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 cricket9.4× 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
Politician108
Sort By

Showing 108 of 1,603 notable people

0020 POLITICIAN

M. N. Roy

1887 - 1954

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0024 POLITICIAN

Jyoti Basu

1914 - 2010

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0029 POLITICIAN

Syama Prasad Mukherjee

1901 - 1953

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0032 POLITICIAN

Mamata Banerjee

Born 1955

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0037 POLITICIAN

Surendranath Banerjee

1848 - 1925

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0060 POLITICIAN

M. J. Akbar

Born 1951

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0070 POLITICIAN

Fenner Brockway

1888 - 1988

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0079 POLITICIAN

Charles Grant, 1st Baron Glenelg

1778 - 1866

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0080 POLITICIAN

Mohammad Hamid Ansari

Born 1937

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0087 POLITICIAN

Francis Baring, 1st Baron Northbrook

1796 - 1866

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0096 POLITICIAN

J. F. R. Jacob

1923 - 2016

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0108 POLITICIAN

Shaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah

1915 - 2000

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0165 POLITICIAN

Alok Sharma

Born 1967

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0207 POLITICIAN

Pratap Chandra Chunder

1919 - 2008

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0216 POLITICIAN

Hirendranath Mukherjee

1907 - 2004

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0224 POLITICIAN

Brinda Karat

Born 1947

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0263 POLITICIAN

Indrajit Gupta

1919 - 2001

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0268 POLITICIAN

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee

Born 1944

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0280 POLITICIAN

Arjun Kumar Sengupta

1937 - 2010

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0296 POLITICIAN

Praful Patel

Born 1957

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0337 POLITICIAN

Ajoy Mukherjee

1901 - 1986

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0346 POLITICIAN

Charles Buller

1806 - 1848

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0353 POLITICIAN

Tathagata Roy

Born 1945

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0414 POLITICIAN

Ajit Kumar Panja

1936 - 2008

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0419 POLITICIAN

James McGarel-Hogg, 1st Baron Magheramorne

1823 - 1890

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0432 POLITICIAN

Derek O'Brien (politician)

Born 1961

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0489 POLITICIAN

Sultan Ahmed (politician)

1953 - 2017

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0490 POLITICIAN

Sovan Chatterjee

Born 1964

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0516 POLITICIAN

N. K. Singh

Born 1941

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0522 POLITICIAN

Raj Bagri, Baron Bagri

1930 - 2017

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0557 POLITICIAN

Kamal Basu

1919 - 2013

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0560 POLITICIAN

Dola Sen

Born 1967

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0566 POLITICIAN

Ritabrata Banerjee

Born 1978

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0568 POLITICIAN

Abhishek Banerjee

Born 1987

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0578 POLITICIAN

Mausam Noor

Born 1979

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0595 POLITICIAN

Sachindra Chaudhuri

1903 - 1992

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0602 POLITICIAN

Judi Tyabji

Born 1965

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0616 POLITICIAN

Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar

Born 1959

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0645 POLITICIAN

Subrata Bakshi

Born 1950

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0646 POLITICIAN

Arpita Ghosh

Born 1966

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0664 POLITICIAN

Richard Barwell

1741 - 1804

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0668 POLITICIAN

Renu Chakravartty

1917 - 1994

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0670 POLITICIAN

Baby Maudud

1948 - 2014

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0679 POLITICIAN

Biman Bose

Born 1940

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0743 POLITICIAN

Arthur Guinness (New Zealand politician)

1846 - 1913

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0771 POLITICIAN

Amit Mitra

-

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0773 POLITICIAN

Sir Edward Colebrooke, 4th Baronet

1813 - 1890

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0785 POLITICIAN

William Harper (Rhodesian politician)

1916 - 2006

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0797 POLITICIAN

Geeta Mukherjee

1924 - 2000

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0809 POLITICIAN

Arthur William Buller

1808 - 1869

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0822 POLITICIAN

Santi Ghose

1916 - 1989

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0829 POLITICIAN

Abdur Razzak Molla

Born 1945

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0833 POLITICIAN

Partha Chatterjee (politician)

Born 1956

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0839 POLITICIAN

Mehboob Ali Kaiser

Born 1958

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0840 POLITICIAN

P. C. Bhattacharya

Born 1903

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0867 POLITICIAN

Prafulla Chandra Ghosh

1944 - 1983

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0871 POLITICIAN

Mahua Moitra

-

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0878 POLITICIAN

Deepa Dasmunsi

Born 1960

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0880 POLITICIAN

Tapan Kumar Sen

Born 1951

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0887 POLITICIAN

Rahul Sinha

Born 1963

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0895 POLITICIAN

Kamakhya Prasad Singh Deo

Born 1941

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0906 POLITICIAN

Bobby Hakim

Born 1959

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0913 POLITICIAN

Shashi Panja

Born 1963

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0920 POLITICIAN

Subrata Bose

1932 - 2016

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0951 POLITICIAN

Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya

Born 1951

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0954 POLITICIAN

Manindra Chandra Nandy

1860 - 1929

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0963 POLITICIAN

Phulrenu Guha

1912 - 2006

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0992 POLITICIAN

William Plowden (Conservative politician)

1787 - 1880

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1022 POLITICIAN

Jyotipriya Mallick

-

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1027 POLITICIAN

Saumyendranath Tagore

1901 - 1974

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1035 POLITICIAN

Mohammed Salim (politician)

Born 1957

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1037 POLITICIAN

Ujjal Biswas

Born 1954

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1055 POLITICIAN

Kunal Ghosh

Born 1968

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1075 POLITICIAN

Brian Chatterton

Born 1941

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1084 POLITICIAN

Srinjoy Bose

Born 1976

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1085 POLITICIAN

Asim Dasgupta

Born 1946

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1110 POLITICIAN

Madan Mitra

-

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1128 POLITICIAN

Subrata Mukherjee

Born 1946

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1134 POLITICIAN

Jyotirmoy Basu

1920 - 1982

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1138 POLITICIAN

Idris Ali (politician)

Born 1950

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1141 POLITICIAN

Arindam Bhattacharya (politician)

Born 1980

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1163 POLITICIAN

Dhirendra Agarwal

Born 1955

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1173 POLITICIAN

Biman Banerjee

-

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1179 POLITICIAN

Atish Chandra Sinha

1940 - 2010

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1181 POLITICIAN

Yasmeen Murshed

-

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1200 POLITICIAN

Sadhan Pande

Born 1951

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1203 POLITICIAN

Arup Roy

Born 1956

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1245 POLITICIAN

Sarita Rai

-

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1263 POLITICIAN

Vivek Gupta

Born 1975

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1278 POLITICIAN

Somen Mahapatra

Born 1958

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1334 POLITICIAN

Javed Ahmed Khan

Born 1956

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1339 POLITICIAN

Debabrata Biswas (politician)

Born 1945

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1397 POLITICIAN

Sudhangshu Seal

Born 1945

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1425 POLITICIAN

Ranjit Kumar Panja

1932 - 2006

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1439 POLITICIAN

Harold Brennan

1905 - 1979

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1450 POLITICIAN

Samik Bhattacharya

Born 1981

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1517 POLITICIAN

Ranen Barman

Born 1969

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1520 POLITICIAN

Sajda Ahmed

Born 1962

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1543 POLITICIAN

Samir Putatundu

Born 1952

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1557 POLITICIAN

Bijoy Prasad Singh Roy

1894 - 1961

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1562 POLITICIAN

K.S. Chatterjee

-

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1563 POLITICIAN

John Eldridge (politician)

1872 - 1954

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1571 POLITICIAN

Ashok Krishna Dutt

Born 1928

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1593 POLITICIAN

Asim Bala

Born 1941

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1595 POLITICIAN

Asutosh Laha

Born 1940

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1596 POLITICIAN

Nirmal Kanti Chatterjee

Born 1925

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1597 POLITICIAN

Purnendu Sekhar Naskar

Born 1921

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1601 POLITICIAN

Mohammad Khaledur Rahman Tito

-

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