Satish Chandra Kaushik was an Indian actor, director, producer, comedian, and screenwriter best known for roles in hit Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, Mr India, Calendar, Ram Lakhan, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro and Deewana Mastana. Kaushik graduated from Kirori Mal College, Delhi University in 1972 and was an alumni of National School of Drama and Film and Television Institute of India. His breakout role was in Mr India from then on he went to star in numerous films. He often had to fight stereotypes to get notice... moreSatish Chandra Kaushik was an Indian actor, director, producer, comedian, and screenwriter best known for roles in hit Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, Mr India, Calendar, Ram Lakhan, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro and Deewana Mastana. Kaushik graduated from Kirori Mal College, Delhi University in 1972 and was an alumni of National School of Drama and Film and Television Institute of India. His breakout role was in Mr India from then on he went to star in numerous films. He often had to fight stereotypes to get noticed as he was often considered too overweight or too dark to play lead roles. He worked so hard to overcome that with lead roles in movies like Calcutta Mail and dabbling with negative characters. Kaushik was also a theatre actor and director. He directed films like Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja, Prem, Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain and Tere Naam which were all hit movies. He won several awards during his career including the Filmfare Best Comedian Award twice: in 1990 for Ram Lakhan and in 1997 for Saajan Chale Sasural.
Subi Suresh was an India actress, television anchor and comedian best known for her roles in movies like Vakathirivu, Taskara Lahala, Grihanathan and Drama. Subi made her television debut with the Malayalam parody show Cinemala in 1995 which ran from 1993 to 2013 making it one of the longest-running shows television. The show was listed in the Limca Book of Records as the Longest Running Weekly Comedy Show. She had roles in 60 Malayali-language TV show movies like Kuttipattalam, Comedy Super Nit... moreSubi Suresh was an India actress, television anchor and comedian best known for her roles in movies like Vakathirivu, Taskara Lahala, Grihanathan and Drama. Subi made her television debut with the Malayalam parody show Cinemala in 1995 which ran from 1993 to 2013 making it one of the longest-running shows television. The show was listed in the Limca Book of Records as the Longest Running Weekly Comedy Show. She had roles in 60 Malayali-language TV show movies like Kuttipattalam, Comedy Super Nite, Pisharodiyum Tharangalum, Aparanmaar Nagarathil and Sandwich just to name a few. She was honoured by the State Bank of India in 2023. Her death was as a result of liver-related disease at Rajgiri hospital, Kochi, Kerala where she was admitted and was about to go for a liver transplant surgery.
Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi was an Indian architect who was an internationally known architect who developed his own distinctive approach to building which helped in the evolution of architectural discourse in India. He was also the first Indian to receive the Pritzker Prize. Some of his well known designs include include FLAME University, IIM Bangalore, IIM Udaipur, NIFT Delhi, Amdavad ni Gufa and CEPT University. Doshi was born in Pune, Bombay Presidency, British India and was raised by his fat... moreBalkrishna Vithaldas Doshi was an Indian architect who was an internationally known architect who developed his own distinctive approach to building which helped in the evolution of architectural discourse in India. He was also the first Indian to receive the Pritzker Prize. Some of his well known designs include include FLAME University, IIM Bangalore, IIM Udaipur, NIFT Delhi, Amdavad ni Gufa and CEPT University. Doshi was born in Pune, Bombay Presidency, British India and was raised by his father, grandfather and aunts after his mother passed away when he was 10 months old. He attended the Sir J. J. School of Art in Mumbai between 1947 and 1950. After graduating Doshi went to Europe where he closely worked with Le Corbusier. In 1955 he opened his own company called Vastu-Shilpa which designed several buildings. In 1962 Doshi started the School of Architecture and Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology. He also established internationally-known Vastu-Shilpa Foundation research institute that works on low-cost housing and city planning. He won several awards during his career and he will be remembered as a pioneer of modernist and brutalist architecture in India.
Abdur Rehman Rahi was an award winning Kashmiri poet, translator and critic known to have promoted and preserved the Kashmiri language and gave its poetry a distinct identity. He was credited for restoring the Kashimiri language after the language had been removed from schools and its formal speech had fallen into disuse. Rahi was born in the Wazpora area of the city of Srinagar and studied Persian and English at Sri Pratap College and Kashmir University respectively, earning a master’s degree i... moreAbdur Rehman Rahi was an award winning Kashmiri poet, translator and critic known to have promoted and preserved the Kashmiri language and gave its poetry a distinct identity. He was credited for restoring the Kashimiri language after the language had been removed from schools and its formal speech had fallen into disuse. Rahi was born in the Wazpora area of the city of Srinagar and studied Persian and English at Sri Pratap College and Kashmir University respectively, earning a master’s degree in each language. He began writing poetry in college but it wasn't until after attending a Kashmiri poetry reading that he began writing Kashmiri poetry. Rahi went on to have a very successful career winning numerous awards like the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian honor, in 2000, and in 2007 the Jnanpith Award, India’s top literary prize, becoming the first Kashmiri to do so. He was also a Lecturer at Kashmir University in the Persian department but later switched to Kashmiri department. He will be remembered as the greatest poet of modern Kashmiri language.
Also popularly known as S.P.B or Balu, S.P Balasubrahmanyam was a legendary musical star of Indian movies whose smooth and vibrant voice was heard in more than 40,000 songs and 1,000 films lip-synced by actors. From cinema’s best-known songs in Bollywood, romantic to pop dance tracks, he sang in a multitude of regional languages and his best-known songs were in the languages of Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, English and Hindi. One of India's most renowned film singers, SPB began his career i... moreAlso popularly known as S.P.B or Balu, S.P Balasubrahmanyam was a legendary musical star of Indian movies whose smooth and vibrant voice was heard in more than 40,000 songs and 1,000 films lip-synced by actors. From cinema’s best-known songs in Bollywood, romantic to pop dance tracks, he sang in a multitude of regional languages and his best-known songs were in the languages of Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, English and Hindi. One of India's most renowned film singers, SPB began his career in Tamil and Telugu cinema in southern India - and became the first crossover singer who gained success in Bollywood. He sang for top composers of his time, including AR Rahman and Ilaiyaraaja. He won the National Film Award, one of the country’s most prestigious entertainment prizes, six times. He also received two of India’s top civilian honors: the Padma Shri in 2001 and the Padma Bhushan in 2011.
Born in 1946 into a middle-class family from Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, his father S. P. Sambamurthy, was a singer and stage actor; his mother, Sakunthalamma, was a homemaker. He moved to the big city of Madras (now called Chennai) as a young man and formed a band with his friends including Ilaiyaraaja, who would go on to become an acclaimed music composer, as the guitarist and others who played harmonica and percussion. He became a singer by accident when he was studying engineering in college when he won a singing competition, which opened doors for him in the Telugu-language film industry as a playback singer and had to drop out from his engineering studies in college. His first movie performance came in 1966 and the first major breakthrough in southern films came when he sang for Tamil superstar MG Ramachandran in a 1969 film Adimai Penn and broke into Bollywood in 1981 he sang for Ek Duuje Ke Liye (We Are Made For Each Other), a romantic tragedy that was one of the year's biggest hits and later collaborated often with the composer A.R. Rahman, who won two Oscars for his work on the hit movie Slumdog Millionaire in 2008.
Balu often spoke of the inspiration he received from Mohammed Rafi, one of the most popular Indian singers in the 1950s and ’60s. Working in four southern Indian language film industries kept Balasubrahmanyam busy through the 1970s until the end of the last decade. He became the highest paid singer in southern India. Balu hopped from one music studio to another, recording as many as three new songs every day for more than two decades. At the height of his popularity he once spent 17 hours in a single day recording songs for different composers. In 1981, Balasubrahmanyam created a record by recording 21 new songs in the Kannada language from morning until night for a film music composer. When Bollywood demanded work of him, he would fly to Mumbai, record Hindi songs for films and return to Chennai in the evening.
His versatile voice lent itself to romantic and classical songs. He was also a flamboyant yodeller and sang bouncy dance tracks. At the height of Balasubrahmanyam’s fame, love letters, written in blood by his fans, would fill his mailbox. Unlike many Indian musicians who are usually teetotalers as they believe it ruins their singing voices; and many professional singers say they do not drink cold water nor eat ice-creams, Balasubrahmanyam never hid his smoking habits or his love for an iced drink. Mr. Balasubrahmanyam was also a music producer and character actor.
Balasubrahmanyam died after spending days in intensive care following a Covid-19 diagnosis. He was survived by his wife, Savitri Balasubrahmanyam; his daughter, Pallavi Balasubrahmanyam; his son, S.P.B. Charan; and two grandchildren.
