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Bhojpuri ( pronunciation (help·info)) is a language spoken in parts of north-central and eastern India. It is spoken in the western part of state of Bihar, the northwestern part of Jharkhand, and the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh (UP), as well as adjoining parts of the Nepal Terai.^[1] Bhojpuri is also spoken in Guyana, Suriname, Fiji, Trinidad and Tobago and Mauritius. The variant of Bhojpuri of the Surinamese Hindustanis is also referred to as Sarnami Hindustani, Sarnami Hindi or just Sarnami and has experienced considerable Creole and Dutch lexical influence. More Indians in Suriname know Bhojpuri compared to Guyana and Trinidad where the language is largely forgotten.

Bhojpuri is part of the Eastern-Hindi or Bengali continuum of languages which once extended from Assam and Bengal to Ballia. While the rest of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh slowly adopted the new Hindi standard (Khari Boli), the language remained strong in the areas between Patna and Benaras.Some scholar trace the literacy history of Bhojpuri from Siddha Sahitya itself, as early as 8th century A.D. Kabir’s contribution of ‘nirgun’ poetry to Sant Sahitya certainly qualifies as recorded literature in Bhojpuri in the 15th century.The nineteenth century has such works as Deviksaracarita by Ramdatta Shukla (1884), Badmasdarpan by Teg Ali Teg (1895), and Jangal me Mangal and Nagari Vilap by Ram Garib Chaube in the later half of the nineteenth century.

The scholar, polymath and polyglot Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan wrote some works in Bhojpuri.^[2] Other eminent writers include Viveki Rai. The number of Bhojpuri writers is small compared to the number of speakers. Some other notable Bhojpuri personalities are legendary freedom fighter Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, first president of India Rajendra Prasad, Manoj Bajpai, and former Indian prime ministers Lal Bahadur Shastri and Chandra Shekhar. Bihar Kokila Padma Shri Sharda Sinha is a famous Bhojpuri folk singer.

Number of speakers[link]

According to an article published in Times of India, a total of 150 million people in India speak Bhojpuri. An estimated 70 million people in Uttar Pradesh and 80 million people in Bihar speak Bhojpuri as their first or second language. There are 6 million Bhojpuri speakers living outside of Bihar and Purvanchal. These areas include Nepal, especially Birgunj, Mauritius, Fiji, Suriname, Guyana, Uganda, Singapore, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Canada, and the United States. This makes the total Bhojpuri speaking population in the world close to 90 million.[1] However, the official figures of the 2001 Indian Census are much lower, showing 33 million speakers of the Bhojpuri dialect under the Hindi language sub-family.^[3]

Bhojpuri dialects, varieties, and creoles are also spoken in various parts of the world, including Brazil, Fiji, Guyana, Mauritius, South Africa, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. During the late 19th century and early 20th century, many colonizers faced labor shortages and were unable to obtain slaves from Africa due to the abolition of slavery; thus, they imported many Indians as indentured servants to labor on plantations. Today, many Indians in the West Indies, Oceania, and South America still speak Bhojpuri as a native or second language. Bhojpuri speaking people belong to central-eastern zone of India.

The Bhojpuri language has been heavily influenced by other languages in many parts of the world. Mauritian Bhojpuri includes many Creole and English words, while the language spoken in Trinidad and Tobago includes Caribbean and English words.

The Sunday Indian, Bhojpuri Association of India and Global Bhojpuri Movement has launched a worldwide movement for the Recognition, Promotion and Preservation of Bhojpuri Language, Art, Culture, Literature and society.

Bhojpuri literature[link]

The Bhojpuri-speaking region, due to its rich tradition of creating leaders for building post-independence India such as first President Dr. Rajendra Prasad followed by many eminent politicians and humanitarians like Dr. Krishna Dev Upadhyaya, was never devoid of intellectual prominence which is evident in its literature.

Bhojpuri became one of the bases of the development of the official language of independent India, Hindi, in the past century. Bhartendu Harishchandra, who is considered the father of literary Hindi, was greatly influenced by the tone and style of Bhojpuri in his native region. Further development of Hindi was taken by prominent laureates such as Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi and Munshi Premchand from the Bhojpuri-speaking region. Bhikhari Thakur, known as the Shakespeare of Bhojpuri, has also given theater plays including the classics of Bidesiya. Pioneer Dr. Krishna Dev Upadhyaya from Ballia district devoted 60 years to researching and cataloging Bhojpuri folklore. Dr. H. S. Upadhyaya wrote the book Relationships of Hindu family as depicted in Bhojpuri folksongs (1996). Together they have cataloged thousands of Bhojpuri folksongs, riddles and proverbs from the Purvanchal U.P, Bihar, Jharkand and Chotta Nagpuri districts near Bengal. Bhojpuri Poet Manoj Bhawuk is face of new age of poetry. He came into limelight for his literary work in Bhojpuri 'Tasveer Zindagi ke' (Bhojpuri Ghazal Collection) and for his contributions in development of Bhojpuri Literature.

The Bhojpuri literature has always remained contemporary. It was more of a body of folklore with folk music and poems prevailing. Literature in the written form started in the early 20th century. During the British era, then known as the "Northern Frontier Province language", Bhojpuri adopted a patriotic tone and after independence it turned to community. In later periods, following the low economic development of the Bhojpuri-speaking region, the literary work is more skewed towards the human sentiments and struggles of life.

Bhojpuri over the course of time has been written in various scripts by various people. Bhojpuri until late 19th century was commonly written in Kaithi script as well as Nasta'liq (Persian) script.

Parichay Das is wellknown Writer, Thinker, Editor in Bhojpuri literature. He is pioneer poet in contemporary Bhojpuri Poetry. Bhojpuri post modern poetry begins from his writings. 'Chaaruta', 'Ek Naya Vinyaas', 'Sansad Bgavab Ju Chhat Per Khada Ho Ke', 'Prithivi Se Ras Le Ke', 'Yugpat Sameekaran Me', Akaksha Se Adhik Satvar', 'Dhoosar Kavita', 'Kavita Chaturthi', 'Lipi-Alipi'etc are his poetry collections. He is editor of 'Parichhan'- Maithili-Bhojpuri Magazine Published from Maithili-Bhojpuri Academy, Delhi Govt. He is also Editor of 'Indra Prasth Bhaarti'- Hindi Magazine, Published from Hindi Academy, Delhi Govt. He is Secretary Maithili-Bhojpuri Academy, Delhi Govt. and Secretary Hindi Academy, Delhi Govt.his original name is dr.ravindra nath srivastava. his wife vandana srivastava is welknown artist and painter of bhojpuri and modern style. He was born in Rampur Devlaaas Village (Mau district's Mohammadabad Tehseel in Uttar Pradesh, India).

Kaithi[link]

Kaithi script was used for administrative purposes in the Mughal era for writing Bhojpuri, Maithili, Bangla, Urdu, Magahi and Hindi from at least 16th century up to the first decade of 20th century. Government gazetteers report that Kaithi was used in a few districts of Bihar through the 1960s. It is possible that Kaithi is still used today in very limited capacity in these districts and in rural areas of north India. The significance of Kaithi grew when the British governments of the Bengal Presidency (of which Bihar and some southern districts of Nepal was territory) and the Northwestern provinces and Oudh selected the script for use in administration and education. The first impetus of growth was the standardization of written Kaithi in 1875 by the government of NWP&O for the purpose of adapting the script for use in formal education.

The second was the selection of Kaithi by the government of Bihar as the official script of the courts and administrative offices of the Bihar districts in 1880. Thereafter; Kaithi replaced the Persian script as the writing system of record in the judicial courts of Bihar. Additionally, on account of the rate of literacy in Kaithi, the governments of Bihar and NWP&O advocated Kaithi as the medium of written instruction in their primary schools.

Nasta'liq (Persian)[link]

Before 1880 all the administrative works in Bihar was done in this Persian script and possibly all the educated Muslims in the Bhojpuri speaking region wrote unofficial works in Nasta'liq script.

Devanagari[link]

By 1894, official works were carried out in both Kaithi and Devanagari in Bihar which probably started giving way to replacement of Kaithi completely by Devanagari. At present almost all the Bhojpuri works are done in Devanagari even in the overseas islands where Bhojpuri is spoken.

Bhojpuri Media[link]

• Many Bhojpuri magazines and papers are published in U P, Bihar West Bengal & Assam. The Sunday Indian, Bhojpuri is world's only regular National News Magazine in Bhojpuri published by Planman Media, owned by Prof. Arindam Chaudhary and Edited by Onkareshwar Pandey. Sanesh this is a first quarterly magazine from north east Guwahati. Bhojpuri Lok Lucknow^[4]
• Mahuaa TV and Hamar TV are Bhojpuri channels.

Phonology[link]

Bhojpuri speakers not acquainted with Hindi or Urdu would generally not be able to pronounce many of the above phonemes. The phonemes /q/, /x/, /ɣ/, /z/ and /f/ are not pronounced by most Bhojpuri-speakers, as they are loans from Persian.

Furthermore the labio-dental approximant /ʋ/ (va) is often realized as [b] (ba), while the palatal fricative /ʃ/ (sha) and the retroflex Fricative /ʂ/ (sha) are merged with /s/ by many speakers.

Comparison of Bhojpuri dialects[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Bhojpuri has three dialects identified in the literature as

1- Standard Bhojpuri (also referred to as Southern Standard), 2- Northern Bhojpuri, 3- Western Bhojpuri

Southern Standard Bhojpuri covers the areas of Bhojpur, Rohtas, Saran, Bhabua, Buxar, Siwan, Gopalganj in Bihar, and Ballia and eastern Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh. One may also come across a local name ‘Chaparahiya’ in Saran.

Northern Bhojpuri covers the areas of Deoria, Gorakhpur and Basti in Uttar Pradesh and parts of Champaran in Bihar. Local names include ‘Gorakhpuri’ for the language in Deoria and eastern Gorakhpur, and ‘Sarwariya’ in western Gorakhpur and Basti. The variety spoken cast of Gandak river between Gorakhpuri Bhojpuri and Maithili in Champaran has a local name Pachhimahwa.

Western Bhojpuri includes the areas of Varanasi, Azamgarh, Ghazipur and Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh ‘Banarasi’ is a local name for the Banaras Bhojpuri. There is a very popular general name ‘ Purabiya’ for Western Bhojpur, obviously used by Hindi speakers to the west of them.

United Bhojpuri linguistic province has unfortunately been ignored by Indian Federalism, the reason could be the caste plagued politics in this region could not boast linguistic movement for Bhojpur or Purvanchal. Purvanchal means Eastern State. Caste rigidity could not unite people of Purvanchal. They are not Hindi speaking people and their language is quite different. Hindi heart land is Awadh and parts of Madhya Pradesh and south western Uttar Pradesh.

Bhojpuri in Nepal[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Bhojpuri is spoken by at least 2.5 million people in Nepal (9% of the total population of Nepal), the districts categorised as Bhojpuria districts lying between the Mithilanchal and Awadh regions of Madhesh are: Rautahat, Bara, Parsa, Chitwan, Nawalparasi and Rupandehi. As people from hills have migrated in large numbers to these districts the native Bhojpuri language is suffering from adulteration and as Nepali has been imposed on people of these regions, most of the adulteration is due to Nepali language. However, the Nepali speakers in this region have somehow become modest speakers of Bhojpuri and can understand Bhojpuri quite well. And due to similarity, Maithili and Awadhi speakerscan also understand Bhojpuri quite well. Total Number of People who can understand the language in Nepal exceeds 12 million however who speak it as first or second tongue are around 4 million.

Some of the very popular local Radio stations in this region have been broadcasting news and entertainment materials in Bhojpuri, although due to Nepali speakers speaking bhojpuri in these radio stations, Bhojpuri sometimes appears awkward. Some of the popular radio stations for Bhojpuri are : Gadhimai FM, Indreni FM, Bijay FM, Rupandehi FM, Samyak FM, Radio Birgunj, Narayani FM and others are in the pipeline such as : Masti FM, Nobel FM, Kadambari FM, Rautahat FM, Gaur FM, Radio Namaste and Madhyabindu FM.

In Kathmandu, Music FM broadcasts Bhojpuri songs and some daily programmes in the language. on the internet no lack of website to listen bhojpuri songs. TOP singer in bhojpuri films Udit Narayan Top 5 site for Bhojpuri Songs.

• 1. www.bestbhojpurisongs.com
• 2. www.raaga.com
• 3. www.smashits.com
• 4. www.hungama.com
• 5. www.in.com

Radio Nepal, the state controlled radio broadcasts daily news in Bhojpuri at 6:05 PM local time daily. Above that, the state controlled Nepal Television 2 shows weekly Bhojpuri cultural programmes.

There are at least 5 Bhojpuri Newspapers being circulated on regular basis in this region.

See also[link]

	India portal
	Languages portal

• Hindustani language
• Bhojpuri cinema
• Manoj Bhawuk
• Languages with official status in India
• List of Indian languages by total speakers
• List of Bhojpuri poets
• Languages of Nepal

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2006/11/06/Bhojpuri-speakers-want-separate-state/UPI-98321162831282/

Bhojpuri-speaking people want state-hood

Notes and references[link]

Bhojpuri language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nitish Kumar
Chief Minister of Bihar
In office 3 March 2000 – 10 March 2000
Deputy CM	Sushil Kumar Modi
Preceded by	President's rule
Incumbent
Assumed office 24 November 2005
Preceded by	Rabri Devi
Minister of Railways
In office 20 March 2001 – 21 May 2004
Preceded by	Ram Vilas Paswan
Succeeded by	Lalu Prasad Yadav
In office 19 March 1998 – 5 August 1999
Minister of Agriculture
In office 27 May 2000 – 21 July 2001
In office 22 November 1999 – 3 March 2000
Minister of Surface Transport
In office 13 October 1999 – 22 November 1999
In office 14 April 1998 – 5 August 1999
Personal details
Born	(1951-03-01) 1 March 1951 (age 61) kalyanbigha, Nalanda
Nationality	Indian
Political party	Janata Dal (United)
Spouse(s)	Late Smt. Manju Kumari Sinha
Children	Nishant Kumar (son)
Residence	1 Anne Marg, Patna
Alma mater	National Institute of Technology, Patna
Profession	Politician Social Worker Agriculturist Engineer
Religion	Hinduism
Website	http://cm.bih.nic.in
As of 18 June, 2006 Source: Government of India

Nitish Kumār (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician who has been a Union Minister and is the Chief Minister of Bihar, an eastern state of India, since 2005. He belongs to the Janata Dal (United) party. As Chief Minister, he gained popularity by initiating a series of developmental and constructive activities including building of long-delayed bridges, re-laying roads that had ceased to exist, appointing over 100,000 school teachers, ensuring that doctors worked in primary health centers, and keeping crime in check.^[1]

Early life and career[link]

Nitish Kumār was born in Kalyanbigha, Bihar to Kaviraj Ram Lakhan Singh and Parmeshwari Devi.^[2] His father was a freedom fighter and was close to the great Gandhian Bihar Vibhuti Anugrah Narayan Sinha, one of the founders of modern Bihar. His nickname is 'Munna'.^[3] He is a teetotaler, does not smoke, and is a frugal eater.^[4]

He has a degree in electrical engineering from the Bihar College of Engineering, Patna now NIT Patna.^[5] He joined the Bihar State Electricity Board, but almost halfheartedly, and later moved into politics.^[6]

Political career[link]

Nitish Kumar belongs to a socialist class of politicians.He learnt the lessons of politics under the tutelage of stalwarts Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia, Karpoori Thakur, S N Sinha, George Fernandes and V. P. Singh.^[7]

Early career[link]

Nitish Kumar participated in Jayaprakash Narayan's movement^[8] between 1974 and 1977, and was close to Satyendra Narayan Sinha, a prominent leader of the time. In the 1980 Bihar assembly elections, Kumar stood from Harnaut, which had a strong presence of his fellow Kurmis. He lost, however, to a Kurmi ‘bahubali’ (muscleman/criminal politician).^[9] He was first elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly in 1985 as an independent candidate. In 1987, he became the President of the Yuva Lok Dal. In 1989, he became the Secretary-General of the Janata Dal in Bihar. He was also elected to the 9th Lok Sabha the same year. Nitish was aligned with Laloo Prasad Yadav for years before they parted ways and Janata Dal (United) came into existence in 2003.^[10][11]

During his term as Minister of Railways, he brought widespread reforms.^[12]

Union Minister in Centre[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2011)

In 1989, Nitish Kumar was appointed as the Union Minister of State for Agriculture in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh. In 1991, he was re-elected to the Lok Sabha and became General Secretary of the Janata Dal at the national level and the Deputy Leader of Janata Dal in the Parliament. He represented Barh parliamentary constituency in the Lok Sabha between 1989 and 2004.

He briefly served as the Union Cabinet Minister for Railways and Minister for Surface Transport and then as the Minister for Agriculture in 1998–99. In August 1999, he resigned following the Gaisal train disaster. He introduced internet ticket booking facility as well as opened record number of railway ticket booking counters. He introduced revolutionary tatkal scheme for instant booking.

Later that year, he rejoined the Union Cabinet as Minister for Agriculture. From 2001 to May 2004, he served as the Union Cabinet Minister for Railways in the NDA Government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections he contested elections from two constituencies, Barh and Nalanda. He was elected from Nalanda but lost from his traditional constituency, Barh. He was the leader of the Janata Dal (United) Parliamentary Party in the Lok Sabha.

Chief Minister of Bihar[link]

1st Term (3 March 2000 – 10 March 2000)[link]

On 3 March 2000, Nitish Kumar was appointed the Chief Minister of Bihar, but he resigned seven days later because failed to prove majority.

2nd Term (24 November 2005 – 24 November 2010)[link]

In November 2005, he led the National Democratic Alliance to victory in the 2005 Bihar assembly elections bringing an end to the 15-year rule of the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal. He was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Bihar on 24 November 2005. Under his government, Bihar developed an electronic version of the Right to Information Act called Jankari scheme. In addition, he launched the E-shakti NREGS program, by which rural people can get employment information by telephone. He is credited with improving infrastructure, and reducing crime, widely felt to be serious problems in the state.

Under his governance Bihar has had a record number of criminal prosecutions through fast track courts. His government initiated a mandatory weekly meeting with all District Magistrates to monitor progress at the grassroot level. His government has generated employment in police services and teaching. Bihar recorded record construction work during his five year mandate, surpassing the national average.

Nitish Kumar government also initiated bicycle and meal programs – the government gave bicycles to girls who stayed in school – which saw Bihar getting huge number of girls into schools and fall in school drop out rates.^[13] Women and extremely backward castes were given 50% reservation in electorals for the first time ever in India. However, bicycle scheme of Nitish Government has been criticised by some people because of corruption involved in the scheme.

Health schemes were launched to improve village hospitals and the free medicine distribution system. Loan schemes for farmers were improved by involving national banks.

The state witnessed steep hike in GSDP growth, the second highest in the country. Bihar was recorded as the highest tax payer state in eastern India.

Dr. Abdul Kalam, former President of India and Nitish Kumar initiated the Nalanda International University project, headed by the Prime Minister of India.

In 2010, Nitish Kumar's party swept back to power along with its ally Bharatiya Janata Party. On 26 November 2010, Nitish Kumar took oath as a Chief Minister of Bihar. This is his second consecutive term as Chief Minister of Bihar.[6]

3rd Term (26 November 2010 – Till Now)[link]

In a keenly fought contest, Nitish Kumar led JDU-BJP combine won with four-fifth majority. NDA won 206 seats while RJD won 22 seats. No party there has won enough seats to represent the opposition in the state assembly, which requires at least 25 seats to become eligible to represent the main opposition party.^[14][15]

For the last time electorates witnessed high turnout of women and young voters, while this declared as the fairest Bihari election, with no bloodshed or poll violence.^[16]

Personal life[link]

On 22 February 1973, Nitish Kumar married Manju Kumari Sinha, a teacher by profession. They have a son, Nishant, who is a graduate of BIT, Mesra.^[17] His wife died in 2007 at the age of 53. He is credited with giving a new face to Bihar. The kind of win his Alliance registered during 2010 Bihar Assembly is viewed amongst the biggest ever election win by anyone in Indian elections, where the entire opposition was almost wiped off. Many sections of media and political sections consider him as the best Chief Minister from India, able to bring success of governance in a state of turmoil, finishing caste, religion barrier and paving way for development. For his clean and Statesmanship he owns respect from his bitter opponents and all political parties including Congress whose many prominent leaders including chief Sonia Gandhi, Home Minister P. Chidambaram, NCP leader Agatha Sangma and Congress leader(Minister for information and broadcasting) Ambika Soni, credited Nitish Kumar's clean, pro-citizen development oriented governance. It is a status which currently only Nitish Kumar enjoys, something a rare feat in Indian politics where someone achieves respect and appreciation from opposition along with landslide public support from all sections of Society.

Awards and recognition[link]

• XLRI,Jamshedpur "Sir Jehangir Ghandy Medal" for Industrial & Social Peace 2011.^[18]
• "MSN Indian of the year 2010"^[19]
• NDTV Indian of the Year – Politics, 2010^[20]
• Forbes "India's Person of the Year", 2010^[21]
• CNN-IBN "Indian of the Year Award" – Politics, 2010^[22]
• NDTV Indian of the year – Politics, 2009^[23]
• Economics Times "Business reformer of the Year 2009".^[24]
• 'Polio Eradication Championship Award' 2009, by Rotary Internationals.^[25]
• CNN-IBN Great Indian of the Year – Politics, 2008^[26]
• The Best Chief Minister,^[27] according to the CNN-IBN and HT State of the Nation Poll 2007.

Positions Held[link]

See also[link]

• List of Chief Ministers of Bihar

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Nitish Kumar

• Biography on Bihar Govt. web site
• Biography on website of Lok Sabha

v t e Current Chief Ministers of Indian states (list)     Andhra Pradesh: Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy Arunachal Pradesh: Nabam Tuki Assam: Tarun Gogoi Bihar: Nitish Kumar Chhattisgarh: Raman Singh Goa: Manohar Parrikar Gujarat: Narendra Modi Haryana: Bhupinder Singh Hooda Himachal Pradesh: Prem Kumar Dhumal Jammu and Kashmir: Omar Abdullah Jharkhand: Arjun Munda Karnataka: D. V. Sadananda Gowda Kerala: Oommen Chandy Madhya Pradesh: Shivraj Singh Chauhan Maharashtra: Prithviraj Chavan Manipur: Okram Ibobi Singh Meghalaya: Mukul Sangma Mizoram: Pu Lalthanhawla Nagaland: Neiphiu Rio Orissa: Naveen Patnaik Punjab: Parkash Singh Badal Rajasthan: Ashok Gehlot Sikkim: Pawan Kumar Chamling Tamil Nadu: Jayalalithaa Tripura: Manik Sarkar Uttar Pradesh: Akhilesh Yadav Uttarakhand: Vijay Bahuguna West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee Delhi: Sheila Dikshit Pondicherry: N. Rangaswamy

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Ravi Kishan
Ravi Kishan at Santan Film Muhurat
Born	Ravi Kishan Shukla, (1971-07-17) July 17, 1971 (age 40) Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh
Other names	Babbu
Occupation	Actor, Voice actor
Years active	1992–present
Spouse	Preeti
Parents	Pt. Shayam Narayan Shukla and Jadavati Devi

Ravi Kishan Shukla (born July 17, 1971), popularly known as Ravi Kishan, is an Indian film actor, voice actor and television personality, who works in Hindi cinema and Bhojpuri cinema.^[1] In 2006, he participated in Bigg Boss, the Indian version of Big Brother.^[2]

Early life[link]

Ravi Kishan was born in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh.^[3]

Career[link]

In June 2008 he was awarded the Most Popular Actor award at ETV Bhojpuri Cinema Samman 2008 function.^[4]

Popular reality shows like Big Boss^[5] and more recently Ek Se badhkar Ek have brought him to the front line of top Indian television actors. In 2008, he started co-hosting the celebrity dance-based reality show Bathroom Singer^[6], Ek se badhkar ek - Jalwe sitaron ke on Zee.^[7] Ravi Kishan also hosted a Reality show, Raaz Pichhle Janam Ka, on ndtv Imagine for two seasons.^[8] Ravi Kishan has worked with legendary directors like Shyam Benegal^[9] and Mani Rathnam in the year 2010. A film starring Ravi Kishan, Jala Debh Duniya Tohra Pyar Mein, produced by American film company PUN Films, was shown in the India Pavilion at the [Cannes Film Festival] 2010.^[10]

Personal life[link]

Ravi Kishan is married to Preeti;^[11] they have a son and 3 daughters. His father's name is Mr. Shyama Shukla, who lives in his hometown, Bisuin(Barain), Jaunpur. Other members in his family members are Mr. Ram Kishan Shukla, Ramesh Shukla, Mr. Kailash Nath Shukla(Lecturer), Mr. Udayraj Shukla (Businessman). An interesting fact about Bisuin is that it is a very small village, situated on the border of Varanasi Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh, consisting of just about 20 families and that there are three entrance gates in the village.

Selected filmography[link]

• Jeena Hai Toh Thok Daal (2012)
• Prem Vidrohi (BHOJPURI) (2012)
• Tanu Weds Manu 2 (2012)
• Zila Ghaziabaad (2012)
• Ghayal Returns (2012)
• Isak (2012)
• Dangerous Ishq (2012)
• Agent Vinod (2012)
• Dhamaal Kaila Raja (2012)(In Production)
• Kaisan Piywa ke Charittar ba (Bhojpuri)(2012)
• Chaalis Chauraasi-4084 (2012)
• Piywa Bada Satavela ( Bhojpuri) (2011)
• Hamar Devdas( Bhojpuri Version Of Devdas) (2011)
• Mallyuddh (Bhojpuri) (2011)
• Kehu Hamse Jeet Na Paye (Bhojpuri) (2011)
• Faulaad ( Bhojpuri) (2011)
• Mohalla Assi (2011)
• Santan (2011)
• Sajna Saath Na Chhute (2011)
• Madhav
• Welcome to Sajjanpur
• Ram Balram,(2009)
• Well Done Abba (2010) ...... Vikas Jha
• Na Ghar Ke Na Ghaat Ke (2010)...... Madan Khachak
• Kab Takk (2010) (under production)
• Man from Benaras (English and Hindi) (2011)
• Banaras Ke Babuaa Surat Ke Chhori (2010)
• Ram Pur Ke Lakshman (Bhojpuri) (2010)
• Laharia Loota E Rajaji (Bhojpuri) (2010)
• Chitkabrey (Hindi) (2011)
• Jala Deb Duniya Tohra Pyar Mein (Bhojpuri) (2010)
• Raavan (2010) ....Mangal (Hindi)
• Ganga Janma Saraswati (Bhojpuri) (Announced)
• Ram Avtaar (Bhojpuri) (Announced)
• Devra Bada Satavela (Bhojpuri) (2011)
• Rangbaaj Daroga (Bhojpuri) (2009)
• Kanoon Hamra Mutthi Me (Bhojpuri) (2009)
• Luck (2009)
• Balidaan (Bhojpuri) (2010)
• Satyamev Jayte (Bhojpuri) (2010)
• Devdaas (Bhojpuri) (announced) (featuring Bhagyashree)
• Mukti (2010)
• Welcome to Sajjanpur (2008)
• 1971 (2007)
• Deal - In Crime (2007)
• Gangaa (2006)
• Banke Bihari M.L.A (2006)
• Ab Ta Banja Sajanwa Hamaar (2006)
• Phir Hera Pheri (2006)
• Dil Diwana Thakur (2009) [1]
• Chandu Ki Chameli
• Loot (2009)
• Raavan (2009)
• Rangbaz Daroga (2009)
• Bihari Mafia (2009)
• Money Hai Toh Honey Hai (2009)
• Khatailaal Mithai Laal (2009)
• Bhoomiputra (2009)
• Bidai(2009)
• Raja (2005)
• Hum To Ho Gayi Tohar (2005)
• Dulha Milal Dildar (2005)
• Gehri Chaal (2005)
• Raja Bhai Lagey Raho (2005)
• Aan (2004)
• Pandit Ji Batai Na Biyah Kab Hoi (2004)
• Tere Naam (2003)
• Saiyaan Hamar (2003)
• Guru Mahaguru (2002)
• Marshal (2002)
• 500 Ka Note (2001)
• Justice Chowdhary (2000)
• Aaya Toofan (1999)
• Keemat (1998)
• Kudrat (1998)
• hamaara faisla(1998)
• Agnee Morcha (1997)
• Koi Kisi Se Kum Nahin (1997)
• Sher-E-Bazar (1997)
• ARMY (1996)
• Aatank (1996)
• Laalchee (1996)
• Aag Aur Chingari (1994)
• Zakhmi Dil (1994)
• Rani Aur Maharani (1993)
• Pitambar (1992)

Dubbing Career[link]

In 2007, Ravi Kishan has given his Bhojpuri-dubbing voice to Toby Maguire's role as Spider-Man in the Third film, marking this to be the first Hollywood blockbuster film to ever also include a Bhojupri voice dub, along with Hindi, Tamil and Telugu voice-dubs in the film dubbing industry in India. This planned him to create a Superhero film on his own, later on. ^[12]

Dubbing Roles[link]

See also[link]

• Raaz Pichle Janam Ka

References[link]

• http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Ravi-Kishan

External links[link]

• Ravi Kishan at the Internet Movie Database
• Ravi Kishan: Filmography at Bollywood Hungama