List of people from Uttar Pradesh

This is a list of famous and notable people from Uttar Pradesh, a state in India. The criteria of this list includes those persons who were born in the state of Uttar Pradesh and that part of the former United Provinces that now are part of the modern state of Uttar Pradesh. Though their fame could be brief, what matters is that they were well known during the peak of their popularity.

People from Uttar Pradesh

Mangal Pandey Chandra Shekhar Azad File:Harivansh Rai Bachchan.jpg Harivansh Rai Bachchan Dhyan Chand Birju Maharaj Lal Bahadur Shastri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Amitabh Bachchan Tulsidas Valmiki Krishna Kabir
Regions with significant populations
Primary populations in: Uttar Pradesh
Languages
Braj Bhasha, Bhojpuri, Bundelkhandi and Awadhi
Religion
predominantly Hinduism, Minorities of Islam, Buddhism & Jainism
Related ethnic groups
Indo-Aryans and Indo-Scythians

Deities and avatars

Deities of Shri Sita (far right), Shri Rama (center), Shri Lakshmana (far left) and Shri Hanuman (below seated) at Bhaktivedanta Manor, a temple in Watford England

Krishna as a young cowherd boy, playing the bansuri (flute).

Neminatha (stone).Chahaman, 11th century AD, Narhad, Rajasthan

• Rama (Birthplace: Ayodhya), is a legendary or historical king of ancient India. In Hinduism, he is considered to be the seventh Avatar of Vishnu.
• Krishna (Birth Place: Mathura), is a deity worshiped across many traditions of Hinduism.
• Neminath (Birth Place: Mathura), was 22nd Teerthanks of Jainism.
• Lakshmana (Birthplace: Ayodhya), was the brother and close companion of Rama, and himself a hero in the epic 'Ramayana'
• Parashuram (Birth Place: Ghazipur), was an avatar of Vishnu.
• Shreyansnath (Birth Place: Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh), was 11th Teerthankar of Jainism.
• Shantinath (Birth Place: Hastinapur, Uttar Pradesh), was 16th Teerthankar of Jainism.
• Kunthunath (Birth Place: Hastinapur, Uttar Pradesh), was 17th Teerthankar of Jainism.
• Aranath (Birth Place: Hastinapur, Uttar Pradesh), was 18th Teerthankar of Jainism.

Authors of the great epics

• Valmiki, wrote Ramayan
• Vyasa, a central and much revered figure in the majority of Hindu traditions who authored Mahabharata
• Tulsidas, a Awadhi poet and philosopher, wrote Rāmacaritamānasa ("The Lake of the Deeds of Rama"), an epic devoted to Lord Rama.
• Surdas
• Bhrigu (Birth Place: Ballia)

Yogis, Sufi poets and mystics

Yogananda

• Amir Khusro, Sufi mystic, one of the iconic figures in the cultural history of the Indian subcontinent.
• Bharat Bhushan (yogi), the only 'Padmashri' recipient in Yoga, Founder President of Mokshayatan International Yogashram, Saharanpur
• Ghazi Saiyyad Salar Masud, Gazi Miya of Bahraich.
• Gopi Krishna, a yogi, mystic, teacher, social reformer, and writer.
• Kabir, poet and saint Varanasi
• Nizamuddin Auliya, sufi saint born in Budaun
• Paramhansa Yogananda, mystic who introduced Yoga in the west, Gorakhpur
• Salim Chishti, sufi saint of Fatehpur Sikri, Agra

Poet-saints and religious figures

Rāmabhadrācārya

• Akhaṇḍānanda Sarasvatī, scholar of Vedanta, Bhakti and Bhagavata Purana in 20th century, Varanasi
• Jagadguru Rāmabhadrācārya, Vaishnava scholar and Sanskrit commentator on the Prasthanatrayi, Jaunpur
• Rāmānanda, founder of the Rāmānandī sect, Prayag
• Sant Ravidas, poet and Saint, Varanasi
• Shiv Dayal Singh, Guru Maharaj of Radhasoamis, Agra
• Shriram Sharma Acharya, founder Gayatri Parivar, Anwal Kheda in the District of Agra
• Surdas was a blind Hindu poet, sant and musicianborn in Runkata near Agra
• Svāmīnārāyaṇa, founder of the Swaminarayan sect, Gonda
• Svāmī Karapātrī, teacher of Advaita popularly known as Dharma Samrat, Gorakhpur
• Tulasīdāsa, composer of the Ramcharitmanas, Bandabut it is also said to had born in Soron (Shukar kschetra) in the District of Etah
• Mira
• Raskhan
• Malik Mohammad Jayasi
• Devraha Baba, Yogi Allahabad

Independence fighters

Mangal Pandey

Statue of Indian freedom fighter Kotwal Dhan Singh Gurjar at Meerut Chowk

Indian Rebellion of 1857

• Rani Lakshmibai, the Rani (Queen) of Jhansi
• Mangal Pandey, one of the earliest independence fighters of 1857, subject of Bollywood film Ballia
• Rao Kadam Singh, the freedom fighter who was elected by his Gurjar clansmen as their leader to fight against the British forces during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
• Begum Hazrat Mahal, widow of the last Nawab of Awadh and Indian independence fighter in Indian Rebellion of 1857.
• Maulvi Liaquat Ali, Indian independence fighter of 1857 from Allahabad, who captured the Khusro Bagh in Allahabad and declared the independence of India.
• Bakht Khan, nominal commander-in-chief of Indian rebel forces in the Indian Rebellion of 1857

Later 19th, and 20th, centuries

• Raja Mahendra Pratap, King of Hathras Princely State known as 'Aryan Peshwa'.
• Chandra Shekhar Azad, Indian independence fighter, member of Hindustan Socialist Republican Association.
• Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, independence fighter, journalist
• Ram Prasad Bismil, Indian independence fighter and socialist.
• Govind Ballabh Pant, Indian independence fighter and politician, became Chief Minister of the United Provinces. Also Bharat Ratna recipient.
• Munishwar Dutt Upadhyay of Pratapgarh, Indian Independence fighter and two time Member of Parliament.
• Ashfaqullah Khan of Kakori, Indian independence fighter, member of Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. He was close associate of Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad.
• Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, Indian independence fighter and socialist.
• Acharya Narendra Dev, socialist
• Ram Manohar Lohia, socialist
• Hasrat Mohani, independence fighter and poet
• Asaf Ali, independence fighter
• Chittu Pandey, independence fighter
• Rajendra Lahiri, independence fighter
• Laxmi Raman Acharya, freedom fighter accused of the Agra Conspiracy case.
• Maulana Mohammad Ali, independence fighter
• Purushottam Das Tandon, independence fighter
• Maulana Shaukat Ali, independence fighter
• Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, independence fighter Ghazipur
• Mahavir Tyagi, independence fighter
• Swami Sahajanand Saraswati Freedom Fighter

Award winners

Param Vir Chakra

• Company Quarter Master Havildar Abdul Hamid, Ghazipur
• Captain Manoj Kumar Pandey
• Naik Jadu Nath Singh
• Major Somnath Sharma, the first recipient of the Param Vir Chakra, the highest Indian gallantry award.
• Yogendra Singh Yadav of Orangabad, Bulandshaher, the hero of Tiger Hill in Kargil war

Maha Vir Chakra

• Brigadier Mohammad UsmanGhazipur
• Mahendra Nath Mulla

Ashok Chakra

• Kamlesh Kumari

Bharat Ratna

Jawaharlal Nehru

• Bhagwan Das, philosopher and Freedom Fighter, Varanasi
• Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Allahabad
• Rajrishi Purushottam Das Tandon, Freedom Fighter, Allahabad
• Govind Ballabh Pant, Freedom Fighter
• Lal Bahadur Shastri, Freedom Fighter, Varanasi & Allahabad
• Indira Gandhi, Freedom Fighter, Allahabad
• Ravi Shankar, Sitar Maestro, Ghazipur
• Ustad Bismillah Khan, Shehnai Maestro, Varanasi
• Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, Allahabad

Padma Vibhushan

• Kishan Maharaj
• Uday Shankar

Padma Bhushan

• Prof Irfan Habib, Historian
• Qurratulain Hyder, Author
• Josh Malihabadi, Poet
• Kishan Maharaj, Tabla Maestro
• Ram Kinkar Upadhyay, scholar
• Bhagwati Charan Varma, Hindi Author
• Obaid Siddiqui Science
• Rahul Sankrityayan
• Srilal Shukla, Hindi Writer
• Amitabh Bachchan, film actor

Padma Shree

• Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, Scholar of Unani medicine
• Muzaffar Ali, Film Director
• K. P. Saxena, Writer
• Kunwar Digvijay Singh Babu, Hockey Olympian
• Gopaldas Neeraj, Hindi poet and lyricist
• Yogiraj Bharat Bhushan, [1] the only Padmashri awardee Yogi, founder Director of Mokshayatan International Yogashram at Saharanpur
• Mohammed Shahid Ex Captain Indian Hockey Team Varanasi
• Kapil Deva Dvivedi
• Prakash Singh
• Giriraj Kishore writer
• Vidya Niwas Mishra writer
• Hamid AnsariVice President

Dada Saheb Phalke Award

• Naushad Ali, Music Composer
• Majrooh Sultanpuri Lyricist

Jnanpith Awards

• Firaq Gorakhpuri, poet
• Mahadevi Verma, poet
• Qurratulain Hyder, writer
• Ali Sardar Jafri, writer and poet
• Amar Kant
• Sri Lal Sukla
• Shahryar

Magasaysay Award

• Sandeep Pandey
• Rajendra Singh, water conservationist

Arjuna Award

• Syed Modi, badminton
• Abhinn Shyam Gupta, badminton
• Moraad Ali Khan, shooter
• Jaspal Rana, shooter (Uttarkhand)
• Jagbir Singh, Hockey

Science and medicine

• Atul Kumar, CSIR-CDRI inventor of anti-osteoporosis drug
• Rajendra K. Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
• Harish-Chandra, (Mehrotra), mathematician who did fundamental work in representation theory, especially Harmonic analysis on semisimple Lie groups.
• Ravindra Khattree, statistician who worked in statistical inference, multivariate analysis, experimental designs, biostatistics and quality control.
• Zahoor Qasim, oceanographer, leader of first Indian Expedition to Antarctica
• Prof. Prem Chand Pandey, scientist, physicist, meteorologist, oceanographer
• P. K . Sethi, inventor of "Jaipur Foot"
• Kamla Kant Pandey, plant geneticist
• Lalji Singh, molecular biologist

Holders of high offices

Vice President

• Gopal Swarup Pathak, former Vice President of India
• Hamid Ansari,Current Vice-President of India

Prime ministers

• Jawaharlal Nehru, first Prime Minister of India and Bharat Ratna awardee.
• Lal Bahadur Shastri, third Prime Minister of India and Bharat Ratna awardee.
• Indira Gandhi, fourth Prime Minister of India and Bharat Ratna awardee.
• Choudhary Charan Singh, fifth Prime Minister of India
• Rajiv Gandhi, sixth prime minister of India and Bharat Ratna
• Vishwanath Pratap Singh, eighth Prime Minister of India
• Chandra Shekhar, ninth Prime Minister of India
• Atal Bihari Vajpayee. eleventh Prime Minister of India

Governors

• Syed Sibtey Razi, Governor of Jharkhand
• Khurshid Alam Khan, former Governor of Karnataka
• Mohammad Yunus Saleem, former Governor of Bihar
• A R Kidwai, Governor of Haryana
• Mohammad Fazal, former Governor of Maharashtra
• Girish Chandra Saxena, former Governor of Jammu & Kashmir
• K.M. Seth, former Governor of Chhatisgarh
• Virendra Verma, former Governor of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh
• Ram Naresh Yadav Governor of Madhya Pradesh
• Triloki Nath Chaturvedi,former CAG and former Governor of Karnataka

Chief Justices

• Mohammad Hidayatullah, former Chief Justice of India
• Mirza Hameedullah Beg, former Chief Justice of India

Chief Ministers

• Muhammad Ahmad Said Khan Chhatari
• Govind Ballabh Pant
• Sampurnanand
• Sucheta Kripalani
• Chandra Bhanu Gupta
• Choudhary Charan Singh
• Tribhuvan Narain Singh
• Kamalapati Tripathi
• Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna
• Narayan Dutt Tiwari
• Ram Naresh Yadav
• Banarsi Das
• Vishwanath Pratap Singh
• Sripati Mishra
• Vir Bahadur Singh
• Mulayam Singh Yadav
• Kalyan Singh
• Ram Prakash Gupta
• Rajnath Singh
• Mayawati
• Akhilesh Yadav

Union Ministers

• Kamalapati Tripathi
• Murli Manohar Joshi
• Narayan Dutt Tiwari
• Laxmi Raman Acharya
• K.C. Pant
• Mahaveer Prasad
• Shriprakash Jaiswal
• .Akhilesh Das
• Santosh Gangwar
• Maneka Gandhi
• Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
• Shriram Chauhan
• Kalpnath Rai
• Swami Chinmayanand
• Rajnath Singh
• Ashok Kumar Pradhan
• Satyapal Singh Yadav
• Raj Narain
• Salman Khursheed
• Jitin Prasada
• Mulayam Singh Yadav
• Beni Prasad Verma
• Ajit Singh

Political figures

Pre Independence

• Motilal Nehru, Indian National Congress leader
• Dr.Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, former President of Indian National Congress
• Rai Rajeshwar Bali, education minister (1924–1928)
• Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya
• Jawaharlal Nehru
• Govind Ballabh Pant
• Sampurnanand
• Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
• Munishwar Dutt Upadhyay

Post Independence

• Govind Ballabh Pant
• Deen Dayal Upadhyaya
• Ram Manohar Lohia
• Choudhary Charan Singh
• Narayan Dutt Tiwari
• Laxmi Raman Acharya
• Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna
• Kamalapati Tripathi
• Indira Gandhi
• Feroze Gandhi
• Rafi Ahmed Kidwai
• Mohsina Kidwai
• Ram Naresh Yadav
• Sheila Kaul
• Raj Narain
• Mahendra Singh Tikait, Kisan leader
• Mulayam Singh Yadav,
• Rajeev Shukla, journalist and political leader
• Arif Mohammad Khan, political leader
• Chaudhary Ajit Singh, political leader
• Beni Prasad Verma, former minister and leader
• Shriprakash Jaiswal, Union Minister
• Akhilesh Das, Union Minister
• Raj Babbar, Member of Parliament
• Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Gandhian, first lady Minister of India
• Kamal Nath, politician
• Prakash Vir Shastri, Member of Parliament and advocate of the Arya Samaj movement
• Kailash Nath Katju, Former Union Home Minister and Lawyer
• Satyapal Singh Yadav former union minister
• Rajendra Kumari Bajpai (1925-1999), Former cabinet minister
• Om Prakash Singh
• Kalpnath Rai
• Maharaj Sanjay Singh, King of Amethi
• Akhilesh Yadav
• Amar Mani
• Raja Bhaiya

Authors

Hindi

• Vishnu Sarma, author of Panchtantra
• Swami Sahajanand Saraswati books on sociology, religion, freedom struggle, peasant movement, autobiography etc.
• Malik Muhammad Jayasi, author of Padmavat
• Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan, polyglot
• Munshi Prem Chand, novelist
• Vibhuti Narain Rai Hindi writer
• Amitabh Thakur Hindi writer
• Bharatendu Harishchandra, Hindi writer
• Amritlal Nagar, Hindi writer
• Acharya Chatursen (1891 – 1960), Hindi writer
• Bhagwati Charan Verma, Hindi writer
• Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayan
• Jaishankar Prasad, Hindi writer
• Babu Gulabrai, Hindi writer
• Yashpal, Hindi writer
• Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, Hindi novelist
• Rajendra Yadav, Hindi novelist
• Ravindra Prabhat,Hindi novelist
• Baldev Upadhyaya, Hindi scholar and writer
• Vidya Niwas Mishra, Hindi scholar
• Rahi Masoom Raza, author of 'Topi Shukla' and 'Adha Gaon'
• Vinod Kumar Shukla, writer
• Shrilal Shukla, writer of 'Raag Darbari'
• Acharya Ram Chandra Shukla, Hindi writer and historian
• Sri Krishna Rai Hridyesh
• Viveki Rai
• Acharya Kuber Nath Rai

Urdu

• Ibne Safi, novelist of Jasoosi Duniya
• Qurratulain Hyder, writer of Aag Ka Darya
• Ismat Chugtai, writer
• Mirza Hadi Ruswa, author of Umrao Jaan
• Firaq Gorakhpuri
• Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, author of books on Unani medicine

English

• Nayantara Sahgal, novelist and writer
• Attia Hosain, English author and journalist
• Allan Sealy, Novelist and writer
• Vikas Swarup, Author of "Q&A"

Poets

Urdu

• Mir Taqi Mir
• Mirza Ghalib, classical Urdu and Persian poet
• Mir Anis, Urdu Marsia poet
• Maulana Hali, Urdu poet, biographer of Ghalib's life, and a commentator of his poetry
• Firaq Gorakhpuri, Urdu poet, winner of Jnanpith award
• Kaifi Azmi, Urdu and Hindi lyricist, poet and songwriter
• Safi Lakhnavi, Urdu poet
• Majrooh Sultanpuri, poet and lyricist
• Josh Malihabadi, Urdu poet
• Firaq Gorakhpuri, Urdu poet
• Jigar Moradabadi, Urdu poet
• Ali Sardar Jafri, Urdu poet
• Khumar Barabankvi, Urdu poet
• Daya Shankar Kaul Nasim, Urdu poet
• Brij Narayan Chakbast, Urdu poet
• Akbar Allahabadi, poet
• Majaz, Urdu poet

Hindi

• Kedarnath Singh, major works are "baagh", "toota truck", tolstoy aur cycle", etc.
• Jaishankar Prasad, one of four major pillars of the Chhayavaadi School of Hindi.
• Harivansh Rai Bachchan, writer and poet.
• Mahadevi Varma, a major poet of the Chhayavaadi generation, a period of romanticism in Modern Hindi poetry. She won the Jnanpith award in 1982.
• Sumitranandan Pant, one of four major pillars of the Chhayavaadi School of Hindi.
• Maithilisharan Gupt, modern Hindi poet
• Gopal Das Neeraj, Hindi poet
• Kaka Hathrasi, humorous Poet
• Shivmangal Singh Suman
• Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala'
• Subhadra Kumari Chauhan
• Guru Bhakt Singh 'Bhakt'

Bhojpuri

• Parichay Das

Founders of educational institutions

• Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, founder of Aligarh Muslim University
• Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, founder of Benaras Hindu University.
• Jagdish Gandhi, founder of the City Montessori School.

Defence Services

Army

• Lt. Gen K.M. Seth
• Yogendra Singh Yadav, 18th Grenadiers of the Indian Army, Param Vir Chakra' recipient
• Manoj Kumar Pandey, 11 Gorkha Rifles of the Indian Army, Param Vir Chakra recipient
• Brigadier Mohammad Usman, recipient of Maha Vir Chakra
• Abdul Hamid (soldier), 4 Grenadiers, Indian Army, Param Vir Chakra recipient
• Lt. General Zameerud-din Shah

Air Force

• S.K. Kaul, Air Chief Marshal (Retd)
• Trevor Keelor IAF, Vir Chakra winner in Indo-Pak war of 1965
• Denzil Keelor IAF, Air Marshall (Retd), Vir Chakra winner and Kirti Chakra recipient.
• Norman Anil Kumar Browne Air Chief Marshal (Currant)
• S.P. Tyagi Air Chief Marshal (Retd)

Civil Service / Diplomacy

Indian Foreign Service

• Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was an Indian diplomat and politician, sister of Jawaharlal Nehru, and the first female President of the United Nations General Assembly.
• Asaf Ali, first Indian Ambassador to US
• Girija Shankar Bajpai, First Secretary-General of Foreign Affairs
• Braj Kumar Nehru, a relative of Jawaharlal Nehru, served as a diplomat, as ambassador to several countries and was offered the post of United Nations Secretary-General in 1951, but declined. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan award in 1999.

Civil Services

• Dharma Vira, ICS, cabinet secretary and governor of West Bengal, Mysore.
• Isha Basant Joshi, first woman to be appointed IAS officer
• Sir Chandrika Prasad Srivastava, bureaucrat
• Wajahat Habibullah, Chief Information Commissioner of India
• Baleshwar Rai
• Vinod Rai, CAG

Music and dance

Musicians

• Ashutosh Bhattacharya (1917-2004) Tabla player, music educator from Varanasi, Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship (1966)
• Begum Akhtar, Ghazal singer
• Dr. Gopal Shankar Misra, Vichitra Veena player
• Dr.Lalmani Misra was an Indian classical musician. Dean & Head, Faculty of Music and Fine Arts, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi and his son
• Hari Prasad Chaurasia, bansuri player
• Kishan Maharaj, Tabla Maestro
• Naushad Ali, music director, was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for his contributions to Indian cinema.
• Pandit Ravi Shankar, classical Sitar player, awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1999. He has also won three Grammy awards
• Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande, musician
• Sir Cliff Richard, the English singer
• Ustad Bismillah Khan, Shehnai maestro, awarded the Bharat Ratna, (2001)

Singers

• Poonam Yadav finalist of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007.
• Girija Devi, is an Indian singer and represents the Banaras Gharana of singers
• Shubha Mudgal, singer
• Talat Mahmood, ghazal singer
• Anup Jalota, Ghazal and Bhajan singer
• Siddheshwari Devi, Hindustani singer from Benares, known as Maa (mother).
• Kailash Kher from Meerut
• Vinit Singh from Lucknow
• Neel from Dibai

Rappers

• Hard Kaur
• Baba Sehgal

Dancers

• Birju Maharaj, Kathak exponent
• Lachhu Maharaj, Kathak exponent
• Kapila Vatsyayan, scholar of Indian classical dance
• Sitara Devi
• Uday Shankar

Sports

Hockey

• Dhyan Chand, former international hockey player, awarded the Padma Bhushan
• Zafar Iqbal, former international captain of the Indian hockey team and Chief coach of Indian hockey team.
• K. D. Singh, former National Hockey player and Olympian
• Mohammed Shahid, former international hockey player, was member of the Indian team that won Gold Medal at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. He was awarded Arjuna Award in 1980 and Padma Shri in 1986.
• Jagbir Singh, captain and member of National Hockey team in 1988 & 1992 Olympics, was awarded Arjuna Award in 1990.

Baseball

• Rinku Singh, One of the first two Indians to sign a professional baseball contract in the United States.
• Dinesh Patel, One of the first two Indians to sign a professional baseball contract in the United States.

Cricket

• Ashish Zaidi, cricketer
• Manoj Prabhakar, cricketer
• Arun Lal, former Test cricketer
• Mohammed Kaif, international cricketer
• Suresh Raina, international cricketer
• R. P. Singh, international cricketer
• Chetan Chauhan, former Test cricketer
• Hemlata Kala, member Indian Women's Cricket team
• Gyanendra Pandey, cricketer
• Piyush Chawla
• Narendra Hirwani
• Surinder Amarnath
• Raman Lamba
• Surinder Amarnath
• Rohan Gavaskar
• Rajinder Hans
• Ravikant Shukla, U-19 captain
• Praveen Kumar
• Sudip Tyagi

Badminton

• Abhinn Shyam Gupta, former national badminton champion
• Syed Modi, former national badminton champion

Other sports

• Moraad Ali Khan, shooter
• Ghaus Mohammad, tennis player, the first Indian to reach quarterfinal of The Championships, Wimbledon
• Jaspal Rana, shooter

Journalism

• Sahu Ramesh Chandra Jain, Times of India & Navbharat Times
• Manikonda Chalapathi Rau, Indian journalist and an authority on Nehruvian thought
• Feroze Gandhi, managing editor of National Herald
• Dharamvir Bharati, former editor of Dharamyug magazine
• Arun Nehru, former Minister and Columnist
• Saeed Naqvi, journalist and TV producer
• Vinod Mehta, editor
• Narendra Mohan, Dainik Jagran
• Aniruddha Bahal, investigative journalist
• Pankaj Mishra, journalist
• Yogendra Yadav
• Ram Bahadur Rai, magazine editor

Satire, comedy, cartoons

• Akbar Allahabadi, poet and satirist
• Kaka Hathrasi, satirist
• Tuntun, comedian
• Kaak (b. 1940, Harish Chandra Shukla), cartoonist
• K. P. Saxena
• Raju Srivastava, actor and stand up comedian

Cinema & theatre

Actors & actresses

• Amitabh Bachchan, Bollywood actor awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2001.
• Naseeruddin Shah, actor (He was born in barabanki district of Lucknow division U.P)
• Marc Zuber, actor
• Raj Babbar, actor and Member of Parliament
• Jaddanbai, actor
• Nargis, was an actress best known for her role in the Oscar-nominated film Mother India
• Nimmi, film actress in the 1950s
• Lara Dutta, actress, UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador and the 2000 Miss Universe
• K.N. Singh, actor
• Tuntun, comedy actress
• Sushant Singh, actor
• Ravi Kishan, Bhojpuri film actor
• Priyanka Chopra,Miss World,Bollywood actress and english song singer
• Udita Goswami, Bollywood actress
• Zohra Sehgal, Bollywood actress
• Saurabh Shukla, Bollywood actor
• Sonal Chauhan, Bollywood actress
• Nawazuddin Siddiqui, actor, (Gangs of Wasseypur)
• Abhishek Bachchan
• Rajpal Yadav
• Pooja Batra
• Vedita Pratap Singh, model & actress
• Surinder Pal, actor
• Chitrangada Singh, actress
• Anushka Sharma,Bollywood actress
• Shweta Tiwari,Indian famous Telivision Actress
• Priyanka Chopra,Indian famous Film Actress

Directors/producers

• K. Asif, film director, film producer and screenwriter who worked on the Hindi epic motion picture, Mughal-e-Azam
• Shaad Ali, film director
• Kamal Amrohi, director
• Prakash Mehra, director
• Prasoon Pandey, director
• Vishal Bharadwaj, Omkara director
• Anurag Kashyap, director
• Abhinav Kashyap, director

Singers

• Talat Mahmood
• Rajkumari Dubey
• Begum Akhtar
• Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay
• Abhijeet Bhattacharya (Singer)
• Kabban Mirza
• Anup Jalota
• Baba Sehgal
• Sunidhi Chauhan

Lyricists

• Shakeel Badayuni
• Indeevar
• Shakeel Badayuni
• Majrooh Sultanpuri
• Khumar Barabankvi
• Kaifi Azmi
• Ali Sardar Jafri
• Anjaan
• Sameer

Composers

• Naushad Ali
• Shantanu Moitra
• Anand Milind

Theatre

• Arvind Gaur
• Nadira Babbar

Cinematographers

• Ravikant Nagaich

Story/script/dialogue writers

• Wajahat Mirza
• S.Ali Raza
• Javed Siddiqi, film script writer
• K. P. Saxena, dialogue writer of Lagaan, Swades
• Himanshu Sharma, Story & dialogue writer of Tanu Weds Manu, Raanjhanaa

Nawabs of Awadh

Wajid Ali Shah

• Asaf-Ud-Dowlah, the fourth Nawab, founder of modern Lucknow
• Wajid Ali Shah, the poet, choreographer, the last King of Awadh

Navratnas

• Raja Todar Mal, Finance Minister and one of the Navratnas of Akbar
• Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana, Hindi Poet and a Navratna of Akbar

Television

• Rahi Masoom Raza, dialogue writer of TV serial 'Ramayan'
• Raju Srivastav
• Surendra Pal Dronacharaya in Mahabharat

Environmentalists

• Sundarlal Bahuguna, environmentalist
• Billy Arjan Singh, conservationist

Scholars

• Acharya Narendra Dev
• Mushirul Hasan, historian
• Ahmad Hasan Dani, archaeologist and historian

Fine arts

• Gogi Saroj Pal
• Ram Chandra Shukla, painter

Business

• Subroto Roy, founder Sahara India
• K.P. Singh, president of DLF Universal Group
• Vinod Gupta, former CEO and chairman of InfoUSA and founder of Vinod Gupta School of Management, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

• Dhirendra Swarup, Expenditure Secretary

Crime

• Phoolan devi ( Minister )
• Abu Salem
• Daku Man Singh
• Nirbhay Gujjar
• Munna Bajrangi

Others

• Jaichand of Kannauj, historical figure
• Sheila Dixit, CM of Delhi state
• Sampat Pal Devi, one of the 100 powerful women in the world
• Begum Samru, historical figure
• Abdul Karim, Munshi to Queen Victoria
• Lala Deen Dayal, photographer
• Deep Tyagi, pioneer of Family Planning programme in India

See also

• List of people by India state
• States and territories of India
• List of Hindi authors