56 Notable alumni of Bangalore University

Karanam Pavan Prasad is an Indian author, novelist and playwright in Kannada language. He gained notability with his first novel Karma. His second novel was Nunni. He is considered a prominent new-age Kannada writer with a vast and growing readership.

Renuka Kesaramadu is a contemporary painter and sculptor from India. She is best known internationally through her collaborative art exhibitions and participations in workshops in Europe. She has also curated a few international art symposia and exhibitions in India.

Kengal Shreepada Renu is an Indian politician. He is the grandson of Kengal Hanumanthaiah, the most revered politician in Karnataka, who was the 2nd Chief Minister of the State, and, who built the State Legislature called Vidhana Soudha. He is also a former Ranji cricketer representing the State of Karnataka, and an accomplished golfer having won more than 50 club...

Kaleem Shah is an American entrepreneur, computer engineer and owner of Thoroughbred race horses. He is known for founding the IT and telecommunications consulting firm CALNET. Born in India, educated in India and the United States, he became a U.S. citizen in the early 1990s. He is the son of Indian horse trainer Majeed Shah.

Hosahalli S. Ramaswamy, also popularly known as Swamy, is a Canadian food scientist of Indian origin, Professor of Food Science at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and a visiting professor at Zhejiang University, China and Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. Currently, he is the President of Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology. He is also the editor of the...

Sumathendra Raghavendra Nadig was an Indian professor and writer in Kannada. Nadig came upon the literary scene as a prominent modern poet in the 1960s. He was a close associate of Gopalakrishna Adiga, the leader of the modernist movement.

Kuppur Yalappa Narayanaswamy, also known as KYN, is a popular Kannada poet, scholar, critic, and playwright. He is currently a Kannada professor in the Maharani Cluster University, Bangalore. He is the author of many popular Kannada plays including Kalavu, Anabhigna Shakuntala, Chakraratna, Huliseere, and Vinura Vema. He has also translated Kuvempu's Shudra Tapaswi into Telugu. He is credited with adapting...

Vasudevan Srinivas is an Indian mathematician working in algebraic geometry. He is a Distinguished Professor in the School of Mathematics Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. Srinivas is an elected Fellow of the Third World Academy of Sciences, American Mathematical Society, Indian National Science Academy, and the Indian Academy of Sciences.

Deepa Sashindran is an Indian artist and a disciple of the Kuchipudi expert Smt. Manju Bhargavi. She is a performing artist, teacher of the Indian classical dance form Kuchipudi, choreographer, art curator, entrepreneur, and the founder of Kuchipudi Parampara Foundation Trust Bangalore.

K. Chidananda Gowda is an Indian academic who served as the Vice-Chancellor of the Kuvempu University, which is located in the state of Karnataka, India. He is also the son-in-law of the Kannada Poet, Kuvempu, after whom the Kuvempu University is named. He has published many papers, mainly in the field of pattern recognition.

Karma Paljor is an Indian journalist and television news anchor. His career as a media professional began in 2001 and since then he's been associated with some famous news channel and last channel he was with is CNN-News18. He has received several awards for his role as a reporter and for his coverage of natural disasters since then. He co-founded...

Smita Rao Bellur is an Indian singer of Hindustani classical music, particularly the Khyal genre, as well as Sufi devotional music. including (Qawwali. She is associated with the Kirana gharana, a prominent musical lineage that originated in Jaipur.

Katepalli Raju Sreenivasan is an aerospace scientist, fluid dynamicist, and applied physicist. He studies turbulence, nonlinear and statistical physics, astrophysical fluid mechanics, and cryogenic helium. He was the dean of engineering and executive vice provost for science and technology of New York University. Sreenivasan is also the Eugene Kleiner Professor for Innovation in Mechanical Engineering at New York University Tandon...

Deepa Kumar is an Indian American scholar and activist. She is a professor of Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers University. Kumar has been referred to by the Media Education Foundation as “one of the nation’s foremost scholars on Islamophobia" and by the New York Times as "a world-renowned scholar of Islamophobia and race." She is a leader in the...

Kampalapura Veeranna Narayana, also known as KVN, is an Indian linguist, professor of Kannada language and literature, and a literary critic. He is currently the Chairman of the Kuvempu Bhasha Bharathi Pradikara, Government of Karnataka. He hails from Piriyapattana in Mysore district. During his time as a professor in Bangalore University, he initiated investigations into Kannada language and culture from...

Manchanahalli Rangaswamy Satyanarayana Rao was an Indian scientist. He was awarded the fourth-highest civilian award, the Padma Shri, for Science and Engineering in 2010. From 2003 to 2013 he was president of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) in Bangalore, India.

Pushpamala N. is a photo and visual artist based in Bangalore, India.

Geeta Rao Gupta is a leader on gender, women's issues, and HIV/AIDS who had served as United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues. She previously served as executive director of the 3D Program for Girls and Women and senior fellow at the United Nations Foundation since 2017. She is frequently consulted on issues related to AIDS prevention and women's vulnerability...

Channarayapatna Ashwath was an Indian music composer and exponent of Bhavageete ("expressive poetry") in the Kannada language. He was also a singer, and sang many of his own compositions. He was credited with singing Bhavageete songs and making sure that they reached the common man.

H. Narasimhaiah (more popularly Hosur Narasimhaiah); 6 June 1920 – 31 January 2005) was an Indian physicist, educator, writer, freedom fighter and rationalist from Karnataka. Publicly known as "HN", he was the Vice-Chancellor of Bangalore University and the president of the National Education Society. He was conferred the Padma Bhushan award by the Government of India in 1984.

Aishwarya Nag is an Indian actress and model, who has appeared in South Indian films, primarily Kannada cinema. After her modelling, she made her acting debut in the film Neene Neene, followed by Jolly Days (2009) and Kal Manja (2010).

Mothakapalli Venkatappa Rajeev Gowda is an Indian politician and academician. He is a former member of parliament in the Rajya Sabha and a national spokesperson for the Indian National Congress. He also currently serves as chairman of the "Congress Research Department". He was Professor of Economics and Social Sciences and the chairperson of the Centre for Public Policy at the...

Kumble R. Subbaswamy is an Indian physicist and college administrator who served as the 11th chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He currently serves as Interim Senior Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs and Equity, serving the five-campus University of Massachusetts system. He formerly served as the provost of University of Kentucky.

Tejaswini Ananth Kumar is an Indian social worker and an educationist.

Baraguru Ramachandrappa is an Indian essayist, lyricist, screenwriter, film director, socialist, writer, novelist, predominantly works in Kannada language and President of the Textbook Revision Committee, in Karnataka Text Books Society (KTBS) from May 2015. In 2008, he was given an honorary doctorate by the Kuvempu University and Rani Channamma University, Belagavi, Karnataka.

Manouchehr Mottaki is an Iranian politician and diplomat who currently is a member of the Parliament of Iran representing Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat, Eslamshahr and Pardis since 2024. He was the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2010.

Indira Jaising is an Indian Senior Advocate. In 2018, she was ranked 20th in the list of 50 Greatest Leaders of the World by Fortune magazine.In 2009, Ms Jaising became the first woman to be appointed as the Additional Solicitor General of India. She was also the first Indian woman elected to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination...

Siddalingaiah was one of the most prominent Kannada poets, writers and social activists in India. He is particularly remembered for his work benefitting the poor, the down-trodden and the marginalised castes to which he himself belonged. He was also one of the founders of the Dalit Sangharsha Samiti, which is a major political organisation fighting for the rights of the...

Mano Murthy is an Indian musician and composer in the Kannada film industry. He is best known for his songs in Mungaru Male, one of the biggest hits in the Kannada industry.

Nasir Ahmed is an American electrical engineer and computer scientist. He is Professor Emeritus of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of New Mexico (UNM). He is best known for inventing the discrete cosine transform (DCT) in the early 1970s. The DCT is the most widely used data compression transformation, the basis for most digital media standards (image, video and...

Venkatesh Prasad, is an Indian Cricket Kannada Commentator, coach and former professional cricketer who played Tests and One Day Internationals. He made his debut in 1994. Primarily a right-arm medium-fast bowler, Prasad was noted for his bowling combination with Javagal Srinath. He was a part of the squad which finished as runners-up at the 2000 ICC Champions Trophy.

Nicole Faria Powar is an Indian actress, model and the winner of the Miss Earth 2010 pageant. She is the brand ambassador for various brands including Clean & Clear and Swiss luxury wristwatches, Frédérique Constant. She was featured on international fashion and lifestyle magazine covers, like Elle, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, JFW, Man's World magazine and appeared on the Kingfisher Calendar in...

Renuka Chowdhury is an Indian politician and a member of the Rajya Sabha representing Indian National Congress. she represented the political party in the Rajya Sabha from Andhra Pradesh and currently in Telangana. She has also served as the Union minister of State (Independent Charge) for Ministry of Women and Child Development and Tourism in the Government of India.

Aluru Seelin Kiran Kumar is an Indian space scientist, member of board of governors of the Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur and former chairman of ISRO, having assumed office on 14 January 2015. He is credited with the development of key scientific instruments aboard the Chandrayaan-1 and Mangalyaan space crafts. In 2014, he was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth...

Anaitha Nair is an Indian film and theatre actress and singer, best known for playing the role of Aliya Bose, a member of the Indian women's national hockey team, in the sports-oriented film Chak De India (2007), starring Shahrukh Khan.

Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed Joy is a Bangladeshi-American businessman and politician. He is a member of the Bangladesh Awami League and served as an advisor to his mother, former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, on information and communication technology affairs. He is currently facing multiple corruption charges in Bangladesh.

Ramesh Aravind, known mononymously as Ramesh, is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter and television presenter, predominantly in Kannada, in addition to Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films.

Robin Uthappa Aiyuda is an Indian former cricketer. He represented the Indian national team in One Day International and Twenty20 International cricket.

Sajjan Jindal is an Indian billionaire businessman. He is the chairman and managing director of JSW Group.

Malavika Avinash is an Indian spokesperson, actress, television personality and politician of Bharatiya Janata Party of Karnataka. She is known for her work in Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil films.

Pooja Gauthami Umashankar is an Indian-Sri Lankan former actress who has primarily appeared in Indian Tamil and Sri Lankan Sinhala cinema.

Mamta Mohandas is an Indian actress, producer and playback singer who primarily works in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu films. Mamta is a recipient of several awards including a Kerala State Film Award and two Filmfare Awards South.

Sweety Shetty, known by her stage name Anushka Shetty, is an Indian actress known for her works in Telugu and Tamil cinema. She is the recipient of three Filmfare Awards South, two Nandi Awards, two SIIMA Awards and one Tamil Nadu State Film Award. Having appeared over 50 films in a variety of roles, she is one of the highest-paid...

Rahul Sharad Dravid is an Indian former cricket player, ex-captain and ex-head coach of the Indian national cricket team. Known for his outstanding batting technique, Dravid scored 24,177 runs in international cricket and is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is colloquially known as Mr. Dependable and often referred to as The...

Prakash Padukone is an Indian former badminton player. He was ranked World No. 1 in 1980 and the same year he became the first Indian to win the All England Open. He was awarded the Arjuna award in 1972 and the Padma Shri in 1982 by the Government of India. He is one of the co-founders of Olympic Gold Quest,...

Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer, captain, coach and commentator who played Test and One Day International cricket for his national team over an international career of 18 years. A right-arm leg spin bowler, regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in cricket history, he took 619 wickets in Test cricket and was the third-highest wicket taker of all...

Ravi Shankar is an Indian guru and spiritual leader. He is also referred to by the honorifics Sri Sri and Gurudev. From the mid-1970s, he worked as an apprentice under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of Transcendental Meditation, before founding the Art of Living Foundation in 1981.

Anushka Sharma is a former Indian actress & producer who works in Hindi films. She has won many awards including Filmfare Awards and IIFA Awards. Sharma has appeared in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 in the 2010s and was featured by Forbes Asia in their 30 Under 30 list of 2018.

Nirupama Menon Rao is a retired civil servant of 1973 batch Indian Foreign Service cadre who served as India's Foreign Secretary from 2009 to 2011, as well as being India's Ambassador to the United States, China and Sri Lanka (High Commissioner) during her career.

Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, popularly known as Rajaji or C.R., also known as Mootharignar Rajaji (Rajaji, the Scholar Emeritus), was an Indian statesman, writer, lawyer, and Indian independence activist. Rajagopalachari was the last Governor-General of India, as, when India became a republic in 1950, the office was abolished. He was also the only Indian-born Governor-General, as all previous holders of the post...

Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, also referred to by his initials, MV, was an Indian civil engineer, administrator, and statesman, who served as the 19th Dewan of Mysore from 1912 to 1918.

Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao is an Indian chemist who has worked mainly in solid-state and structural chemistry. He has honorary doctorates from 86 universities from around the world and has authored around 1,800 research publications and 58 books. He is described as a scientist who had won all possible awards in his field except the Nobel Prize.

Wolfgang Messner is Clinical Professor of International Business at the Darla Moore School of Business (University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC). Prior to coming to the University of South Carolina in August 2016, he was Professor of International Management at the MYRA School of Business in Mysore (India), and Director of GloBus Research.

Nape Moses Nnauye is a Tanzanian politician presently serving as the Chama Cha Mapinduzi's Member of Parliament and for Mtama constituency since November 2015.

Avelin Mary is a marine biologist and a Roman Catholic nun belonging to the Congregation of the Mother of Sorrows, Servants of Mary. She is a Director of Sacred Heart Marine Research Center, Tuticorin.