Celebrities, superstars, and personalities are a common sight in Mumbai. You will find them jetting in and out of Delhi, too. What few people realise that tons of those known-faces come from various corners of India. Some of those nooks are pretty random, a few are surprising, and others turn out to be your hometown. So, it should not shock us that a comedian we laugh along with or a singer who had us humming to the romantic song Galliyan hail from Kanpur. Right?
Well, to be frank, it did! After all, who expects stars and dignitaries to be linked with our humble town? We peel the curtain of fame today and find out which household names have a link to the city.
1. Ankit Tiwari, the voice you heard in Sunn Raha Hai and Galliyan, is not the only playback singer to be born and brought up here. Abhijeet, who has under his belt more than 600 songs, belongs to Kanpur too! The artist who has crooned in 18 languages graduated from Kanpur University before leaving for Mumbai.
2. Romantic ballads that touch the heart is not the sole talent Kanpur has produced. We even created rappers. Hard Kaur, who you and I recognise as the woman who sung "Ek Glassy", was born right here on the banks of Ganga as Taran Kaur Dhillon.
3. The man who can be attributed to making stand-up comedy part and parcel of every house in India back in 2005, Raju Srivastava is another native of Kanpur. The King of Comedy does not fail to tickle the funny bone and, if we may say so, we think the humour comes from his Kanpuriya blood.
4. Talent breeds in the soil of the town and Mohammad Kaif is proof of it. One of the greatest fielders the cricket team of India has had, it was at Kanpur's Sports Hostel that Kaif began his journey. He was just 11 then and, in his words, he walked onto the 'bare Green Park Hostel slowly and reluctantly.'
5. As if talented bigwigs were not enough for urban Kanpur, it made sure to sprinkle in some politicians also. The current President Of India and Commander-in-Chief, Ram Nath Kovind, calls a village close to the city his birthplace.
We end our VIP list of famous personalities connected to Kanpur with none other than Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The great man, the entire country mourned recently, may not have been born in the city but he definitely called it home for a few years. The Bharat Ratna awardee achieved his PG degree in Political Science from our very own DAV College.
