India is the country that produced the best artists the world has ever seen. Even today, the world remembers the world-renowned artists who left a unique mark in the fields of painting, songwriting, painting, film director, singer and many more.
Here are some world famous people..
Raja Ravivarma (29 April 1848 – 2 October 1906)
He was a painter among kings and a king among painters. At a time when painting was generally thought to be the art of Europeans, he pioneered the advancement of painting through his own paintings and cultural advancement through his line art.
Ezhumavil was born on April 29, 1848 in Kilimanoor Palace as the son of Neelakanthan Bhattathiripad and Uma Ambabai Tamburati.
Ravi Varma rose to fame when he installed an oil portrait of Lord Buckingham at the Madras Government Headquarters. In 1871 he was awarded the Veerashrankhala by the Maharaja and was appointed as the head painter. Ravivarma’s ‘Mullappoo Chutiya Nair Vanita’ won the first prize at the Madras Art Exhibition in 1873, beating the paintings of many European painters, and his fame began to spread across the seas. The same film won a prize at the World Art Exhibition held in Vienna in the same year.
In 1874, Ravivarma’s fame rose again when he won the first prize at the Madras Art Exhibition, ‘Tamirstree’s Singing’. In 1876, Ravi Varma sent his painting ‘Shakuntala’s Love Letter’ to the Madras Exhibition. The film was hailed as a masterpiece. Many tried to buy the picture at any price, but Lord Buckingham had already bought it. Sir Monier Williams, who saw this picture, sought permission to add it as the frontispiece to the English translation of his Abhijnana Sakunthalam. Thus Ravivarma had become a world famous painter before turning 28 years old.
In 1904 Ravi Varma was conferred the unique honor of ‘Kaiser-e-Hind’ by the British Government.
Rabindranath Tagore (7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941)
Rabindranath Tagore is a prominent literary and cultural hero of India. Gurudev always addressed him respectfully. He proved his talent as a poet, philosopher, visual artist, storyteller, dramatist, lyricist, novelist and social reformer and gave a new look to Bengali literature and music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tagore became the first person from Asia to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 for his poetry collection Gitanjali.
Tagore’s literary contributions are numerous, including about 100 poetry collections containing about 3,000 poems, 2,300 songs, 50 plays, art books, collections of essays. He was also a theater actor and singer. He began painting at the age of sixty-eight, beginning for fun and producing nearly three thousand paintings. The Gerasenko Tagore family of Calcutta is a family that has contributed a lot in the religious, social and cultural fields of Bengal in connection with the progressive and reform movements. There are many people in the Gerasanko Tagore family who have made their mark in the field of art, literature and religious and social reforms of India such as Rabindranath Tagore, Abanindranath Tagore and Gaganendranath Tagore.
Born in Calcutta to a Pirali Brahmin clan, Tagore composed his first poem at the age of eight. At the age of sixteen, Tagore published his first collection of poems under the pen name ‘Bhanusimhan’. In 1877 he started writing short stories and plays. Tagore traveled a lot at an early age and spent a good part of his primary education at home.
Tagore’s works include several novels, short stories, song collections, dance-dramas, political and personal essays. The rhythmic lyricism, oratory, naturalism, and philosophy found in all of these were world-renowned. Rabindranath Tagore is the originator of India’s National Anthem Janganamana.
MF Hussain (17 September 1915 – 9 June 2011).
Maqbool Fida Hussain (MF Hussain) was a famous modern painter of India. Born on 17 September 1915 in Pantipur. Hussain’s mother died when he was one and a half years old. His father remarried and moved to Indore. Hussain completed his schooling in Indore and moved to Bombay in 1935. He had Sir J. J. of Bombay. Got admission in School of Art.
Hussain first became known as a painter in the 1940s. In 1952, his first solo exhibition was held in Zurich. After a short period of time, his works gained wide recognition in Europe and America.
The Government of India honored him with Padma Shri in 1966, Padma Bhushan in 1973 and Padma Vibhushan in 1991. In 1967, he produced his first film, Through the Eyes of an Artist. The film was screened at the Berlin Film Festival and won the Golden Bear for Best Film. Received Qatari citizenship in 2010. Died June 9, 2011 in London.
Satyajit Rai (May 2, 1921-April 23, 1992)
Satyajit Rai is one of the greatest film directors of the 20th century. Born in an artistic family in Kolkata, Satyajit Rai completed his education at the Presidency College and the Tagore-founded Visva-Bharati University. Rai started his career as an actor. Filmmaker Zhang Renwai
Seeing and watching the Italian neorealist film Bicycle Thieves inspired him to turn to filmmaking.
He has directed 37 films including feature films, documentaries and short films. His debut film Pather Panchali (1955) won 11 international awards. It also won the Best Human Documentary Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Pather Panchali, Aparajito and Apur Sansar are the sequels of Aputrayam. Rai has worked in all aspects of filmmaking, including screenwriting, casting, background music, cinematography, art direction, editing and advertising.
During his long film and literary career, Rai has received many awards and accolades. It also includes 32 National Film Awards given by the Government of India. Rai is one of only two recipients of three ‘Padma’ awards and the highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna.
Satyajit Rai became the second person after Charlie Chaplin to receive a doctorate from the film industry when he was awarded a doctorate by Oxford University. Rai was awarded the Legion of Honor by the French government in 1987 and the Dada Saheb Phalke Award in 1985. In the days leading up to his death, the Government of India conferred the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented him with the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1992. In 1992, he received the Akira Kurosawa Award for Lifetime Achievement in Directing from the San Francisco International Film Festival. On that day, Sharmila accepted the award on behalf of Tagore Rai.
Lata Mangeshkar (28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022)
Lata Mangeshkar, known as Vanambadi of Indian music, was born on September 28, 1929 in Indore. Lata was the eldest of six children of Maratha theater singer Deenath Mangeshkar. Lata Mangeshkar’s maiden name was Hema – later changed to Lata, in association with Latika, the name of a character in Deenath’s play Bhavbandhan.
Lata took childhood music lessons from her father and started acting in her father’s musicals at the age of five. Lata’s father died when she was thirteen years old. Lata started acting in films to support her family. Lata later left acting and grew up through music. Nachu Ya Gathe, Khelu Na Mani Has Bari was first sung in the 1942 Marathi film Kidi Hazal, but the song was later removed from the film. That same year, Latha acted in the Marathi film Pahili Mangala-Gore and sang the song Nathalie Chaitrachi Navalai.
Lata’s first Hindi song was Mata Ek Sapoot Ki Duniya Badal De Tu in the 1943 film Gajabahu. In 1948, Lata, who came to sing for the film Shaheed, was told that her voice was thin by the producer S. Mukherjee was sent back. Lata Mangeshkar came to prominence as a singer with the song Mera Dil Toda composed by Ghulam Haider in Majboor (1948) directed by Nazir Ajmiri for Bombay Talkies. It was that voice that later conquered India. Around 40,000 movie songs have been sung in 15 languages. Lata Mangeshkar is among the most recorded songs in the world.
He has won Padma Bhushan(1969), Padma Vibhushan(1999), Dadasahib Phalke Award(1989), Bharat Ratnam(2001), three National Film Awards and 12 Bengal Film Journalist Association Awards.
From 1999 to 2005, he also worked as a member of the Rajya Sabha of the NDA Front. He passed away on 6 February 2022 at the age of 92 in Mumbai due to Covid-19.