Famous Indian Media Personalities

Legendary Indian politician Bal Thackeray, or Balasaheb Thackeray, was the patriarch of one of the most influential political families of India and the founder of the Shiv Sena. He went from being a cartoonist to the godfather of Maharashtra, though his overtly regional and Hindu nationalist ideals were often criticized.

Fareed Zakaria is an Indian-American journalist, author, and political commentator. He has been serving as an editor-at-large for Time and editor for Newsweek International. He has also been serving as a columnist for Newsweek. His show, Fareed Zakaria GPS, which he hosts for CNN, has won a Peabody Award. 

The quintessential item girl of Bollywood, Malaika Arora is known for her sultry looks and dance moves. She has the reputation of drawing audiences into theatres despite appearing in just one song in the entire film. Malaika Arora ended her 18 years old marriage to actor Arbaaz Khan in 2017. 

Considered India's most successful Test captain, legendary cricketer Sourav Ganguly, nicknamed Maharaj, was also arguably one of the best one-day batsmen of his time. Also known as the God of the Off Side, he now heads the BCCI as its president. He was initially also a talented footballer.

The patriarch of the Karunanidhi political family of India, M. Karunanidhi had been the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for almost 20 years. The DMK leader was also a noted scriptwriter and author, having written films such as Parasakthi. His son, M. K. Stalin is the current Tamil Nadu chief minister.

Born to Goan Christians in Bombay, Dinesh D'Souza later moved to the U.S. for higher studies. The Indian-American right-wing filmmaker and writer is known for his anti-Obama documentary 2016: Obama's America. Convicted of illegal campaign contribution, he was later pardoned by Trump. He was also associated with an adultery scandal.

Referred to as King of Bollywood and King Khan in the media, Indian actor Shah Rukh Khan is considered one of the most successful film stars of the Hindi film indusrty. Beginning his career as a TV actor, he struggled for many years before making it big as a Hindi film star. 

While he initially played Ravana in local Ramleela productions of his native state Madhya Pradesh, Indian actor Ashutosh Rana later soared to fame with the series Swabhimaan. The NSD alumnus later won Filmfare awards for his roles in Dushman and Sangharsh. He is married to actor Renuka Shahane.