List of Punjabi people

Following is a list of famous and notable Punjabi people, an ethnic group belonging to the Punjab region. It contains people mainly from what is today Punjab, Pakistan and Punjab, India, and people with Punjabi ancestry or people who speak Punjabi as their primary language.

Artists

• Allah Bakhsh
• Amrita Sher-Gil
• Anish Kapoor, sculptor
• Abdur Rahman Chughtai, painter
• Ahmed Parvez, painter
• Bashir Mirza, painter
• Manjit Bawa, painter
• Zubeida Agha, painter
• Rashid Rana, sculptor
• Quddus Mirza, art critic
• Sobha Singh, painter

Authors

Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu

Pakistan

India

English

Aviators

• Kalpana Chawla
• Air Commodore Ravish Malhotra
• Rakesh Sharma, first Indian in space

Architects

• Ahmad Lahori
• Ataullah Rashidi
• Bhai Ram Singh
• Sir Ganga Ram

Business

India

Pakistan

Cartoonists

• Shekhar Gurera, editorial cartoonist
• Pran Kumar Sharma, cartoonist of Chacha Chaudhary fame
• Farooq Qaiser

Doctors

India

Educators and scientists

Nobel laureates

• Abdus Salam, Pakistani theoretical physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to the electroweak unification theory
• Har Gobind Khorana, Indian-American Medicine Nobel prize laureate

Pakistan

• Asad Abidi, professor of electrical engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
• Masud Ahmed, theoretical physicist and one of the leading figures of the Theoretical Physics Group - the group that developed the theoretical designs of Pakistan's nuclear weapons
• Ishtiaq Ahmed, professor of political science at the Stockholm University
• Nazir Ahmed, experimental physicist and first chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC)
• Munir Ahmad Khan, Pakistani nuclear scientist and engineer
• Samar Mubarakmand, Pakistani nuclear scientist and the head of the team that conducted the Chagai-I nuclear tests in 1998.
• Farooq Azam, professor of oceanography at the University of California, San Diego
• Tariq Ali, political activist, historian, writer, journalist and public intellectual
• Rafi Muhammad Chaudhry, nuclear physicist and pioneer of Pakistan's nuclear weapons research program
• Nayyar Ali Dada, architect in modernist architecture
• Fayyazuddin, theoretical physicist
• Mahbub ul Haq, economist and inventor of the Human Development Index (HDI)
• Tasawar Hayat, mathematician
• Shahbaz Khan, hydrologist and director of the UNESCO cluster office in Jakarta
• Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, nuclear engineer
• Salim Mehmud, rocket scientist
• Atif Mian, professor of economics, public policy and finance at Princeton University
• Zia Mian, physicist and co-director of the program on science and global security at Princeton University
• Ghulam Murtaza, theoretical physicist
• Qaiser Mushtaq, mathematician
• Adil Najam, dean of global studies at Boston University
• Ayyub Ommaya, neurosurgeon and inventor of the Ommaya reservoir
• Khalil Qureshi, physical chemist
• Muneer Ahmad Rashid, mathematical physicist
• Riazuddin, theoretical physicist and one of the leading figures of the Theoretical Physics Group - the group that developed the theoretical designs of Pakistan's nuclear weapons

India

Folklore

Film industry

Bollywood (India)

The following is a list of famous Punjabi families and individual artistes who have worked in Bollywood:

Individual Actors

Directors

Documentary filmmakers

• Mukesh Gautam

Lollywood (Pakistan)

Directors

• Anwar Kamal Pasha
• Hassan Tariq
• Iqbal Kashmiri
• Javed Raza
• M. Akram
• Masood Parvez
• Pervaiz Kaleem
• Riaz Shahid
• Sarmad Khoosat
• Syed Noor

Punjabi cinema (India)

Directors

• Amberdeep Singh
• Amitoj Maan
• Anurag Singh
• Baljit Singh Deo
• Gippy Grewal
• Harry Baweja
• Jagdeep Sidhu
• Manmord Sidhu
• Mukesh Gautam
• Pankaj Batra
• Rohit Jugraj Chauhan
• Simerjit Singh
• Smeep Kang

Actors

The Punjabi film industry has produced a number of successful actors, actresses, writers, directors and filmmakers, many of whom have been known internationally.

Actors

Actresses

Tamil cinema (India)

International Film and TV personalities

Historical

Medieval

• Rao Bhati
• Khizr Khan
• Zafar Khan
• Shaikha Khokhar
• Jasrath Khokhar
• Sultan Husseyn Langah I

Post Medieval Era

Muslims

• Sarang Khan Ghakkar
• Shaikh Gadai Kamboh, Chief Justice of Mughal Empire
• Shahbaz Khan Kamboh, Governor of Bengal
• Wazir Khan, Grand Vizier of Mughal Empire
• Saadullah Khan, Grand Vizier of Mughal Empire
• Hifzullah Khan, Governor of Sindh and Kashmir
• Adina Beg Arain, Governor of Lahore and Multan
• Fath Muhammad
• Hyder Ali
• Tipu Sultan

Sikh Empire

Sikh

• Hari Singh Nalwa
• Hari Singh Dhillon
• Chattar Singh Attariwalla
• Sham Singh Atariwala
• Jodh Singh Ramgarhia
• Jawahar Singh Aulakh
• Tej Singh
• Sher Singh Attariwalla
• Ranjodh Singh Majithia
• Mangal Singh Ramgarhia

Hindu

• Dewan Mokham Chand
• Misr Diwan Chand
• Gulab Singh
• Mahan Singh Mirpuri
• Ranbir Singh
• Dhian Singh
• Dewan Sawan Mal Chopra
• Zorawar Singh Kahluria
• Diwan Mulraj Chopra

Monarchs

Sikh Empire

• Maharaja Ranjit Singh, founder of Sikh Empire
• Maharaja Kharak Singh, second ruler of the Sikh Empire
• Maharaja Nau Nihal Singh, third emperor of the Sikh Empire.
• Maharaja Sher Singh, was the fourth maharaja of the Sikh Empire.
• Maharaja Duleep Singh was the last Emperor of the Sikh Empire

Misl Rulers

• Banda Singh Bahadur, Commander-in-chief of Khalsa army
• Ala Singh, First maharaja of Patiala and founder of Phulkian Misl.
• Jassa Singh Ahluwalia founder of Ahluwalia Misl and leader of Dal Khalsa
• Nawab Kapur Singh Organizer of Sikh Confederacy
• Jassa Singh Ramgarhia founder of Ramgarhia Misl
• Jai Singh Kanhaiya one of the most powerful sikh rulers during Sikh Confederacies period founder of Kanhaiya Misl
• Charat Singh founder of Sukerchakia Misl father of Maha Singh and grandfather of Ranjit Singh
• Hari Singh Dhillon one of the most powerful and admired Sikh Worrier leaders of Bhangi Misl
• Maha Singh son of Charat Singh and father of Ranjit Singh second chief of Sukerchakia Misl
• Jhanda Singh Dhillon son of Hari Singh Dhillon under his leadership Bhangi Misl become the most powerful among all the Misls
• Baba Deep Singh founder of Shaheedan Misl

Journalists

Print

India

England

• Simon Singh
• Riz Khan

Pakistan

Electronic/broadcast

India

Pakistan

• Yawar Hayat Khan
• Mishal Husain
• Hassan Nisar
• Suhail Warraich

Military

Pakistan Armed Forces

Air Force

• Air Marshal Nur Khan
• Air Marshal Abdul Rahim Khan
• Air Commodore Sajad Haider
• Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan
• Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed
• Air Vice Marshal Farooq Umar
• Air Vice Marshal Abdul Razzaq Anjum
• Air Chief Marshal Kaleem Saadat
• Air Commodore Rizwan Ullah Khan
• Flight Lieutenant Yunus Hussain
• Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman
• Air Chief Marshal Zulfiqar Ali Khan
• Air Marshal Zafar Chaudhry
• Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas
• Group Captain Cecil Chaudhry

Army

• Maj Gen Iftikhar Khan, most senior to succeed General Douglas Gracey as the first native Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army, but was killed in a C-53 crash with 22 others, including his wife and infant daughter before he could take office leading to General Ayub Khan being appointed instead
• General Asim Munir, current Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army
• General (R) Raheel Sharif, former Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army
• General (R) Qamar Javed Bajwa, former Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army
• General Zia ul Haq, former Chief of Army Staff and President of Pakistan
• General (R) Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, former Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan army
• General (R) Tikka Khan, former Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army
• General Asif Nawaz Janjua, former Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army
• Lt Gen Sarfraz Ali
• Lt Gen (R) Abdul Ali Malik
• Lt Gen (R) Asim Saleem Bajwa
• Lt Gen (R) Nasser Khan Janjua
• Maj Gen (R) Rao Farman Ali
• Maj Gen (R) Muhammed Akbar Khan
• Maj Gen Iftikhar Janjua, most senior Pakistani officer killed in battle during Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 while fighting with his troops on the front line
• Maj Gen (R) Iftikhar Khan, designated as the first native Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army
• Maj Gen (R) Muhammad Yusaf Khan
• Maj Gen (R) Raja Sakhi Daler Khan
• Maj Gen (R) Akhtar Hussain Malik
• Maj Gen (R) Noel Israel Khokhar
• Brig Siddique Salik
• Brig (R) Raja Habib ur Rahman Khan
• Brig (R) Amir Gulistan Janjua
• Major Tufail Mohammad, Nishan-e-Haider
• Major Raja Aziz Bhatti, Nishan-e-Haider
• Major Muhammad Akram, Nishan-e-Haider
• Major Shabbir Sharif, Nishan-e-Haider
• Lieutenant Colonel Haroon Islam
• Captain Raja Muhammad Sarwar, Nishan-e-Haider
• Naik Saif Ali Janjua, Nishan-e-Haider
• Lance Naik Muhammad Mahfuz, Nishan-e-Haider
• Sowar Muhammad Hussain Janjua, Nishan-e-Haider

Navy

• Admiral (R) Muhammad Asif Sandila
• Admiral (R) Muhammad Afzal Tahir

Indian Armed Forces

Airforce

• Air Chief Marshal Om Prakash Mehra, former Chief of Indian Air Force, Awarded highest military peace award.
• Marshal Arjan Singh, former Chief of Indian Air Force; only marshal in the history of Indian Air Force
• Air Chief Marshal Dilbagh Singh, former Chief of Indian Air Force
• Air Chief Marshal Nirmal Chandra Suri, former Chief of Indian Air Force
• Rakesh Sharma, Indian Air Force, first Indian in space

Army

• General Deepak Kapoor, former Indian Army Chief
• General Om Prakash Malhotra, former Indian Army Chief
• Captain Saurabh Kalia, martyr of Kargil war
• General Ved Prakash Malik, former Indian Army Chief
• General Bikram Singh, former Indian Army Chief
• Captain Arun Singh Jasrotia,
• General Pran Nath Thapar, former Indian Army Chief
• General Nirmal Chander Vij, former Indian Army Chief
• Lt General Jagjit Singh Aurora (1916–2005), General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of the Eastern Command of the Indian Army during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971; led the ground forces campaign in the eastern front of the war
• Lt General Punita Arora, first woman in the Indian Armed Forces to reach the second highest rank of Lt General; first woman to become the Vice-Admiral of Indian Navy
• Major General Shabeg Singh
• Brigadier Kuldip Singh Chandpuri (retired), awarded Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) by the Indian Army for his leadership in the Battle of Longewala
• Captain Vikram Batra, former officer of Indian army, martyred in 1999 Kargil war and was awarded Param Vir Chakra posthumously

Navy

• Admiral Robin K. Dhowan, former Chief of Indian Navy
• Admiral S.M. Nanda, former Chief of Indian Navy

Other notables

• Kiran Bedi, first woman IPS officer
• Uday Singh Taunque, awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star; first Indian to die in Iraq War as part of the US Army
• Ishar Singh, leader of the 36th Sikhs regiment during the Battle of Saragarhi

Singapore Armed Forces

• Colonel Gurcharan Singh Sekhon

Music

Pakistan

Punjabi Folk

Sufi Qawwali

• Fateh Ali Khan
• Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
• Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan
• Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
• Badar Miandad
• Ghulam Farid Sabri
• Maqbool Ahmad Sabri
• Amjad Sabri

Classical Hindustani Gharanas

Panjabi Gharana

• Shaukat Hussain
• Ustad Tafu Khan
• Tari Khan
• Ustad Zakir Hussain
• Alla Rakha

Patiala Gharana

• Barkat Ali Khan
• Amanat Ali Khan
• Bade Fateh Ali Khan
• Ghulam Ali
• Hamid Ali Khan
• Asad Amanat Ali Khan
• Farida Khanum

Sham Chaurasia Gharana

• Salamat Ali Khan
• Sharafat Ali Khan
• Shafqat Ali Khan

Modern Playback

India

Punjabi folk

Sufi Qawwali

Classical Hindustani Music

Patiala Gharana

Sham Chaurasia Gharana

Modern playback

Models

Politicians

India

Pakistan

United States

• Preet Bharara, former member of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York
• Nikki Haley, Governor of South Carolina, former member of the United States House of Representatives
• Piyush "Bobby" Jindal, Governor of Louisiana, former member of the United States House of Representatives
• Jenifer Rajkumar, Member of New York State Assembly from Queens
• Ro Khanna, Member of United States House of Representatives from California's 17th congressional district

United Kingdom

• Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• Baroness Sayeeda Hussain Warsi
• Sajid Javid
• Sajjad Karim
• Humza Yousaf, Prime Minister of Scotland

Canada

• Harjit Sajjan
• Jagmeet Singh
• Raj Saini
• Sonia Sidhu
• Navdeep Bains
• Gurratan Singh
• Gagan Sikand
• Tim Uppal

Revolutionaries

Religious figures

Sikh Gurus

• Guru Nanak Dev, founder of Sikhism
• Guru Angad
• Guru Amar Das
• Guru Ram Das
• Guru Arjan Dev, was the first two Gurus Martyred Sikh faith
• Guru Hargobind
• Guru Har Rai
• Guru Har Krishan
• Guru Tegh Bahadur
• Guru Gobind Singh, Last Sikh Guru in human form founder of Khalsa panth

Other Sikh figures

• Bhai Kanhaiya, he was known for pouring water for all the wounded members of the battlefield no matter whether they were Sikhs or enemies
• Baba Buddha, one of earliest Sikh figures
• Bhai Mardana, was the first Sikh
• Bhai Daya Singh, first in Panj Pyare

Muslim Sufis and saints

Hindu Gurus and saints

• Baba Shri Chand
• Swami Rama Tirtha
• Swami Shraddhanand
• Sri Chauranginatha
• Bawa Lal Dayal
• Mastana Balochistani
• Virajanand Dandeesha

Buddhist figures

• Khema
• Bhadda Kapilani,
• Anoja
• Kumaralata.

Radha Soami Satsang Beas

• Baba Jaimal Singh
• Baba Sawan Singh
• Sardar Bahadur Maharaj Jagat Singh
• Maharaj Charan Singh
• Baba Gurinder Singh

Ahmadiyya

• Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1889–1908)
• Malauna Hakeem Noor-ud-Din (1908–1914)
• Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad (1914–1965)
• Mirza Tahir Ahmad (1982–2003)
• Mirza Masroor Ahmad (2003–present)

Sportspersons

Baseball

Chess

• Tania Sachdev

Table Tennis

• Manika Batra

Tennis

Cricket

India

Pakistan

England

Canada

New Zealand

Basketball

• Sim Bhullar
• Satnam Singh Bhamara
• Amjyot Singh

Hockey

Field hockey

Ice hockey

Athletics

Golf

Wrestling

Shooting

Cycling

• Alexi Grewal, American-Sikh, won gold medal in Olympics

Soccer

Boxing

Volleyball

• Nirmal Saini

Weightlifting

• Nooh Dastgir Butt

Freestyle Wrestling

• Muhammad Inam Butt
• Muhammad Bashir
• Amar Dhesi
• Zaman Anwar
• Mandhir Kooner
• Nishan Randhawa

Mixed martial arts

• Singh Jaideep, Indian-Japanese mixed martial artist
• Arjun Bhullar, Punjabi-Canadian mixed martial artist

See also

• List of Punjabi Muslims
• Punjabis
• List of British Punjabis

References