Kerala Insider’s 50 Most Influential People of 2020
Presenting Kerala Insider’s 50 Most Influential People of 2020. From politicians to actors, social activists to sportspersons, here are the most influential of 2020 in Kerala
K K Shailaja
Newsmaker
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Leading the state’s fight against corona-virus, the health minister of the state, KK Shailaja’s early and stringent actions ensured that the state’s health system was not put to a pressure that it could not handle when the pandemic started doing pirouettes around the globe. She has received international attention for her leadership in tackling COVID-19 pandemic. Till around mid-March, she gave daily press briefings. She was invited by the United Nations to participate in a panel discussion on United Nations Public Service Day 2020, for her efforts to fight COVID-19 in her state on June 23, 2020.The Guardian described her as “coronavirus slayer” and “rock star health minister”. BBC News featured her among a list of Asian women corona fighters. She was also featured by Vogue Magazine as a “Vogue Warrior”. The British magazine Prospect selected her as the world’s ‘top thinker’ for COVID-19 in 2020.
Shashi Tharoor
Newsmaker
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This literary figure cum politician continued to bring the lime lights over him with his efforts in handling the covid-19 pandemic in the state. Being one of the first in action, Tharoor’s hands were behind bringing the first batch of covid-19 rapid testing kits to Kerala.In the initial stages of the pandemic, when the state was anxious about the uncertainty lingering around the testing, Shashi Tharoor had ordered for a total of 3,000 sample testing kits from Pune-based MyLab, the company which got the commercial approval last month for the first made-in-India coronavirus or COVID- 19 test kit. ₹ 57 lakh was paid for this from the MP funds. On the literary side, he has launched a number of exciting reads too. Tharooraurus, with his prowess of excellent vocabulary and The Battle of Belonging, giving a perspective of nationalism tops his works in the arena of words.
Priyanca Radhakrishan
Newsmaker
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Ernakulam native Priyanca Radhakrishnan has created history by becoming the first-ever Kiwi – Indian minister in the Jacinda Ardern ministry. 41-year-old Priyanca is a second time MP and has been given three key portfolios which include community and voluntary sector, diversity, inclusion and ethnic communities, youth and is also an associate minister for social development and employment.
Priyanca is the daughter of Paravoor Madavanaparambu Raman Radhakrishnan and Usha. A Labour party leader for 14 years, Priyanca had served as the private secretary to Jenny Salesa, former minister of ethnic communities. She grew up in Singapore and later moved to New Zealand to pursue her master’s degree in development studies from Victoria University of Wellington.
Sajna Shaji
Newsmaker
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Sajna Shaji is a transwoman from Kochi who was harassed for selling biriyanis on the road. She received a lot of support from people like Health Minister, K K Shailaja teacher, actor Jayasurya who offered to set up a restaurant for her. Sajna’s journey is very inspiring from begging to doing all kinds of odd jobs to living with pride and dignity. She is the first transgender to obtain a driving licence and voters ID in Ernakulam. Hunger has played a huge role in her life and she now finds happiness in serving food to people. She plans to open a restaurant where more sales and less wastage will be the motto. .
Divya S Iyer
IAS Officer
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Divya S Iyer, is a medical doctor by training, who joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 2013.She rose to the limelight in being one of the prominent faces handling the coronavirus pandemic, with #BreakThe Chain campaign. Dr Divya S Iyer, IAS, who is currently heading the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS), Kerala actively joined the #BreakTheChain campaign, spreading awareness among rural communities about the pandemic and the necessary precautions to be taken. With the information about safety being handled well by the well-educated class of the state, her efforts were fruitful in getting the awareness spread about the vulnerable population of rural Kerala.
PB Nooh
IAS Officer
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Nooh, who grew up in Kerala’s Perumbavoor, near Ernakulam district, studied in a public school before graduating from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru. He followed his elder brother P.B. Saleem to the civil services, with a ranking of 48 in 2012. In the initial days of the pandemic when people were anxious and worried about the lethality and spread of the virus, the news of Italy returned couple with the virus began spreading trauma among the public. With the couple travelling extensively, there was a fear of mass spread and the task of sorting the situation was put to the capable hands of this bureaucrat.
Nooh opened a control room with some 50 young doctors and volunteers for the exercise, which technology helped a great deal. Soon after, Nooh helped devise a strategy with the help of the police to track a patient’s phone number and trace tower locations, before marking the places of visit on Google Maps to zero in on possible contacts. Within six days, all contacts were traced and at least 4,000 people, including 2,000 people who returned from foreign countries, were traced and home quarantined.
R Sreelekha
IPS Officer
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From being Kerala’s first woman IPS officer, R Sreelekha IPS has added another feather to her cap, after becoming Kerala’s first woman IPS officer to reach the DGP post. An officer of the 1987 batch, and a recipient of President’s police medal, she’s also a writer. Sreelekha, who is slated to retire later this year, became the first woman Superintendent of Police in 1991. Two years back Sreelekha was given DGP status, but due to central guidelines, which allows only four DGPs for Kerala, she was not elevated to the post.She was posted as the Director General, Fire and Rescue Department by the cabinet this year.
Roopa George
Business Woman
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Roopa George is an entrepreneur, teacher, social worker and an excellent dancer. Currently, she is a Partner at Baby Marine International and was also instrumental in helping set up the family’s The Asian Kitchen by Tokyo Bay at the Cochin Club in Fort Kochi, a fine dining restaurant featuring seven Asian cuisines.
Born and raised in a prominent business family in Shoranur, Kerala, entrepreneur Roopa George believes that she has imbibed and learnt from the strengths of women around her.She is also the Goodwill Ambassador for the ‘House Challenge Project’ started by Our Lady’s School, Thoppumpady, Kochi, that aims to build homes for the homeless in the state.
Shruti Shibulal
Business Woman
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Shruti, daughter of Co-founder and former CEO of Infosys SD Shibulal, has carved a space for herself in the niche hospitality segment. She might own 0.64 per cent stake in the IT bellwether (that is valued at over $200 million), making her one of richest young women in the country. The Tamara Coorg, Shruti’s flagship luxury resort, is spread over a 170-acre estate that produces coffee, cardamom, pepper, and honey.
Shruti had started working with Merrill Lynch in New York after her graduation from Pennsylvania’s Haverford College but the call to start something on her own was too strong. Her love and interest in food led her to the restaurant business. She started Avant Garde Hospitality in 2008 in collaboration with chef Abhijit Saha, setting up popular restaurants Caperberry and Fava. Tamara was the next logical step for Shruti.
Poornima Indrajith
Business Woman
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Poornima Indrajit is an Indian actress, fashion designer, television anchor and talk show host who has worked in Malayalam television serials and films.She started her career as a model and then went on to host the music countdown show Pepsi Top Ten on Asianet. She acted in many successful television serials such as Oomakkuyil, Sthree oru Santhwanam, Venalmazha, Nizhalukal and Kolangal in Tamil. She has also acted in a few movies, including Meghamalhar, Valliettan and Randam Bhavam. She received the best supporting actress award for her role in Meghamalhar.
She is a talented dancer also. She has now become a fashion designer. She runs a boutique by the name “Pranaah” in Kochi. She writes a regular column named “In Style” for “Chithrabhumi”, a supplement of Mathrubhumi. She is an active philanthropist, often an inspiring figure to the social media community in giving back to the society.
Asha Sebastian Mattathil
Business Woman
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Asha, who had professional training with the Gemological institute of America, has experience of 25 years in jewelry designing. She is now one of the most sought after designers in Kerala, with her works being portrayed with pride by the big names of fashion influencers from Kerala and outside. Her designs sold under her brand MOD Signature Jewellery, based in Kochi adorn the beauties of celebrities including the star children of Mammooty and Rajanikanth. Her bridal jewellery brings that ethereal touch to your wedding attire and thus making her boutique the go to location for brides to aspire the diva look on their special day.
Kani Kusruthi
Actor
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Kani Kusruti is an Indian actress and model.She first gained recognition in 2009 with the film Kerala Cafe, where her performance was critically acclaimed. Kani won the Best Actress at Kerala State Film Awards in 2020 & the BRICS Best Actress Award at the Moscow International Film Festival for her performance of Khadeeja in the film Biriyani.
Fahadh Faasil
Actor
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Fahadh Faasil is an Indian film actor known for his work in Malayalam cinema. He made his debut in his father Fazil’s Kaiyethum Doorath (2002). After a sabbatical of six years, Fahadh returned to cinema with the anthology film Kerala Cafe (2009).
He made a mark for himself with performances in Chaappa Kurishu (2011), 22 Female Kottayam, Diamond Necklace (2012), Artist and North 24 Kaatham (2013). He won the Kerala State Film Awards twice: Second Best Actor Award for his role in Akam and the Best Actor Award for his roles in Artist and North 24 Kaatham. His career has then projected to an uphill with his versatile roles and the originality that he brings to his works. His play with emotions and the thoughts shared through his glittering eyes have been warmly welcomed by the Malayali movie lovers. His choice of characters and the confidence with which he does the role brings in the awe moment for the audience and his recent work in Kumbalangi Nights and Trance was successful in conveying the character to the lot and he was bestowed with a State Award for his works in the same movies for the year 2020.
Suraj Venjaramoodu
Actor
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Suraj Venjaramoodu, is an Indian film actor, comedian, impressionist, and television presenter, who appears in Malayalam films, television and stage. He has acted in more than 250 films and has won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Comedian three times (2009, 2010, 2013). In his later career, he found success in playing character and leading roles. In 2014, Suraj won the National Film Award for Best Actor for his lead role in Perariyathavar. His recent hits Android Kunjappan Version 5.25 and Vikruthi, saw them in a serious role, with the tone different from his usual niche and the justice done to the character was well received by the critics. His work received applause from far and wide and also led him to winning the Kerala State Awards for Best Actor this year.
Mamta Mohandas
Actor
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Mamta Mohandas is an Indian film actress, film producer and playback singer who predominantly works in Malayalam films along with a few Tamil and Telugu productions. She has won several accolades including two Filmfare Awards South, for Best Female Playback Singer in Telugu in 2006 and for Best Actress in Malayalam in 2010 and also Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actress in 2010. She has launched her film production company under the banner Mamta Mohandas Productions.In 2020 Mohandas was seen alongside Tovino Thomas in the movie Forensic (crime suspense movie) in which she played the role of Rithika Xavier IPS who is the ACP of Thiruvananthapuram. Her roles are versatile and often portray the female perspective of boldness and courage. She is also seen as a bold icon for her successful battle with Cancer. Her work also earned her an award in the category Special Performance Female – Kodathi Samaksham Balan Vakeel,9 at Vanitha Film Awards 2020.
Lijo Jose Pellissery
Director
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Lijo Jose Pellissery made his debut in 2010 with the crime film Nayakan and followed it up with the crime-drama City of God (2011) and the black comedy satire Amen (2013), the last mentioned, a commercial success at the Kerala box office. His latest movie Jallikkattu premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. In November 2020, Jallikkattu was announced as the Indian entry for Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards. He also earned the Kerala State Awards for the Best Director for his phenomenal hit Jellikettu in 2020.
Kavya Prakash
Director
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Kavya Prakash is an Indian Film Director. She has predominantly worked in the Malayalam Film Industry. Kavya made her debut in the Malayalam Film Industry in the year 2020, with the Movie, Vaanku. Kavya is a Visual Communication graduate who learned filmmaking after joining Nirvana Films. Vaanku is based on a short story that was released in 2018 with the same name by Unni R.
. Kavya’s debut film was produced by 7 J Films, Trends Ad Film Makers, and Shimoga Creations, in association with Unni R and starred Anaswara Rajan, Nandhana Varma, Meenakshi Unnikrishnan, and Gopika Ramesh in the lead roles. She has also worked in the corporate field and the advertisement industry. Kavya has also worked with Mridul Nair on his film BTech. Kavya Prakash is the daughter of the filmmaker VK Prakash. As a child, Kavya always knew that she wanted to be a filmmaker. She has grown up watching her father working and directing on various sets, ranging from commercials to music videos and films. Her father, VK Prakash, is a two-time National Award-winning director.
Swasika
Actor
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Swasika, is an Indian actress, dancer, and television presenter. She predominantly appears in Malayalam films and television shows, and has also worked in a few Tamil and Telugu films. Swasika made her acting debut in the 2009 Tamil film Vaigai. Beside films, she is known for her roles in TV serials Dhathuputhri and Seetha.[1] She had won several accolades including the Kerala State Film Award for Best Character Actress for her title role in Vasanthi (2020)
Sanju V Samson
Cricketer
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Sanju V Samson is an Indian international cricketer.He represents Kerala in domestic cricket and Rajasthan Royals in Indian Premier League.He is a right-handed top order batsman and wicketkeeper.
In the 2020 season of the IPL, Sanju Samson scored a 32-ball 74 in his the match of Rajasthan Royals against Chennai Super Kings and was named man of the match, His innings consisted of 9 sixes, the joint-most by a batsman in IPL 2020. Five days later, on 27 September 2020, he scored 85 runs from 42 balls against Kings XI Punjab helping Rajasthan Royals to achieve the highest successful run chase in IPL history, and was declared the man of the match award.
In October 2020, he was named in India’s Twenty20 International (T20I) squad for their series against Australia. This year, he was added to India’s One Day International (ODI) squad, also for their series against Australia.
Preeja Sreedharan
Athlete
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Preeja Sreedharan is an Indian long-distance runner. She holds the national records in both the 10,000 metres and 5000 metres disciplines, which she set en route to the gold and silver medals at 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games. Sreedharan was conferred with the Arjuna Award, India’s second highest sporting honour by the central government in 2011.Sreedharan’s breakthrough came in 2007, when she won the silver medal in both the disciplines at the Asian Athletics Championships. She bettered her personal bests and the Indian national records in both the 10000 and 5000 meters at 2010 Asian Games; she won the gold in the 10000 meters and the silver in 5000 meters. She announced her retirement from the international circuit in February 2015
Moozhikkal Pankajakshi
Artist/Puppeteer
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Moozhikkal Pankajakshi is Kerala’s last surviving link with Nokkuvidya Pavakkali – a unique form of puppetry that is centuries old. She is also a recipient of the Padma Shri Award – India’s fourth highest civilian honour – this year in the category of arts.Ms Pankajakshi learnt this form of puppetry from her parents, who used to perform in houses and temples. She also credits her husband, Sivarama Panikker, for transforming her into a noted artiste of Nokkuvidya Pavakkali.Ms Pankajakshi stopped performing a few years ago after she lost her front teeth, which left her unable to balance the puppets. According to Kerala Tourism, she keeps her doors open for those interested in learning Nokkuvidya Pavakkali.
M K Kunjol
Social Worker
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MK Kunjol has been conferred with the Padma Shri for social work this year — a recognition for his struggles to ensure justice for Dalits and his fights against police atrocities on them. He has been instrumental in making the works of B.R. Ambedkar and Ayyankali popular among the masses. He was honoured by the State government with the first Ambedkar award recently. Born into a family of six siblings to Vallothi and Kurumban near Perumbavoor, Kuruppampady, in Rayamangalam panchayat, Mr. Kunjol feels that despite the implementation of land reforms in the State, there are lakhs of people who are landless.
NR Madhava Menon
Civil Servant
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Neelakanta Ramakrishna Madhava Menon was an Indian civil servant, lawyer and legal educator, considered by many as the father of modern legal education in India. He is the founder of National Law Universities system and first director of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) and the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal and the founder-vice-chancellor of the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS). He has also served as Chairman of Indian Statistical Institute from 2002 to 2003..
Earlier, in 2003, Dr. Menon was awarded the Padma Shri for outstanding public services. A renowned academic who is dubbed the father of modern Indian Legal Education, Dr Menon passed away in May last year at the age of 84 years, He was posthumously awarded Padma Bhushan in 2020 for his contribution in the field of Public Affairs
KS Manilal
Scientist
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Prof K. S. Manilal is a botanist and taxonomist, best known for his research, translation, and annotation of Hendrik van Rheede’s 17th century Latin botanical treatise, Hortus Malabaricus. The document extensively details the biodiversity and medicinal properties of over 700 indigenous plants in the Malabar region of Kerala.Among the illustrious list of Padma awardees for 2020, the Government of India has announced Padma Shri to Prof Kattungal Subramaniam Manilal under Science and Engineering discipline. He is among the eight of 118 Padma Shri awardees under this discipline.Along with his students, Manilal has discovered around 14 species of flowering plants and recorded the existence of nearly 1,000 flowering plant species, including some like the Malabar Daffodil, which was previously thought to be extinct. Currently, he is an Emeritus Professor of botany at Calicut University, Kerala. He is also credited for establishing the Indian Association for Angiosperm Taxonomy
Arun George, Vimal Govind NK, Rashid K, Nikhil NP
Entrepreneurs
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Genrobotics, the leading Robotics company in India, primarily focusing on designing and development of Robotic solutions to address the most relevant social issues, headquartered in Trivandrum, Kerala. The Company was founded in 2015. Their innovation Bandicoot manhole cleaning robot is an alternate solution to manual scavenging.This has been making transformative changes in the lives of many sanitation workers who are subjected to extreme difficulties to clean manhole. Genrobotics won the National Startup Awards 2020in the ‘campus-initiated startups’ segment.
James Joseph
Entrepreneur
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James Joseph is the founder of Jackfruit 365,an initiative to create an organized market for Indian jackfruits, 80 percent of which is reported to be wasted every year. He was a former director of Microsoft who quit his high paying job to promote jackfruit.Jackfruit 365 is a first-of-its kind initiative in food processing, which aims to promote the fruit and make it available throughout the year in the form of flour. The green jackfruit powder for diabetics sells across India and Middle East. The startup won the National startup Award 2020 under the food category.
Charles Vijay Varghese
Entrepreneur
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Founder of Nava Design and Innovation Pvt Ltd, Charles Vijay Varghese is a new age entrepreneur. His company developed SAPER, “World’s First Coconut Sap Tapping Robot”.
The device has won patents in 28 countries including India and showcases the entrepreneurial ambitions. Varghese has won many awards for his invention including the National Startup Award 2020 under the Agriculture Productivity domain…
Shan Kadavil
Entrepreneur
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Shan Kadavil is an Indian entrepreneur who is known as the CEO and founder of Freshtohome, an e-commerce platform for fresh and chemical-free chicken, seafood, and meat products.FreshToHome directly sources fish and meat from the fishermen and farmers with its patent-pending AI-powered supply chain technology, aided by a cold chain that helps in cutting down on the middleman and reducing the supply chain to 24-36 hours.
In 2020 FreshToHome raised $121 million in Series C funding to expand in India and UAE.
Byju Raveendran
Entrepreneur
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Founder of the edtech giant Byju’s, Byju Raveendran hails from Azhikode village in Kannur. Byju Raveendran is a former teacher who turned an entrepreneur. An engineering graduate he started his edtech journey by teaching maths, coaching for CAT and other competitive exams to friends and families. He set up Think & Learn in 2011, to offer online lessons, before launching his main app in 2015. Recipient of many awards and accolades his company is world’s most valued edtech company with a valuation of $11.1 billion as on September, 2020
Roshan Mathew
Youth Icon
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Roshan a native of Changanassery is an actor and theatre artist. He has been active in theatre from his younger days and gradually moved to the movie industry.He made his debut with Puthiya Niyamam and was appreciated for his negative role. His role in Moothon won him many accolades and he was also seen in the webseries Choked directed by Anurag Kashyap.
Mariyath C H
Youth Icon
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Mariyath C. H a wheel chair user was born in Malappuram. She became paralused after contacting high fever at the age of 2.However she completed her education and currently works as clerical assistant at Kozhikode and lives independently.She is also an author painter and social worker. Her first book Kalam Maycha Kaalpadukal was released in 2009. She also conducts painting exhibitions and works for the disabled in the community. At present, she is wearing her biggest hat as the youth icon for for disability.
Antony Varghese
Youth Icon
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Antony Varghese rose to fame in his debut movie Angamaly Diaries. He became fondly known by his screen name Pepe. His second movie Swathandriam Ardharathriyil,was also well appreciated for his performance and screen timing. He also acted in Jallikettu marking his second collaboration with Lijo Jose Pellissery.He has won many awards for his performance including Youth Icon award from Asia vision
Sreedhanya Suresh
Youth Icon
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Sreedhanya Suresh, the 26-year-old girl who became the first person from a tribal community in Kerala to crack the civil services exam in 2018, is set to join as Assistant Collector (on training) in Kozhikode.A native of Pozhuthana panchayat in Wayanad, Sreedhanya belongs to the Kurichiya community. She cracked her dream career when she scored 410 national rank in the civil services.Sreedhanya, will join as Assistant Collector in Kozhikode.
Harish Sivaramakrishnan
Singer
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Engineer, marketer, designer and rockstar Harish Sivaramakrishnan adorns these titles with ease. A trained carnatic singer Harish is the prominent member of the famous band Agam.He was also one of the first engineers to work on Adobe’s Flex platform and went to also become their worldwide developer evangelist.Born in Palakkad he was trained under Chembai Kodandarama Bhagavathar and then took lessons from Ayamkudi Mani.It was his strength training in Carnatic music that led to the formation of Agam
Thirumali
Rapper
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Vishnu Ettumanoor aka ThirumaLi is one of the pioneers in the Malayalam rapping segment.Hailing from Ettumanoor this 25 year old started rapping years ago during his college days. A sound engineer by education he became a full time musician recently. His songs Malyali Da and Avastha was widely appreciated with over million viewership on youtube.
Najim Arshad
Singer
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Najim Arshad made his entry into the world of playback singing by winning the reality show Idea Star Singer, 2007. He has song across Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi movie industries. He hold a graduation and post graduation degrees in music. He has won various awards and accolades for his contribution to the music industry. In 2020 he won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer.
Manu Joseph
Author
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Manu Joseph is a journalist and novelist. He is a former editor of OPEN magazine, and a columnist for The International New York Times and The Hindustan Times. In 2007, he was a Chevening Scholar. He currently lives in Delhi. His debut novel Serious Men (2010) won The Hindu Literary Prize and the PEN/Open Book Award.
S Hareesh
Author
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Hareesh born in Kottayam is a writer, translator and screenwriter for Malayalam cinemas. He is best known for his short stories like Aadam, Rasavidyayude Charithram. His debut novel “Meesha” which showcases the caste system prevalent in Kerala in the mid 20th century faced a lot of protests and controversial attacks. He is the recipient of several awards including the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award.
In 2020 his book Meesha won the JCB Prize for Literature, the Indian literary award with the highest prize money.
Deepa Anappara
Author
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Deepa Anappara is an Indian journalist and writer from Kerala. Her reports on the impact of poverty and religious violence on the education of children won the Developing Asia Journalism Awards, the Every Human has Rights Media Awards, and the Sanskriti-Prabha Dutt Fellowship in Journalism. In 2020 her novel, Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line, was shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature. The novel was New York Times Editors’ Choice, a New York Times Notable Book, an NPR best book, one of Washington Post’s Best Thrillers and Mystery Books, and one of Time magazine’s 2020 must-reads.
Ezhacherry Ramachandran
Poet
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Ezhacherry Ramachandran born in 1944 is a Malayalam poet, lyricist and journalist.He was the chief editor of Deshabhimani weekly. He has won the best lyricist award for professional dramas several times. He has also written more than 30 film songs. This year he was conferred the prestigious Vayalar award by Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan. He was also awarded the I. V. Das Award in 2020.
Suresh Pillai
Chef
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Chef Pillai is a popular chef who took the traditional Kerala fish curry to at the prestigious Master Chef stage. He participated at Masterchef and also is the second Malayalee chef to get selected there. His culinary skills took him all over the world and was invited to the Bahamas University as the Guest Chef to teach Indian and Kerala cuisine to their students. He has cooked for celebrities like Virat Kohli, Mohanlal while working at Ravis, Kollam. His youtube channel is a hit among netizens where he showcases his culinary skills.
Gokul Ratnakar
Social Worker
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Gokul Ratnakar is a social worker, legal advisor and founder of ‘CanWalk’, a venture that supports wheelchair users in Kerala. Gokul who met with an accident in 2006 and has been using wheelchair since then. His organisation CanWalk based in Trivandrum and reaches out to as many disabled people and advocates inclusion of the disabled. He is currently working on a project for diables people in Attapadi.
Aswathy Jwala
Social Worker
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Aswathy Jwala is the founder of Jwala Foundation that provides food and shelter to the displaced and the elderly is well known for her philanthropy and social work. She took to hunger strike at the Sharaniyavas slum where the Ahmedabad civic body has built a 600-metre wall apparently to hide slums from U.S. A native of Muttathara in Thiruvananthapuram, Aswathy Nair took up social work while studying law. She is also the recipient of the ‘Youth Icon’ award in 2015, from the State government owing to her service to the society.
Mithun Chittilappilly
Businessman
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Mr. Mithun K Chittilappilly is the Managing Director & Executive Director at V-Guard Industries Ltd.
After graduating in May 2006, he joined the Company as Executive Director and became the Managing Director of the Company in April 2012. V-Guard started by the business magnate, Kochouseph Chittilappilly has evolved significantly over the last 40 years and is now a significant player in the market positioned as a new-generation, technology-driven organisation.
Jose Thomas
Businessman
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Jose Thomas started his entrepreneurial journey at the age of 17 when he became a partner of Choice Canning Company, the family seafood business. Choice Canning is one of the successful seafood export companies with presence all over the world. Later he was inspired to promote quality education and thus began Choice School at Tripunithura, Cochin. It is now one of the highest ranked educational institutions in India. He also ventured into real estate with his prestigious projects like Choice Towers, Choice Park, Choice Village and now Choice Marina and Choice Paradise, which has the distinction of being the tallest building in South India with 40 floors.An ardent lover of music and the arts, Jose Thomas pays tribute to performers and performances through JTPac- the Jose Thomas Performing Arts Center which witnessed performances of, great names like Pt. Ravi Shankar, A.R. Rehman, Danseuse Shobhana.
George Alexander Muthoot
Businessman
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George Alexander Muthoot is an entrepreneur, businessman who is currently the managing director of Muthoot Group, India. Born in Kozhencherry, he did his college from Commerce from St. Thomas College, Kozhencherry. Muthoot group has grown exponentially under his guidance and leadership and has diversified into different industries and countries. He is the recipient of many awards and accolades for his achievements in the field of business
Mohammed Muhsin
Child Prodigy
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Hailing from Calicut Muhammed Muhsin was chosen for the ICCW Abhimanyu Award. This 16 year old drowned while attempting to save three of his friends from a sea in April last year.
Adithya K
Child Prodigy
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Adithya is a 15 year old from Kerala saved more than 40 lives when a bus was caught on fire in Nepal in 2019.
He later claimed that we wanted to join Indian Air Force
P Siddharthan
Artist
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Sidharthan is a Cochin based artist who has been selected for a grant instituted by the US-based Poll.
He is known for his environmentally-themed art works. The $15,000 grant enables artists to create new work, purchase materials. Sidharthan is the former head of the department of RLV College, Tripunithura, and was born in Kilimanoor in Thiruvananthapuram district.
Aishwarya Sridhar
Wildlife Photographer
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Aishwarya Sridhar is a wild life photographer who became the first Indian woman to win a WPY award.Aishwarya’s entry—titled ‘Lights of Passion’, depicting the courtship of fireflies—was “Highly Commended” in the behaviour (invertebrates) category in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards are given by the National History Museum, London. Hailing from Palakkad she is the only daughter Rani and Sridhar Ranganathan, who are now settled in Panvel. She A graduate in mass communication from Pillai College of Arts, Commerce and Science (Autonomous), Mumbai who has also branched out into film-making. Her maiden venture, Panje: The Last Wetland, was telecast by DD National and is available on YouTube.
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