Premji (born as Mullamangalath Parameshwaran Bhattathiripad on 23 September 1908 – 10 August 1998) was an Indian stage and film actor.

Biography[link]

Premji was born on 23 September 1908 in a Namboodiri Brahmin family in Vanneri, Malappuram, Kerala. It was a time when Kerala was experiencing a social upraising. The effect of that was visible in Premji's family and life as well. His brother M. R. Bhatathirippad, known publicly as MRB was a prominent figure in Malayalam professional plays. Premji got married at the age of 40 to Arya Antharjanam(30years old) from Karuvat Illam',Kanjany,Trichur', who was a widow since the age of 17. Premji started his professional life as a proof editor in Mangalodayam press Trissur when he was 19. He soon launched his acting career with Adukkalayil Ninnu Arangathakku, a play by eminent dramatist V. T. Bhatathirippad.^[1] Later, he acted in various plays: MRB's Marakkudakkullile Mahaanarakam, Moothiringode Bhavathrathan Namboothiripad's Apphante Makal, Cherukad's Nammalonnu and Snehabimbangal and P.R. Warrier's Chavittikkuzhacha Mannu are some of them. He won gold medal from the Government of Kerala for his performance in the play Shah Jahan, produced by Kalakaumudi Nataka Koottayma. He was also awarded a fellowship by the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy.^[1] With his expertise in plays, he ventured into film industry. He debuted in Minnaminungu and went on to act in about 60 films including Thacholi Othenen, Kunjali Marakkar, Liza, Yaagam, Utharayanam and Piravi.^[2] He won the National Film Award for Best Actor as well as Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor for his performance as a father in search of his missing son in Piravi(1988), directed by Shaji N. Karun. In addition to the much acclaimed play " Ritumathi" Premji has 4 collected verses to his credit as well, namely Sapakthni, Nalkalikal, Raktha Sandesam and Premji Padunnu.^[1] He died on 10 August 1998. One of his children named Hari retired as a Joint Registrar from the Cochin University of Science and Technology in Cochin. He is now residing at Arattupuzha, a serene green village in Thrissur district in Kerala.

Awards[link]

National Film Awards:

• Best Actor - 1989 - Piravi

Kerala State Film Awards:

• Best Actor - 1989 - Piravi

Selected filmography[link]

• Piravi (1988) .... Chakyar
• Anu Bandham (1985) .... Valiya Nampoothiri
• Thrishna (1981) .... Sankar Menon
• Vilkkanundu Swapnangal (1980) .... Sridevi's Valyammavan
• Lisa (1978) .... Bhavithradan Namputhirippadu
• Utharayanam (1974)
• Yaagam
• Othenande Makan (1970)
• Kunjali Marakkar (1966) .... Zamorin of Calicut
• Thacholi Othenan (1964)
• Moodupadam (1963)
• Shymala Chechi (1965)
• Ammu (1965)
• Thira, Veendum Oru Thira
• Minnaminungu (1957)
• Neelakuyil (1954)
• padippura
• mangalam nerunnu

References[link]

Premji Amaren; born Ganesh Gangai Amaren on February 3, 1979) is a Tamil playback singer, film composer, songwriter and actor. Son of veteran film composer and singer Gangai Amaran, he often composes rap songs in Tamil cinema and is known for his comical performances in the Venkat Prabhu films Chennai 600028, Saroja and Goa. His stage name, Premji, is actually a spelling error, as it is meant to be "Prem G.", (the G referring to his father's name).

Career[link]

Primarily interested in composing music, Premji started his career as an assistant to film music composer and his cousin Yuvan Shankar Raja, turning a playback singer, singing mostly the rap portions in Yuvan Shankar Raja's compositions, before working with other music composers as well. In 2006, however, he made his acting debut in Silambarasan's Vallavan as the heroine's friend, following which he starred in his brother, Venkat Prabhu's directorial debut Chennai 600028 (2007), in which he played the role of Seenu. The movie went on to become the year's biggest summer blockbuster, establishing Premji as a comedy actor.

In 2008 he became an independent music director with Agathiyan's Nenjathai Killathe and for Thozha, in which he essayed one of the leading roles as well. But it was Saroja which fetched him accolades for his performance as Ganesh Kumar.

He appeared as a lead character in Venkat Prabhu's Goa (2010). He is also working as music composer on Pookada Ravi, starring Narain. He will also be composing music for the movie Pookaran which stars R.Madhavan.

Family[link]

Premji is the son of veteran director & musician Gangai Amaran and the younger brother of film director and actor Venkat Prabhu. Film composer Ilaiyaraaja is his uncle while Yuvan Shankar Raja, Karthik Raja and Bhavadharini are his cousins.

Filmography[link]

As actor[link]

As music director[link]

Awards[link]

International Tamil Film Awards (ITFA)

• Best Supporting Actor - Mankatha

References[link]

External links[link]

• Premji Amaren at the Internet Movie Database

Azim Hashim Premji
Azim Hashim Premji at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in 2009
Born	(1945-07-24) 24 July 1945 (age 66) Bombay Presidency, British India [1]
Residence	Bangalore, India[2]
Nationality	Indian
Ethnicity	Kutchhi
Alma mater	Stanford University (dropped out 1966, completed 1999)[2]
Occupation	Chairman of Wipro
Net worth	US$ 15.9 billion (2012)[3]
Religion	Islam
Spouse	Yasmeen
Children	Rishad, Tariq[4]
Signature	150px
Website
Azim Premji

Azim Hashim Premji (born 24 July 1945) is an Indian business tycoon and philanthropist who is the chairman of Wipro Limited, guiding the company through four decades of diversification and growth to emerge as one of the Indian leader in the software industry. According to Forbes, he is currently the third wealthiest Indian, and the 41st richest in the world, with a personal wealth of US$15.9 billion in 2012.^[3][5] In 2000, he was voted among the 20 most powerful men in the world by Asiaweek. He has twice been listed among the 100 most influential people by TIME Magazine, once in 2004 and more recently in 2011.^[6] Premji owns 79 percent of Wipro and also owns a private equity fund, PremjiInvest, which manages his $1 billion personal portfolio.

Early life and career[link]

When Azim Premji took over as its head, Wipro dealt in hydrogenated cooking fats and later diversified to bakery fats, ethnic ingredient based toiletries, hair care soaps, baby toiletries, lighting products, and hydraulic cylinders. Thereafter Premji made a focused shift from soaps to software.^[7] The Amalner-based vanaspathi manufacturing company, the Western India Products later became Wipro Products Ltd and Wipro Limited subsequently. Under Premji’s leadership Wipro embarked on an ambitious phase of expansion and diversification. The Company began manufacturing light bulbs with and other consumer products including soaps, baby care products, shampoos, powder etc.

In the 1980s Wipro entered the IT field, taking advantage of the exit of IBM from the Indian market in 1975. Thus, Wipro started manufacturing computer hardware, software development and related items, under a special license from Sentinel. As a result, the $1.5 million company in hydrogenated cooking fats grew within a few decades to an over $6 billion diversified, integrated corporation in services, medical systems, technology products and consumer items with offices worldwide. The company’s IT division became the world's first to win SEI CMM level 5 and PCMM Level 5 (People Capability Maturity Model) certification, the latest in quality standards. A large percentage of the company’s revenues are generated by the IT division. Wipro works with leading Fortune 500 companies. Wipro also has a joint venture in Medical Systems with General Electric company.^[1]

Wipro Consumer Care launched brands like Santoor^[8] and the Wipro Shikakai^[9] in 1986; Santoor Talc^[10] and Wipro Baby Soft^[11] in 1991; Santoor Facewash,^[12] Wipro Sanjeevani Honey^[13] and Wipro Safewash^[14] in 2004; Santoor Handwash^[15] in 2006; Wipro Sweet 'n' Healthy^[16] and Chandrika Handwash^[17] in 2007 and Santoor Deo^[18] in 2010.

Wipro Consumer Care acquired brands like Glucovita^[19] in 2003; Chandrika^[20] in 2004; North West^[21] in 2006; Unza^[22] in 2007; Enchanteurand Romano^[23] in 2008 and Yardley^[24] in 2009 and Aramusk in 2011.

Azim Premji founded Wipro Lighting^[25] and Wipro GE Medical Systems in 1991; Wipro Net^[26] in 1999; netKracker^[27] in 2000; Wipro Water in 2008; and Wipro EcoEnergy in 2009.

Personal life[link]

Azim Premji is married to Yasmeen.The couple have two children, Rishad and Tariq. Rishad is married to Aditi and is currently the Chief Strategy Officer of IT Business, Wipro.^[28]

Honours and awards[link]

Premji has been recognized by Business Week as one of the Greatest Entrepreneurs^[29] for being responsible for Wipro emerging as one of the world’s fastest growing companies. In 2000, he was conferred an honorary doctorate by the Manipal Academy of Higher Education.

In 2006, Azim Premji was awarded Lakshya Business Visionary by National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai.^[30]

He was awarded a Doctor of Literature (D.Litt.), an honorary degree, from the Aligarh Muslim University on the 18th of June 2008 on the occasion of 58th Convocation Ceremony of the University.

In 2009, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut for his outstanding philanthropic work.^[31] In 2005 the government of India honored him with the title of Padma Bhushan for his outstanding work in trade and commerce.

In 2011, he has been awarded Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award by the Government of India.^[32]

Philanthropy[link]

Wipro Equity Reward Trust[link]

In 1984, Azim Premji established the Wipro Equity Reward Trust^[33] to allow employees to acquire stake in Wipro's success and growth. The WERT, which is administered by a Board of Trustees is designed to give eligible employees the right to receive restricted shares and other compensation benefits at the stipulated times and conditions. Such compensation benefits include voluntary contributions, loans, interest and dividends on investments in the WERT and other similar benefits. Shares from the WERT are issued in the joint names of the WERT and the employee until such restrictions and obligations are fulfilled by the employee. After a four-year period, complete ownership of the shares is transferred to the employee.

If employment is terminated by death, disability or retirement, his or her restricted shares are transferred to the employee’s legal heirs or continue to be held by the employee, as the case may be, and such individuals may exercise any rights to those shares for up to 90 days after employment has ceased.

Azim Premji Foundation and university[link]

In 2001, he founded Azim Premji Foundation, a non-profit organization, with a vision to significantly contribute to achieving quality universal education that facilitates a just, equitable, humane and sustainable society. The Foundation works in the area of elementary education to pilot and develop 'proofs of concept' that have a potential for systemic change in India's 1.3 million government-run schools. A specific focus is on working in rural areas where the majority of these schools exist. This choice to work with elementary education (Class I to VIII) in rural government-run is a response to evidence of educational attainment in India.

In December 2010, Premji pledged to donate $2 billion for improving school education in India. This has been done by transferring 213 million equity shares of Wipro Ltd, held by a few entities controlled by him, to the Azim Premji Trust. This donation is the largest of its kind in India.

The Azim Premji University was established under an act of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly to run programmes to develop education and development professionals, offer alternative models for educational change and also invest in educational research to continuously stretch the boundaries of educational thinking. Currently the university conducts three degree awarding programmes:

• Masters in Development,
• Masters in Education,
• Masters in Teacher Education^[34]

The Continuing Education Programme aims to transform existing talent in the fields of education and development. The programme is facilitated by the University Resource Centre which provides learning content and capacity building programmes for professionals in education and development through short-term certified courses.

The URC is being developed with a view to conduct relevant and meaningful research into the education system, especially in India. These researches shall be in a manner that facilitates proactive reforms to the existing education system.

See also[link]

• List of billionaires

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Azim Premji

• Profile at Wipro
• Azim Premji on Charlie Rose
• Works by or about Azim Premji in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Profile at Forbes
• Azim Premji collected news and commentary at The Wall Street Journal
• Azim Premji collected news and commentary at Bloomberg News
• Azim Premji collected news and commentary at The Times of India
• Gates, Bill (21 April 2011). "Azim Premji". Time. http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2066367_2066369_2066101,00.html. Retrieved October 27, 2007. 
• Smith, David (27 August 2006). "The story of Bangalore Bill". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2006/aug/27/theobserver.observerbusiness3?INTCMP=SRCH. Retrieved 9 August 2011. 

Stephen Devassy
File:Stephen Devassy 2.jpg
Background information
Born	(1981-02-23) February 23, 1981 (age 31)
Origin	Ottapalam, Palakkad, Kerala
Genres	Classical, Indian, world music
Occupations	Pianist, composer, arranger
Years active	1998–present
Associated acts	Seven, Rexband, Dhundhubi
Website	www.stephendevassy.com

Stephen Devassy (born 23 February 1981 in Ottapalam, Palakkad, Kerala) is an Indian pianist. He composes, sets tunes and arranges music for the Indian music industry.

Early life[link]

Stephen Devassy started learning the piano at age 10; he entered the world of music under the guidance of Leslie Peter, who was his first teacher. He learned the organ and then was introduced to the piano by Fr. Thomas at Chetana Music Academy in Thrissur, where he completed his Eighth Grade examination conducted by the Trinity College of Music, London.^[1][2]

Career[link]

Stephen's first major break came when he was just 18, through Johny Sagarika, for whom he did the music orchestration of six songs on the album Ishtamannu. He then went as an accompanying artist to play the keyboard for Hariharan on his European tour. He has also accompanied the violin maestro L. Subramanian at the Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival.^[3]

At age 19, he started a music band called Seven, with singers Franco Simon and Sangeeth. A Hindi pop band, they released an album titled Yeh Zindagani.

Stephen, who started performing at a young age, has done the music arrangement for many films. Some of the films he scored were Majaa, Thambi, Nammal, Azhagiya Thamizh Magan and Hariharan's album, Waqt Par Bolna.^[4]

Hariharan Pillai Happy Aanu (2003) was his maiden music directorial venture in Malayalam.

He is one of the regular band members in Rexband, a Christian contemporary band singing gospel fusion, a musical outreach of the Jesus Youth Movement. He performed with the band before Pope John Paul II during World Youth Day performance in 2002 at Canada. At the time, it was the only catholic band invited from India. Stephen has orchestrated an instrumental version of the popular Rex Band melodies called Different Vibes.^[1]

In association with Kosmic Music, Stephen has also set to tune to a background of Western music, Sanskrit slokas, mantras and verses from the Upanishads, called Sacred Chants of Kosmic Music, and albums of holy chants on Ganesha, Shiva and Vishnu.^[5]

He has also assisted Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan with his album of Christmas carols, Breaking Barriers..

He has released his album Romanza, which was a mix of world music sprinkled with the flavor of piano. Indian ragas have been treated with the rich use of contemporary piano. Hariharan, Ouseppachan and a Russian vocalist appeared as guest artists on the album.

Stephen’s solo stage shows have propelled him to the top league of onstage performers.^[6] Recently, Stephen Devassy made his first appearance on a Tamil channel by playing for the contestants and playback singers Srinivas, Chinmayi, Sujatha Mohan and Unnikrishnan in the unplugged round for the famous Tamil reality music show Airtel Super Singer 2008.^[7]....

Stephen performed at Shakthi foundation's annual fundraising concert, Ghananjani 2009, along with Zakir Hussain, U Shrinivas, Sivamani and Dominique Piazza.On March 10, 2011,he performed in Ragam'11,the annual cultural fest of NIT Calicut And then he also went to perform for NMAM Institute of Technology(Nitte Mahalinga Adyanthaya Memorial)on 4 Of November in the TechFest also called Technidarshan.].^[8] On march 12,2011,he performed in the popular cultural fest Spring Spree,held by NIT Warangal.

He appears as pianist in popular reality music show in Mazhavil Manorama television channel.

Achievements[link]

Stephen holds a record as Asia’s highest scorer in solo piano exams from Trinity College of Music, London^[2][6] with a score of 92.2%. He also holds the record of completing the course in three years’ time.

Personal life[link]

Stephen is married to Jesna Joy.

References[link]

External links[link]

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMjxTVx31KU
• http://team1dubai.blogspot.com/2008/01/interview-with-stephen-devassy-my.html
• http://www.hindu.com/mp/2009/02/24/stories/2009022450170600.htm
• Stephen Devassy at MSI
• http://stephendevassy.blogspot.in/