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Mahajan is an Indian surname or title, found among several castes and communities.

The word "Mahajan" is an amalgam of two Sanskrit words: Maha meaning great, and Jan meaning people or individuals. Over the years, the word Mahajan has come to be used a generic job title that refers to people involved in money lending.

Caste[link]

The Mahajan community of North India originated from punjab region.They originally were goyals and guptas and hence are agarwals who originate from Hisar.However they are not considered banias but rather vaishyas as they have been doing the occupation of money lending for centuries within the punjab region and they migrated as early as posible to the himachal, jammu and kashmir, present day state of punjab, present day punjab province and North West Frontier province.. Most of these Mahajans speak Punjabi or Dogri, and reside in the states of Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.

Mahajans of Jammu, Maharashtra and Punjab were landlords, traders and business men and were supposed to have good respect and influence in the society. It was always considered to be a high caste therefore they were given the name Mahajan. The Mahajans were always economically and socially powerful people of the society. Ironically a few of them were also involved in money lending. Most of Mahajans in panjab and jammu have come from Pakistan after partition.Because they are small in number they frequently marry among Khatris and Aggarwals.

[edit] Maharashtra

Mahajans from Maharashtra are a diverse group. They are mostly Chitpavan or Kokanastha and Deshastha Brahmins like Late Pramod Mahajan and Vishnupant Mahajan. The surname Mahajan also exists within the Lingayat, Gujri, Leva Patil, Mali, Bhavsar (Rangari), Digambar Jain,kunabi communities of Maharashtra.

Sub-castes[link]

Mahajans have many sub castes like Kubre, Beotra, Manath, Kankaal, Lamhe, kanghal etc. and each of the sub casted people gather at their religious places. Actually each sub cast believes in different god(called devte). So, Mahajans created temples at their places. Mostly temples are located from Batala, Punjab to Jammu and Gurdaspur also. This gathering is called Mail of Mahajans. This day is celebrated on the occasion of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Birthday, mostly comes in November.

Traditionally, Mahajans do not get married into same sub castes. It means Kubra boy cannot get married with Kubra Girl because as per the rituals they are brother and sister.

Some Mahajans use the caste Gupta and Jandiyals. Jandiyals are mostly used by the Mahajans of Jammu.

Mahajan as a generic title[link]

Mahajan is also used a generic job title that refers to people involved in money lending. Any person involved in money lending was referred to as Mahajan whether or not was a Mahajan by caste.

In Gujarat, the Bhatias also use the "Mahajan" suranme, as the Mahajan community was traditionally associated with money lending. The Mahajans of Gujarat believe in Srinathji at Nathdwara (Rajasthan), follow strict vegetarianism.

In the coastal state of Goa Mahajan is not used a family name. But Mahajan (Konkani: Mhajan) is a title which is used by the members of Mazanias; it means elder (Maha — great and Zan — person). Mazanias are associations of a religious nature consisting of the founders of Hindu temples or their descendants.^[1] These people mostly belong to Brahmin subcastes like Gowda Saraswath Brahmins, Daivajnas, Padyes or Kshatriyas.^[2]

Notes[link]

Kainaz Motivala (born 20 November 1986) is an Indian actress who appears in Bollywood films.^[1]

Filmography[link]

Television[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kainaz Motivala

• Kainaz Motivala at the Internet Movie Database

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Prem Chopra
Prem Chopra at Navin Nischol's Funeral
Born	(1935-09-23) September 23, 1935 (age 76) Lahore, British India
Website
http://www.premchopra.com

Prem Chopra (Devanagari: प्रेम चोपड़ा) is an actor in Hindi and Punjabi films. He has acted in over 400 films. He is famous for his soft spoken diction despite being a villain in most films.

Personal life and education[link]

Chopra was born to a Hindu Punjabi family in Lahore on 23 September 1935 to Ranbirlal and Rooprani Chopra.^[1] He was third of six children. After the partition of India, his family moved to Shimla, where he was brought up.^{[citation needed]} His father desired that Prem be a doctor.^{[citation needed]}

He graduated from Punjab University.^[1]

Chopra married^[2] sister of ^[3] wife of late Bollywood showman Raj Kapoor, and they have three daughters: Rakita, Punita and Prerana. Punita is married to actor, Vikas Bhalla,^[4] while Prerana Chopra is married to actor, Sharman Joshi.^[5]

Career[link]

Among his early films he played Sukhdev in Shaheed, one of his rare positive leading roles. After Teesri Manzil and Upkaar, he was flooded with films as a villain. After Upkaar in 1967, he left The Times of India.

He has ever since been a leading villain in Hindi films. The dialogue " Prem naam hai mera, Prem Chopra" (My name is Prem, Prem Chopra) from the film Bobby has been very popular. Another famous Prem Chopra dialogue is "Mai wo bala hoon jo sheshay se pathar ko todtee hai" which closely translates to "I am that trouble which crushes stones with glass".

Of late, he has started taking comic and character roles too.

He had a good career spanning 35 years and was popular for villain roles in Bollywood.

Awards[link]

• 1976 - Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for his role in Do Anjaane
• 2004 - "Legend of Indian Cinema" Award at Atlantic City [1]

Amongst other awards won the Giants^{[clarification needed]} honoured him with the "Lifetime Achievement Award". His talent won the Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini Award in 1998, and has also been a recipient of the "Lions Club Award", "Ashoka Award", "Ashirwad Award" and the "Punjabi Kala Sangam Award".^[6]

Filmography[link]

Bollywood selected filmography[link]

• Woh Kaun Thi
• Upkaar
• Trishul
• Anari No. 1
• Saawan: The Love Season
• Dhamaal
• Kaala Patthar
• Bobby
• Souten
• Raja Babu
• Delhi-6
• Daddy Cool
• Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year
• World Cupp 2011
• Golmaal 3
• Patiala House
• 6 December
• Dharti (2011)
• Agent Vinod

References[link]

External links[link]

• Prem Chopra at the Internet Movie Database

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This article about an Indian actor or actress is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Feroze Varun Gandhi (born 13 March 1980, Delhi, India) is an Indian politician, he is a member of Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament of India, representing the Pilibhit constituency. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party National Executive and the youngest National Secretary in the history of the party.^[1][2]

Formative years and education[link]

Varun Gandhi was born in Delhi on 13 March 1980 to Sanjay Gandhi and Maneka Gandhi, he is the grandson of the former Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi and the great-grandson of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. His father died in a plane crash when he was three months old. His grandmother was assassinated when Varun was four-years-old. Indira Gandhi is said to have been very fond of Varun and was greatly distressed when his mother left the household.^[3]

He attended Rishi Valley School and completed his A levels from the British School, New Delhi, where he was elected secretary of the student council. According to a press statement released by Sumantra Bose, Professor of International and Comparative Politics at London School of Economics, Varun completed his Bachelor of Science in Economics from the London School of Economics via the University of London External System in the year 2002.^[4] He also completed his Master of Science in Public Policy from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, in 2004 also through correspondence.

Varun is married to Yamini Roy, daughter of late diplomat Sunil Roy Chowdhury and film enthusiast Dr. Aruna Vasudev.^[5][6]

Career[link]

The nature of his profession and ideological affiliations, coupled with the inexperience of his age, have invited criticisms about him and his ways.^{[clarification needed][7]} In an interview to Stephen Sackur in BBC's HARDtalk in October 2005, Gandhi answered questions about the reasons behind his political affiliation and defended his father as someone who had helped revive the industrialisation of India by starting Maruti Udyog and whose strategy helped the Congress party's comeback after the first ever non-Congress Janata Dal government following an electoral routing for the Indira Gandhi-government after Emergency, among many other things.^[8]

In the 2009 general election, the BJP decided to field Varun Gandhi as its candidate from the Pilibhit constituency instead of his mother Menaka Gandhi.^[9] He won the seat by receiving 419,539 votes and defeated his nearest contending candidate, V.M. Singh, by a margin of 281,501 votes.^{[10][11][12][13][14]} The victory was the strongest of any of the four Gandhi family candidates in the election: his mother Maneka Gandhi, aunt Sonia Gandhi and first cousin Rahul Gandhi. The security deposits of all other candidates, including those of V.M. Singh of the Indian National Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party candidate Ganga Charan Rajput were forfeited.^[15] During election campaign, a controversial speech by him resulted in his judicial custody prior to the election.^[16] On 6 March 2011 he got married to Yamini Rai Choudhuri at Varanaasi.

Jan Lokpal Bill[link]

In August 2011, Varun Gandhi strongly pitched for the Jan Lokpal Bill. Gandhi offered his official residence to Hazare to hold his fast, after Hazare was denied permission by the government.^[17] When Hazare was jailed, Gandhi offered to table the Jan Lokpal Bill in Parliament.^[18] On August 24, he went to Ramlila Maidan as a common man to support the cause of Anna Hazare, becoming the first politician to openly support the anti-corruption cause.^[19]

Controversies[link]

Mr Gandhi has repudiated the movement which gave his dynasty its place in India's halls of power. During one campaign rally, he taunted Muslims over their tradition of circumcision, called a Muslim rival "Osama bin Laden" and swore that he would "cut off the hand" of any follower of Islam who dared to threaten a Hindu.."^[20]

See also[link]

• Political families

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Bioprofile at Parliament of India of Varun Gandhi
• Official website of Varun Gandhi
• Profile at Govt. of India website

Dimpy Mahajan
Dimpy Ganguly Mahajan at her wedding anniversary
Born	Soumasri Ganguly 25th July 1988 Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Occupation	Model, Actress[1]
Height	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Measurements	34-26-36
Spouse	Rahul Mahajan (6 March 2010-)

Dimpy Mahajan (Bengali: দিম্প্য় মহাজন ; born Soumasri Ganguly in Kolkata, India) is a model and actress. By her marriage on reality television (for the program Rahul Dulhaniya Le Jayega), she and her husband Rahul Mahajan created history by being the first couple to marry on Indian reality television for a national audience (the previous version of the program did not culminate in a marriage).

Career[link]

She graduated with an honors degree in English literature from the renowned Scottish Church College in 2009.^[2] Prior to joining the college, she had participated and won the Sananda Tilottama model contest, and was working as a model at several magazines and newspapers, including the Unish Kuri.^[3]

She was one of the contestants of Gladrags MegaModel Manhunt 2009, a beauty contest from India. She also stood second runners up in Sananda Tilottama in 2007.^[4]

She also was one of the contestant in the reality show Zor Ka Jhatka: Total Wipeout.

Personal life[link]

Dimpy with husband Rahul Mahajan

Dimpy met her husband Rahul Mahajan while participating in Rahul Dulhaniya Le Jayega, the reality show sequel of Rakhi Ka Swayamwar, a show similar in nature to The Bachelor. This show was a swayamvar for Rahul Mahajan, where 17 girls were participating including his would-be bride. Rahul Mahajan married Dimpy Mahajan on 6 March 2010, live on Indian national television. As the previous version of the show (Rakhi Ka Swayamwar) did not culminate in a marriage, the marriage of Dimpy with Rahul was the first one of its kind to be telecast on Indian television with a national audience.

On 30 July 2010, Dimpy Mahajan accused Rahul Mahajan of domestic violence and moved out of his home.^[5] His ex-wife had also previously accused him of domestic violence.

References[link]

• Rahul Mahajan weds Dimpy Ganguly on reality TV
• Rahul Marries Dimpy Ganguly but Poonam Mahajan, Munde keep away
• Rahul Mahajan weds Dimpy Ganguly on reality TV
• Rahul Mahajan ties knot with Dimpy
• Rahul's promised me a massage: Dimpy Ganguly