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20 Indian Celebrities Who Studied Engineering But Later Chose Different Professional Career

Indian celebrities are adored by fans for their stellar performance. Amidst all publicity, what often goes unnoticed is their academic profile! Read on to know about famous Indian celebs who are engineers.

Kaihrii Thomas

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20 Indian Celebrities Who Studied Engineering But Later Chose Different Professional Career

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Table of content:

20 Famous Indian Celebs With Engineering Degree
7 Famous Indian Sportspersons With Engineering Degree
7 Famous Indian Actors/ Actresses With Engineering Degree
6 Famous Indian Politicians With Engineering Degree

Indian celebrities, be it in sports, entertainment or politics are often in the limelight for both positive and negative news. In the mad rush to get a selfie or a glimpse of one's favorite celeb, what fans and the general public tend to overlook is the academic profile of these famous celebs.

It might come as a sweet surprise for many that some of your favorite Indian celebs be it a sportsperson, a filmstar or a politician once studied engineering and possessed a degree as well!

Here we bring you 20 famous Indian celebs from the field of sports, entertainment & politics who once studied engineering and possessed a degree as well.

7 Famous Indian Sportspersons With An Engineering Degree

Anil Kumble

Anil Kumble was born and brought up in Bangalore. The former Indian cricket team captain and coach, Kumble is still considered one of the best leg-spin bowlers in Test Cricket History.

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Apart from being known as a great cricketer, if you aren't sure about Kumble`s academic profile, this may kind of surprise you- Anil Kumble graduated from Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Engineering with a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering. Basically, he is an engineer turned cricketer!

Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin was born and brought up in Chennai. A spin bowler, he helped India win the 2011 Cricket World Cup & the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. For his stellar performance as a bowler, he was awarded the ICC Cricketer of the Year award in 2016. His recent exclusion from the World Cup 2023 squad left people surprised.

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While much has been written about his style of bowling, few people know that he graduated with a B.Tech engineering in Information Technology from SSN College of Engineering, Chennai.

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran was born and brought up in Chennai. He is an Indian table tennis player. It was in 2019 when Sathiyan became the first Indian paddler ever to break into the World Top-25 ITTF. He was also a member of the Indian team that won back-to-back gold medals in the 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games. He was also awarded the Arjuna Award in 2018.

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What is surprising about this well-known table tennis player of India is that he holds a degree in Information Technology from St Joseph College of Engineering, Chennai!

Manasi Girishchandra Joshi

Manasi Joshi was born in Rajkot, Gujarat, and eventually shifted to Mumbai where she was raised and got her education. She is an Indian para-badminton player and a former world champion in the women's singles. She was recognized by the BBC as one of the 100 most inspirational and powerful women across the world in 2020. In 2022, she was ranked first, globally, in women's singles in the SL3 category.

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Apart from being a former para-badminton player, this world champion is also a graduate of Electronics Engineering from K. J. Somaiya College of Engineering, University of Mumbai!

Javagal Srinath

Javagal Srinath was born and brought up in Javagal village, Karnataka. He is a former Team India cricketer who currently officiates ICC matches as a well-known referee. He is reckoned as one of India's finest fast bowlers. Srinath was a member of the team that was declared the joint winners of the 2002 ICC Champion Trophy along with Sri Lanka.

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Surprisingly, he is another engineer turned cricketer with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in instrumentation from Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering in Mysore.

Krishnamachari Srikkanth

Krishnamachari Srikkanth hails from Chennai. The former captain of the Indian Cricket Team, he was also appointed as a chairman of the selection committee for cricket. In the 1983 Cricket World Cup, as a member of the squad, he played a vital role in helping Team India win the World Cup. The prestigious C. K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award was accorded to Srikkanth in 2019.

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As far as his academic profile is concerned, Krishnamachari Srikkanth is an electrical engineer who graduated from the College of Engineering, Guindy in Chennai.

Shikha Subas Pandey

Shikha Subas Pandey is a member of India's national cricket team. A former Indian Air Force officer, she's a right-arm medium pacer and a middle-order batter. Pandey was part of the Team India to reach the final of the 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup.

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A young girl with a promising career other than cricket, Shikha Subas Pandey completed her engineering degree in Electronics and Electrical Engineering from Goa College of Engineering. In college, she received an offer from not one but 3 multinational companies. However, her focus was on cricket. Thus, she declined all the offers and instead took a year off to focus on her career as a cricketer.

7 Famous Indian Actors With An Engineering Degree

Taapsee Pannu

Taapsee Pannu was born and brought up in New Delhi. She is a popular Indian actress, known for her work in movies like Thappad, Mulk, Saand Ki Aankh, etc. She's starred in both Hindi and Telugu language films. She has won two Filmfare Awards and a Filmfare OTT Award, among others.

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Her academic profile is kind of surprising for her fans in the sense that she is a software engineer who graduated with a degree in Computer Science Engineering from Guru Tegh Bahadur Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Ranganathan Madhavan

Ranganathan Madhavan was born in Bihar. He is a well-known Indian actor, director and producer who predominantly appears in Tamil and Hindi movies. Already a star of Tamil cinema, his first foray into Bollywood with RHTDM brought him further fame. Even today, he continues to be one of the nation's most beloved heroes. He has won several awards including the National Film Award and Filmfare Awards South. He is the current president of the Film and Television Institute of India (FITI), Pune.

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This multifaceted actor is an engineer as far as his academic profile is concerned. He graduated with a B.Sc in Electronics from Rajaram College, Kolhapur.

Kartik Aaryan

Kartik Aaryan was born in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. He made his acting debut in Pyaar Ka Punchnama. Known for his comic timing, Aaryan has starred in several blockbusters, including Bhool Bhulaiyya 2, Luka Chuppi, etc. Apart from acting, Aaryan also endorses brands and products. He has co-hosted award ceremonies as well.

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Surprisingly this actor went to complete his engineering degree in biotechnology at the insistence of his mother from D. Y. Patil College of Engineering, Mumbai!

Vicky Kaushal

Vicky Kaushal was born in a suburban chawl in Mumbai. The son of action director Sham Kaushal, Vicky Kaushal forayed into the world of Indian cinema as an Assistant Director. His debut film, Masaan, made him a favourite among critics. He went on to become a commercial star, bagging a National Award and two Filmfare Awards. He was also featured in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list of 2019.

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Vicky graduated with an engineering degree in Electronics and Telecommunications from Mumbai's Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology.

Sonu Sood

Sonu Sood is an Indian actor, producer, and philanthropist. In September 2020, Sood was chosen for the ‛SDG Special Humanitarian Action Award’ by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for his humanitarian work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Sonu Sood is an engineering graduate in electronics from Yeshwantrao Chavan College of Engineering, Nagpur.

Ameesha Patel

Ameesha Patel is an Indian actress who appears in Hindi and Telugu films. Her debut film Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai became a major commercial success, which earned her the Zee Cine Award for Best Female Debut. She also went on to win a Filmfare Special Performance Award. Recently, she made a comeback with a role in Gadar 2 - a sequel to her own, highly successful drama Gadar. Gadar 2 is a commercial hit.

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Ameesha was academically bright and was fortunate to go to Tufts University in Boston, USA to study bio-genetic engineering! However, after two years, she switched her major to Economics. She actually worked as an Economics Analyst, before venturing into movies.

Sushant Singh Rajput

Late Sushant Singh Rajput was born in Patna, Bihar. Known for his works in Hindi cinema, Rajput started as a TV actor. His impressive filmography includes movies like M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story, Kai Po Che!, PK, etc. He appeared on Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list twice since 2017.

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Rajput was deeply interested in astrophysics and won the National Olympiad in Physics. Though his first interest lay in becoming an astronaut, he studied engineering at his family's behest. He secured admission to the Delhi College of Engineering to pursue a Bachelor of Engineering degree in mechanical engineering.

6 Famous Indian Politicians With An Engineering Degree

Arvind Kejriwal

Kejriwal was born in Bhiwani district of Haryana. He is an Indian politician, social activist and former Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer. He is the incumbent 7th Chief Minister of Delhi. In 2006, Kejriwal was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for being a true corruption campaigner, fighting against corruption in the government using the right-to-information legislation.

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Kejriwal was a bright student who cleared the IIT-JEE exam and graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur in mechanical engineering.

Manohar Gopalkrishna Prabhu Parrikar

Late Manohar Parrikar was born in Mapusa, Goa. He was an Indian politician who went on to serve as Chief Minister of Goa for 3 different terms until his death in 2017. He also served as the Union Minister of Defence. He held the record of being the first IIT alumnus to be elected as MLA and the first IITian to become the Chief Minister of a state in India.

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Academically bright since his early days, he went on to graduate in Metallurgical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. He also was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award by IIT Bombay.

Jayant Sinha

He was born in Jharkhand. He is an Indian politician who is a Member of Parliament and also a former Minister of State for Finance and the Minister of State for Civil Aviation in the Government of India. Prior to becoming an MP, he had a great business experience of 12 years at McKinsey & Company as a partner in the Boston and Delhi offices.

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Jayant was truly an intelligent boy since his early days. He cleared the JEE while in 11th standard on his first attempt! He was eventually admitted to the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. He was awarded the IIT Delhi's Distinguished Alumni Award in October 2015.

Prithviraj Chavan

Prithviraj Chavan was born in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. He is an Indian politician who served as the 17th Chief Minister of Maharashtra. On becoming the CM, he right away worked hard to fulfil one of his top priorities of establishing the second well known airport in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai International Airport.

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Chavan graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani. He also won a UNESCO scholarship in Germany and later moved to pursue a Master of Science degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He worked briefly in the USA as a design engineer on defense electronics and computerisation of Indian languages.

Akhilesh Singh Yadav

Yadav was born in Etawah District, Uttar Pradesh. He is an Indian politician who served as the 20th Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh including himself in the list of below 40 years Indian to assume the office of CM at the age of 38 years.

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Akhilesh secured his Bachelor's degree in Civil Environmental Engineering at JSS Science and Technology University, Mysore, Karnataka. He obtained his master's degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Sydney, Australia.

Ashwini Vaishnav

Ashwini Vaishnaw is originally a resident of Jeewand Kallan village of Pali district, Rajasthan. He is a former IAS officer turned politician who is currently serving as the 39th Union Minister of Railways.

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Ashwini graduated from MBM Engineering College (JNVU), Jodhpur with a gold medal in Electronic and Communications engineering. He then went on to complete his M.Tech from IIT Kanpur.