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January 2026

In Memory of the Departed
Artists, scholars and other important Indians/South Asians who passed away in 2025

Although the passing away of every person is important, and we lost thousands of innocent victims of war, violence, accidents, and natural calamities, here are some Indian (as well as some international) writers, artists, scholars and media personalities who we lost in 2025.

• K.S. Manilal, Botanist, Taxonomist, Kerala, 1 Jan.
• Govind Sharan Lohra, folk singer and dancer, Jharkhand, 2 Jan.
• Rajagopala Chidambaram, nuclear physicist, 4 Jan.
• Alok Chatterjee, theatre actor, 6 Jan.
• Jagdish C. Mittal, art collector, Hyderabad, 7 Jan.
• Pritish Nandy, journalist, media person, 8 Jan.
• Bim Bissell, founder Fab India, 10 Jan.
• David Lynch, filmmaker, 18 Jan.
• Sher Singh, labour rights revolutionary, 25 Jan.
• Tapan Bose, filmmaker, 30 Jan.
• Zakia Jafri, Human rights activist, Gujarat riots survivor, 1 Feb.
• Karim al-Husseini, the Aga Khan IV 4 Feb.
• Gene Hackman, Hollywood actor, 18 Feb.
• Vagish Jha, educationist, scholar 23 Feb.
• Himmat Shah, artist, 2 Mar.
• B. Gopalakrishna Kurup, Yakshagana guru, 19 Mar.
• Najma Rahmani, Urdu professor, Delhi University, 22 Mar.
• Sajni Mukherji, literature professor, Jadavpur university 10 Mar.
• Sanjida Khatun, Bengali scholar, musicologist, educationist, 25 Mar.
• Val Kilmer, Hollywood actor, 1 Apr.
• Graham Greene, Canadian author, 3 Apr.
• Manoj Kumar, cinema actor, Mumbai, 4 Apr.
• Kumudini Lakhia, Kathak dancer, 12 Apr.
• Daripalli Ramaiah, social worker and environmentalist, 12 Apr.
• Kalaipuli G. Sekaran, Tamil film director, actor, 13 Apr.
• Bill Aitken, Scottish-born travel writer, Mussoorie, 16 Apr.
• Rose Kerketta, poet and tribal rights activist, Jharkhand, 17 Apr.
• A. P. Balachandran, theoretical physicist, 18 Apr.
• K. Kasturirangan, space scientist, ISRO, 25 Apr.
• M.G.S. Narayanan, historian, ICHR, 26 Apr.
• Shaji N. Karun, film director, Kerala, 28 Apr.
• Humaira Ali, Pakistani actress and singer, 3 May
• Kariveppil Rabiya, physically disabled social worker, Kerala, 4 May
• Ghulam M. Vastanvi, Islamic scholar, VC of darul Uloom, Deoband, 4 May
• Mustafa Zaman Abbasi, musicologist, Bangladesh, 10 May
• Subbanna Ayyappan, Agriculture scientist, Karnataka, 10 May
• D. S. Malik, Indo-US Mathematician, 13 May
• N.B. Rao, journalist, writer, Karnataka, 14 May
• Balachandra Rao, Mathematician, Bangalore, 14 May
• Subray Rama Nayak, Judge, Karnataka, 18 May
• Jayant Narlikar, Astrophysicist, 20 May
• Nambala Keshava Rao (Basavraj), Maoist leader, 21 May
• Rattan Singh Jaggi, Scholar, lit. critic, Punjabi and Hindi, 22 May
• Ram Prakash Bambah, Indian Mathematician, 26 May
• Sunjoy Monga, wildlife photographer, naturalist, Mumbai, 28 May
• Abdul Moosabhoy Ismail, Cricketer, Mumbai, 30 May
• Valmik Thapar, naturalist, conservationist, Delhi, 31 May
• Partho Ghosh, film director, 9 Jun.
• Vijay Rupani, ex-CM of Gujarat (died in Air India plane crash), 12 Jun.
• Kollangudi Karuppayee, Tamil folk singer and actress, 14 Jun.
• Mangala Bhatt, Kathak dancer, 16 Jun.
• Indira Billi, Indian film actress, 16 Jun.
• Nellai S. Muthu, Tamil author, 16 Jun.
• Maruti Chitampalli, naturalist, wildlife conservationist, 18 Jun.
• Prafulla Roy, Bengali author, 19 Jun.
• Tushar Ghadigaonkar, Marathi actor, director, 20 Jun.
• Pooran Chand Joshi, anthropologist and academic administrator, 20 Jun.
• Jim Masselos, historian of South Asia, Australia, 27 Jun.
• Shefali Jariwala, actress, 27 Jun.
• Shekhar Dutt, Indian civil servant, governor, 2 Jul.
• Ramamurti Rajaraman, Indian theoretical physicist, 12 Jul.
• B. Saroja Devi, film actress, Kannada, Tamil, 14 Jul.
• Fauja Singh, British Indian marathon runner, 14 Jul.
• Dheeraj Kumar, Indian actor, TV producer, 15 Jul.
• Velu Prabakaran, filmmaker, cinematographer, actor, Chennai, 18 Jul.
• C.M. Naim, Urdu scholar, Chicago, 19 Jul.
• Chandra Barot, Film director, Mumbai, 20 Jul.
• V. S. Achuthanandan, communist politician, ex-CM of Kerala, 21 Jul.
• Ozzy Osbourne, British singer, 22 Jul.
• Ratan Thiyam, theatre director, 23 Jul.
• Ajit Rai, film/theatre critic and cultural journalist, 23 Jul.
• Hulk Hogan, Hollywood actor, 24 Jul.
• Sulochana Gadgil, meteorologist, Pune, 24 Jul.
• Meghnad Desai, Indian-born British economist and politician, 29 Jul.
• Vasanthi Devi, academic administrator, Tamil Nadu, 1 Aug.
• M. K. Sanu, writer and literary critic, Kerala, 2 Aug.
• Shanawas, Malayalam actor, 4 Aug.
• Shibu Soren, MP, Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand, 4 Aug.
• Satya Pal Malik, politician, governor of J&K, 5 Aug.
• Nazima (Mehrun Nisa), actress, Mumbai, 11 Aug.
• Nissar, film director, Kerala, 18 Aug.
• Achyut Potdar, film actor, 18 Aug.
• Jaswinder Bhalla, Punjabi actor, 22 Aug.
• Sankarshan Thakur, journalist, editor The Telegraph, 8 Sep.
• Robert Redford, Hollywood actor, 16 Sep.
• Gajanan Mehendale, historian, 17 Sep.
• Robo Shankar, Tamil comedian, actor, 18 Sep.
• Zubeen Garg, Assamese pop Singer, 19 Sep.
• Hema Sane, Botanist, Pune, 19 Sep.
• Gillian Tindall, British writer and historian, 1 Oct.
• Diane Keaton, Hollywood actress, 11 Oct.
• Pankaj Dheer, actor, 15 Oct.
• Madhumati, actress, 15 Oct.
• G. Asrani, Bombay actor, 20 Oct.
• Rishab Tandon, actor, 21 Oct.
• Piyush Pandey, Advertising director, 24 Oct.
• Satish Shah, Bombay actor, 25 Oct.
• K. Mathangi Ramakrishnan, Eminent plastic surgeon, 27 Oct.
• Daya Dongre, Marathi actress, 3 Nov.
• Dipak Sharma, flutist, Assam, 3 Nov.
• Gopichand Hinduja, industrialist, chairman Hinduja group, 4 Nov.
• Sulakshna Pandit, playback singer and actress, 6 Nov.
• Harish Rai, Kannada actor, 7 Nov.
• Daya Prakash Sinha, writer, playwright, 7 Nov.
• Vaidyeswaran Rajaraman, Computer scientist, 8 Nov.
• James Watson, scientist, DNA helix discoverer, 9 Nov.
• Naresh Dadhich, astrophysicist, 10 Nov.
• Arfa Sayeda Zahra, Urdu scholar, thinker (Lahore), 10 Nov.
• Humayoun Ershadi, Iranian actor, 11 Nov.
• Gyanashree Mahathero, Bangladeshi Buddhist monk, 13 Nov.
• Saalumarada Thimmakka, environmentalist, tree planter, 14 Nov.
• Kamini Kaushal, film actress, Mumbai, 14 Nov.
• Humane Sagar, Odia popular singer, 18 Nov.
• Prakash Bhandari, Indian cricketer, 19 Nov.
• Sacchidanand Sinha, Socialist thinker, Muzaffarpur, 19 Nov.
• Harman Sidhu, Punjabi singer, 22 Nov.
• "Erode" Tamilanban, Tamil poet, 22 Nov.
• Dharmendra, actor, Bombay, 24 Nov.
• Mirza Rafi Ahmad Baig, Marathi poet and satirist, 28 Nov.
• Dr. Gobind Prasad, Hindi professor, JNU, 28 Nov.
• Kanathil Jameela, CPI (ML) MLA, Kerala, 30 Nov.
• RV Devraj, Congress leader, Karnataka, 1 Dec.
• Beena Masroor, Pakistani actress and director, 3 Dec.
• Mohammed Rahmatullah, Indian footballer, 3 Dec.
• Frank Gehry, legendary US architect, 5 Dec.
• Zaheer Alam Kidwai, Computer and New Media pioneer, Karachi, 5 Dec.
• Satish Kumar Bhati, prof. Adult Education, Jamia Millia, 6 Dec.
• Baba Adhav, Social activist, Maharashtra, 8 Dec.
• Shivraj Patil, Indian minister, governor, Lok Sabha speaker, 12 Dec.
• Prafulla G. Baruah, journalist, editor, Assam, 14 Dec.
• Ram V. Sutar, sculptor (designer of Statue of Unity), 18 Dec.
• Palpu Pushpangadan, ethnobiologist and botanist, Kerala, 19 Dec.
• Abdul Qadeer Baloch (Mama), Pakistani human rights activist, 20 Dec.
• Sreenivasan, Malayalam actor, screenwriter, film director, 20 Dec.
• Syed Shahid Mehdi, ex-Vice Chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia, 22 Dec.
• Vinod Kumar Shukla, Hindi author, Jnanpith awardee, 23 Dec.
• Mohammad Bakri, Palestinian actor, 24 Dec.
• Ezrela Dalidia Fanai, journalist, Mizoram, 25 Dec.
• Girija Gupte, political activist, Mumbai, 27 Dec.
• S. Krishnaswamy, documentary filmmaker, Chennai, 28 Dec.
• Brigitte Bardot, French cinema actress, 28 Dec.
• Khalida Zia, ex-PM, Bangladesh, 30 Dec.

Also see lists of important persons who left us in the years 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2020.
If you find anything unique on this website and wish to quote it in your work, kindly acknowledge Ektara.org