22.5719° N, 88.3642° E

KOLKATA

Most Famous People Born in Kolkata, India

Notable people
1,603
Peak decade
1950s
Median birth year
1948
Most distinctive
Cricket 9.4×

A colonial capital whose bench is thick with cricketers, film people, and scientists. Kolkata's distinctive professions are cricketers, biologists, scientists, film workers, and physicists — the legacy of Satyajit Ray's parallel cinema alongside a research tradition that runs from Jagadish Chandra Bose through Satyendra Nath Bose and Meghnad Saha. Rabindranath Tagore was born in a house the family still owns, and Swami Vivekananda grew up a few streets over.

Through the Decades

One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Kolkata during each.

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1950s with 188 notable births.

What Kolkata Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Actor is Kolkata's biggest profession — 15% of all notables (247).

Kolkata over-indexes on cricket — 9.4× the global rate.

Kolkata under-produces football — only 0.4× the global rate.

  1. Actor247
  2. Cricket192
  3. Politician108
  4. Film81
  5. Writer79
  6. Football74
  7. Singer53
  8. Author37
  1. Cricket1929.4×
  2. Biologist206.8×
  3. Scientist206.7×
  4. Film814.1×
  5. Physicist263.9×
  6. Actor2472.9×
  7. Author372.7×
  8. Judge162.1×
  1. Football740.4×
  2. Politician1080.6×
  3. Painter290.7×

Profession Mix Over Time

Each band shows a profession family's share of Kolkata's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.

175018001850190019502000
  • Sports
  • Film & TV
  • Writing
  • Science
  • Politics & Law
  • Music
  • Other
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All1,603
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Showing 33 of 1,603 notable people

0005 TEACHER

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

1896 - 1977

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0006 PHYSICIST

Satyendra Nath Bose

1894 - 1974

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0014 ECONOMIST

Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis

1893 - 1972

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0147 WORLD WAR

Indra Lal Roy

1898 - 1918

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0177 AVIATOR

Einar Lundborg

1896 - 1931

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0228 ACTOR

Dhirendra Nath Ganguly

1893 - 1978

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0252 FILM

Nitin Bose

1897 - 1986

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0274 DISCIPLES

Prajnanapada

1891 - 1974

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0368 CRICKET

Hubert Ashton

1898 - 1979

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0408 ANTHROPOLOGIST

Panchanan Mitra

1892 - 1936

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0441 POET

P. H. B. Lyon

1893 - 1986

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0551 WRITER

Khagendranath Mitra

1896 - 1978

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0638 MUSIC

K. C. Dey

1893 - 1962

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0642 POET

Shahadat Hussain

1893 - 1953

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0740 DANCER

Roshanara

1894 - 1926

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0745 WRITER

Radharaman Mitra

1897 - 1992

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0818 JUDGE

Sudhi Ranjan Das

1894 - 1977

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0905 WRESTLER

Jatindra Charan Guho

1892 - 1972

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0922 MILITAR

Reginald Graham

1892 - 1980

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0957 ENGINEER

Biren Mookerjee

1899 - 1982

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0976 DANCER

Pratima Devi (painter)

1893 - 1969

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1062 ENGINEER

Vernon Robertson

1890 - 1971

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1100 ATHLETIC

Purma Bannerjee

Born 1897

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1125 MILITAR

Eric Archibald McNair

1894 - 1918

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1221 LAWYER

Nitish Chandra Laharry

1892 - 1964

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1253 ACTOR

Phani Burma

1897 - 1957

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1267 FLYING ACE

Edward Dawson Atkinson

1891 - 1934

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1295 FLYING ACE

George M. Cox

1892 - 1977

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1368 PRINCE

Hteiktin Ma Lat

1894 - 1965

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1528 WRITER

Krishna Prasad Dar

1893 - 1977

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1557 POLITICIAN

Bijoy Prasad Singh Roy

1894 - 1961

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1573 FOOTBALL

Bob Chandler (footballer)

1894 - 1964

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1589 FILM

Amar Mullick

1899 - 1972

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