poetry. Despite the name, his column "With Malice Towards One and All" regularly contains secular exhortations and messages of peace. In addition, he is one of the last remaining writers to have personally known most of the stalwart writers and poets of Urdu and Punjabi languages, and profiles his recently deceased contemporaries in his column. One of the most striking aspects of his weekly writings is his outright honesty; he will openly admit to his weaknesses and mistakes, along with an acceptance of his declining health and physical abilities in more recent times.
As a public figure, Singh has been accused of favoring the ruling Congress party, especially during the reign of Indira Gandhi. He is better viewed as an establishment liberal. Singh's faith in the Indian political system has been shaken by events such as anti-Sikh riots that followed Indira Gandhi's assassination, in which major Congress politicians were alleged to be involved. But he has remained resolutely positive on the promise of Indian democracy and worked via Citizen's Justice Committee floated by H. S. Phoolka who is a senior advocate of Delhi High Court.
He is an agnostic.
Category:1915 births Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Category:Indian columnists Category:Indian journalists Category:Indian newspaper editors Category:Indian novelists Category:Indian skeptics Category:Indian writers Category:Living people Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan Category:Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan Category:People from Lahore Category:Punjabi people Category:Indian Sikhs Category:Ravians Category:Indian agnostics Category:Sikh scholars Category:Indian atheists Category:University of Delhi alumni
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| Bgcolour | silver |
|---|---|
| Name | Amrita Singh |
| Birthname | Amrita Singh |
| Birthdate | February 09, 1958 |
| Birthplace | Hadali, Punjab, India |
| Occupation | Actress/Producer |
| Yearsactive | 1983–present |
| Spouse | Saif Ali Khan (1991–2004) |
Amrita made her Bollywood debut in 1983 with Betaab, a vastly successful film in which she paired with the debutant Sunny Deol. This was quickly followed by a succession of hits, such as Sunny in (1984); Mard which was the biggest hit of that year, and Saaheb in (1985); Chameli Ki Shaadi and Naam in (1986); Khudgarz in (1987), and so on. Amrita made a successful pair in several films not only with Sunny Deol and Sanjay Dutt, but also with Anil Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan, two leading actors of the 1980s. As well as playing leading roles, she also played supporting negative roles in films such as Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (1992) and Aaina (1993). She also won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for the latter. These successes did not dissuade her from her resolve to retire into family life, and Amrita quit acting after 1993. She returned to acting in 2002 with the film where she played the mother of Bhagat Singh (played by Bobby Deol). She then appeared on the STAR Plus television serial, Kavyanjali in 2005. Later that year she won acclaim for her performance in yet another negative role for the film Kalyug.
In 2007, Amrita played the role of the gangster Maya Dolas's mother, Ratnaprabha Dolas, in the Sanjay Gupta film Shootout at Lokhandwala, directed by Apoorva Lakhia. Vivek Oberoi played the role of Maya. Her last release was the anthology film Dus Kahaniyaan where she appeared in the short story Poornmasi.
They were separated in 2004 and Amrita Singh now lives with her two children.
*Betaab (1983)
Category:Indian actors Category:Indian Sikhs Category:1958 births Category:Living people Category:Indian film actors Category:Indian television actors Category:Hindi film actors
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| Name | Tina Sani |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Tina Sani |
| Born | Dhaka, Bangladesh |
| Origin | Pakistani |
| Genre | Classical music Ghazal |
| Occupation | Singer |
She was influenced by the great ghazal singers of like Malika Pukhraj, Begum Akhtar, Mukhtar Begum and Farida Khanum but has created her own style of singing. She gained much acclaim in Pakistan by singing the poetry of Faiz Ahmed Faiz including such ghazals as Bahar Ayee and Bol Key Lab Hai Azad composed by Arshad Mehmood. She renders the ghazals of contemporary poets with ease and is equally comfortable singing the poetry of Zauq, Ghalib and Mir Taqi Mir; the immortals of Urdu poetry.
Category:Living people Category:Pakistani female singers Category:Pakistani ghazal singers Category:Recipients of the Pride of Performance award
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| Name | Fatima Murtaza Bhutto |
|---|---|
| Caption | Fatima Bhutto |
| Birth date | May 29, 1982 |
| Country | Pakistan |
| Occupation | Poet, writer, columnist |
| Official website | http://www.fatimabhutto.com/ |
Fatima Bhutto (), born 29 May 1982, is a Pakistani poet and writer. She is granddaughter of former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the niece of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and daughter of Murtaza Bhutto.
She currently writes columns for The Daily Beast, New Statesman and other publications.
She came to fame after the appearance of her first book, a collection of poems, titled Whispers of the Desert. She received notable coverage for her second book, 8:50 a.m. 8 October 2005. She is active in Pakistan's socio-political arena, supporting her mother Ghinwa Bhutto's party the Pakistan Peoples Party (Shaheed Bhutto), but has no desire to run for political office.
Category:1982 births Category:Living people Category:Pakistani poets Category:Pakistani writers Category:Pakistani activists Category:Sindhi people Category:Bhutto family Category:Pakistani Shi'a Muslims Category:Pakistani people of Iranian descent Category:Barnard College alumni Category:Alumni of the School of Oriental and African Studies
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| Name | Amitabh Bachchan |
|---|---|
| Caption | Amitabh Bachchan |
| Birth name | |
| Birth date | October 11, 1942 |
| Birth place | Allahabad, United Province, British India |
| Occupation | Actor, producer, singer, television presenter |
| Years active | 1969–present |
| Spouse | Jaya Bhaduri (1973–present) |
Amitabh Bachchan (, , born Amitabh Harivansh Bachchan on 11 October 1942), is an Indian film actor and producer. He first gained popularity in the early 1970s as the "angry young man" of Bollywood cinema, and has since become one of the most prominent figures in the history of Indian cinema.
Bachchan has won numerous major awards in his career, including four National Film Awards, three of which are in the Best Actor category, and thirteen Filmfare Awards. He holds the record for most number of Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor nominations at the Filmfare Awards. In addition to acting, Bachchan has worked as a playback singer, film producer and television presenter, and was an elected member of the Indian Parliament from 1984 to 1987.
Amitabh is the eldest of Harivansh Rai Bachchan's two sons, the second being Ajitabh. His mother had a keen interest in theatre and had been offered a role in a film, but preferred her domestic duties. She had some degree of influence in Bachchan's choice of career because she always insisted that he should take the centre stage. He attended Allahabad's Jnana Prabodhini and Boys' High School (BHS), followed by Nainital's Sherwood College, where he majored in the art stream. He later went on to study at Kirori Mal College of the University of Delhi and completed a Bachelor of Science degree. In his twenties, Bachchan gave up a job as freight broker for the shipping firm, Bird and Co., based in Calcutta now known as Kolkata, to pursue a career in acting.
Anand (1971) followed, where he starred alongside Rajesh Khanna. Bachchan's role as a doctor with a cynical view of life garned him his first Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award. Amitabh then played his first negative role as an infatuated lover-turned-murderer in Parwaana (1971). This was followed by several films including Reshma Aur Shera (1971). During this time, he made a guest appearance in the film Guddi which starred his future wife Jaya Bhaduri. He narrated part of the film Bawarchi. In 1972, he made an appearance in the road action comedy Bombay to Goa, directed by S. Ramanathan.
Bachchan starred in comedies such as Chupke Chupke (1975) and Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) and in films such as Kabhie Kabhie (1976). In 1976, he was once again cast by director Yash Chopra in his second film, Kabhi Kabhie, a romantic tale in which Bachchan starred as a young poet named Amit Malhotra who falls deeply in love with a beautiful young girl named Pooja played by actress Rakhee Gulzar. The film saw him again nominated for the Filmfare Best Actor Award. In 1977, he won his first Filmfare Best Actor Award for his performance in Amar Akbar Anthony where he played the third lead opposite Vinod Khanna and Rishi Kapoor as Anthony Gonsalves. In 1978 he starred in all four of the highest grossing films of India in that year. He once again resumed double roles in films such as Kasme Vaade as Amit and Shankar and Don playing the characters of Don, a leader of an underworld gang and his look alike Vijay. His performance won him his second Filmfare Best Actor Award. He also performed in Trishul and Muqaddar Ka Sikander which both earned him further Filmfare Best Actor nominations. He was billed a "one-man industry" by the French director François Truffaut.
In 1979, for the first time, Amitabh was required to use his singing voice for the film Mr. Natwarlal in which he starred alongside Rekha. His performance in the film saw him nominated for both the Filmfare Best Actor Award and the Filmfare Best Male Playback Awards. In 1979, he also received Best Actor nomination for Kaala Patthar (1979) and then went on to be nominated again in 1980 for the Raj Khosla directed film Dostana, in which he starred opposite Shatrughan Sinha and Zeenat Aman. Dostana proved to be the top grossing film of 1980. In 1981, he starred in Yash Chopra's melodrama film Silsila, where he starred alongside his wife Jaya and rumoured lover Rekha. Other films of this period include Ram Balram (1980), Shaan (1980), Lawaaris (1981), and Shakti (1982) which pitted him against legendary actor Dilip Kumar.
The director, Manmohan Desai, altered the ending of Coolie after Bachchan's accident. Bachchan's character was originally intended to have been killed off but after the change of script, the character lived in the end. It would have been inappropriate, said Desai, for the man who had just fended off death in real life to be killed on screen. Also, in the released film the footage of the fight scene is frozen at the critical moment, and a caption appears onscreen marking this as the instant of the actor's injury and the ensuing publicity of the accident.
His old friend, Amar Singh, helped him during a financial crisis due to the failure of his company ABCL. Therefore Bachchan started to support Amar Singh's political party, the Samajwadi party. Jaya Bachchan joined the Samajwadi Party and became a Rajya Sabha member. Bachchan has continued to do favors for the Samajwadi party, including advertisements and political campaigns. These activities have recently gotten him into trouble again in the Indian courts for false claims after a previous incident of submission of legal papers by him, stating that he is a farmer.
A 15 year press ban against Bachchan was imposed during his peak acting years by Stardust and some of the other film magazines. In his own defense, Bachchan claimed to have banned the press from entering his sets almost till the end of 1989.
In 1997, Bachchan attempted to make his acting comeback with the film Mrityudaata, produced by ABCL. Though Mrityudaata attempted to reprise Bachchan's earlier success as an action hero, the film was a failure both financially and critically. ABCL was the main sponsor of the 1996 Miss World beauty pageant, Bangalore but lost millions. The fiasco and the consequent legal battles surrounding ABCL and various entities after the event, coupled with the fact that ABCL was reported to have overpaid most of its top level managers, eventually led to its financial and operational collapse in 1997. The company went into administration and was later declared a failed company by Indian Industries board. The Bombay high court, in April 1999, restrained Bachchan from selling off his Bombay bungalow 'Prateeksha' and two flats till the pending loan recovery cases of Canara Bank were disposed of. Bachchan had, however, pleaded that he had mortgaged his bungalow to Sahara India Finance for raising funds for his company.
Bachchan attempted to revive his acting career and had average success with Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (1998), but other films such as Lal Baadshah (1999) and Hindustan Ki Kasam (1999) were box office failures.
In May 2007, two of his films Cheeni Kum and the multi-starrer Shootout at Lokhandwala were released. Shootout at Lokhandwala did very well at the box office and was declared a hit in India, while Cheeni Kum picked up after a slow start and was declared an overall average hit. A remake of his biggest hit, Sholay (1975), entitled Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag, released in August of that same year and proved to be a major commercial failure in addition to its poor critical reception. Bachchan was slated to play a supporting role in his first international film, Shantaram, directed by Mira Nair and starring Hollywood actor Johnny Depp in the lead. The film was due to begin filming in February 2008 but due to the writer's strike, was pushed to September 2008. The film is currently "shelved" indefinitely. Vivek Sharma's Bhoothnath, in which he plays the title role as a ghost, was released on 9 May 2008. Sarkar Raj, the sequel of the 2005 film Sarkar, released in June 2008 and received a positive response at the box-office. His latest movie was Paa, which released at the end of 2009. Paa was a highly anticipated project as it saw him playing his own son Abhishek's Progeria-affected 13-year-old son, and it opened to favourable reviews, particularly towards Bachchan's performance. It won him his third National Film Award for Best Actor and fifth Filmfare Best Actor Award. In 2010, he debuted in Malayalam film through Kandahar, directed by Major Ravi and co-starring Mohanlal. The film was based on the hijacking incident of the Indian Airlines Flight 814. Bachchan didn't took any remuneration to do this film.
On 2 June 2007 a Faizabad court ruled that he had legally acquired agricultural land designated specifically for landless Dalit farmers. It was speculated that he might be investigated on related charges of forgery, as he has allegedly claimed he was a farmer. On 19 July 2007, after the scandal broke out, Bachchan surrendered the land acquired in Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh and Pune. He wrote to the chief minister of Maharashtra, Vilasrao Deshmukh, to donate the lands that were allegedly acquired illegally in Pune. However, the Lucknow Court has put a stay on the land donation and said that the status quo on the land be maintained.
On 12 October 2007, Bachchan abandoned his claim in respect of the land at Daulatpur village in Barabanki district. On 11 December 2007, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court gave a clean chit to Bachchan in a case pertaining to alleged fraudulent allotment of government land to him in Barabanki district. A single Lucknow bench of Justice said there was no finding that the actor "himself committed any fraud or manipulated any surreptitious entry in the revenue records".
After receiving a positive verdict in Barabanki case, Amitabh Bachchan intimated to Maharashtra government that he did not wish to surrender his land in Maval tehsil of Pune district.
Responding to Raj's accusations, the actor's wife, SP MP Jaya Bachchan, said that the Bachchans were willing to start a school in Mumbai, provided the MNS leader donated the land to build it. She told the media, "I heard that Raj Thackeray owns huge properties in Maharashtra, in Mumbai—Kohinoor Mills. If he is willing to donate land, we can start a school in the name of Aishwarya here." Raj responded to it saying, "Jaya bachchan claims she does not know me then how come she knows how much property I own?". Amitabh abstained from commenting on the issue. However, he apologized to Raj for controversial remarks from Jaya in some other incidence. "
Bal Thackeray refuted the allegations, stating, "Amitabh Bachchan is an open-minded person, he has great love for Maharashtra, and this is evident on many occasions. The actor has often said that Maharashtra and specially Mumbai has given him great fame and affection. He has also said that what he is today is because of the love people have given him. The people of Mumbai have always acknowledged him as an artiste. It was utter foolishness to make these parochial allegations against him. Amitabh is a global superstar. People all over the world respect him. This cannot be forgotten by anyone. Amitabh should ignore these silly accusations and concentrate on his acting."
On 23 March 2008, more than a month and half after Raj's remarks, Amitabh finally spoke out in an interview to a local tabloid saying, "Random charges are random; they do not deserve the kind of attention you wish me to give." Later, on 28 March at a press conference for the International Indian Film Academy, when asked what his take was on the anti-migrant issue, Amitabh said that it is one's fundamental right to live anywhere in the country and the constitution entitles so. He also stated that he was not affected by Raj's comments.
In 1999, Bachchan was voted the Greatest Star of stage or screen of the Millennium by BBC online poll where he defeated many Hollywood legends. In 2001, he was honoured with the Actor of the Century award at the Alexandria International Film Festival in Egypt in recognition of his contribution to the world of cinema. Many other honours for his achievements were conferred upon him at several International Film Festivals, including the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2010 Asian Film Awards.
In June 2000, he became the first living Asian to have been immortalised in wax at London's prestigious Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. Another statue was installed at New York and Hong Kong in 2009.
In 2003, he was conferred with the Honorary Citizenship of the French town of Deauville. He was honoured with an Honorary Doctorate by the Jhansi University in 2004, the Delhi University in 2006, the De Montfort University in Leicester, UK in 2006, the University Brandan Foster by the Leeds Metropolitan University in Yorkshire in 2007. Another an Honorary Doctorate was conferred by the Queensland University of Technology in Australia in 2009. But he turns down the honour as mark of protest to racial attacks on Indian students.
Severals books have been written about Bachchan. Amitabh Bachchan: the Legend was published in 1999, To be or not to be: Amitabh Bachchan in 2004, AB: The Legend: (A Photographer's Tribute) in 2006 /, Amitabh Bachchan: Ek Jeevit Kimvadanti in 2006, Amitabh: The Making of a Superstar in 2006, Looking for the Big B: Bollywood, Bachchan and Me in 2007 and Bachchanalia in 2009. Bachchan himself has also written a book in 2002: Soul Curry for you and me - An Empowering Philosophy That Can Enrich Your Life.
{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background:#CCC; text-align:center;"
! Year !! Film !! Role !! Notes
|-
| rowspan="4"|2006 || Family - Ties of Blood || Viren Sahi ||
|-
| Darna Zaroori Hai || Professor ||
|-
| Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna || Samarjit Singh Talwar (aka. Sexy Sam) || Nominated, Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award
|-
| Baabul (2006 film) || Balraj Kapoor ||
|-
| rowspan="7"|2007 || || Eklavya ||
|-
| Nishabd || Vijay ||
|-
| Cheeni Kum || Buddhadev Gupta/Ghaspus ||
|-
| Shootout at Lokhandwala || Special appearance, Dingra ||
|-
| Jhoom Barabar Jhoom || Special appearance, Sutradhar ||
|-
| Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag || Babban Singh ||
|-
| Om Shanti Om || Special appearance, Himself ||
|-
| rowspan="5"|2008 || Jodhaa Akbar || Narrator ||
|-
| Bhoothnath || Bhoothnath (Kailash Nath) ||
|-
| Sarkar Raj || Subhash Nagre aka Sarkar ||
|-
| God Tussi Great Ho || God Almighty ||
|-
| The Last Lear || Harish 'Harry' Mishra ||
|-
| rowspan="3"|2009 || Delhi-6|| Special appearance, Dadaji ||
|-
| Aladin || Genius the Gennie ||
|-
| Paa || Auro || Winner, Filmfare Best Actor Award
Winner, National Film Award for Best Actor
|-
| rowspan="4"|2010 || Rann || Vijay Harshvardhan Malik ||
|-
| Teen Patti || Venkat ||
|-
| Kandahar || Lokanathan Sharma ||
|-
| Shoebite (Post-production) || John Periera ||
|}
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