Gupi Banerjee

Satyajit Ray (2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was a Bengali Indian filmmaker, widely regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century. Ray was born in the city of Calcutta into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature. Starting his career as a commercial artist, Ray was drawn into independent filmmaking after meeting French filmmaker Jean Renoir and viewing Vittorio De Sica's Italian neorealist film Bicycle Thieves (1948) during a visit to London. Ray directed 36 films, including feature films, documentaries and shorts. He was also a fiction writer, publisher, illustrator, calligrapher, music composer, graphic designer and film critic. He authored several short stories and novels, primarily aimed at children and adolescents. Feluda, the sleuth, and Professor Shonku, the scientist in his science fiction stories, are popular fictional characters created by him. He was awarded an honorary degree by Oxford University. Ray's first film, Pather Panchali (1955), won eleven international prizes, including the inaugural Best Human Document award at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. This film, along with Aparajito (1956), and Apur Sansar (The World of Apu) (1959) form The Apu Trilogy. Ray did the scripting, casting, scoring, and editing, and designed his own credit titles and publicity material. Ray received many major awards in his career, including 32 Indian National Film Awards, a number of awards at international film festivals and award ceremonies, and an Academy Honorary Award in 1992. The Government of India honored him with the Bharat Ratna in 1992.

Sharmila Tagore (born December 8, 1944) is an Indian actress known for her work in Hindi and Bengali cinema. Regarded among the greatest actresses in the history of Indian cinema, she has been a recipient of multiple accolades, including a Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award and a Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour.

Few figures in modern spirituality, particularly in the West, have impacted the hearts and minds of contemporary seekers as Krishna Das has. A devotee of the North Indian Saint, Neem Karoli Baba (Maharajji), Krishna Das has played an enormous role in popularizing the traditional practice of kirtan in the West, taking the call-and-response chanting out of yoga centers and temples and into concert halls, becoming a worldwide icon and the best-selling western chant artist of all time. In a career spanning more than two decades, KD has released 16 acclaimed full-length albums, his music serving as an easily approachable gateway to the devotional traditions of the East. Along the way, he has evolved into an accessible if somewhat reluctant teacher, and a spiritual friend to many. He travels the world sharing his kirtan practice and stories of his life on the Path, of Maharajiji, and advocates for bringing regular spiritual practice into our lives through retreats and workshops. During COVID times he has chanted online every week for the worldwide satsang. (taken from KrishnaDas.com)

Ravi Shankar, whose name is often preceded by the title Pandit and "Sitar maestro", was an Indian musician and a composer of Hindustani classical music. He was the best-known proponent of the sitar in the second half of the 20th century and influenced many other musicians throughout the world.