Every caste, every community of India has some special traits which distinguish it from others in a number of ways. These qualities and characteristics were developed and deepened as time passed and their surroundings changed and they faced and managed the exigencies of life. The Khatris too have a long and remarkable history and social dynamics. They have their ancestry, the social roots of which plunge back to a distant past. They have given to this country its ruling class and some of its outstanding people. The Khatris of Punjab have also played an important role in the history of this state.
This article enumerates their various contributions to different spheres of life. But one thing that makes them unique and special is that all the Ten Masters of Sikhism, who changed Punjab and its future destiny for all times, were born in this caste. The Khatris also played an eminent role in making pioneering efforts in the growth and development of Gurmukhi a script which was to achieve the great distinction of being the language of the holy Granth Sahib’ The writer traces with great lucidity the ups and downs that this caste has faced through the upheavals of the time.
The Khatris are not only the most beautiful and literate people of all the Indian castes, they are among the richest being second only to the Banias and the Jains. They were the first community to embrace Sikhism and many of them were the first to renounce it but they have yet many more firsts to their credit.
Source: http://www.punjabmonitor.com/2013/04/khatris-most-mobile-and-magnificent.html
In Bollywood, the Khatris’ supremacy has been absolute since Independence. Raj Kapoor, BR Chopra, Yash Chopra, Subhas Ghai, Dev Anand, Ekta Kapoor, Prakash Mehra, Shekhar Kapur, and Vidhu Vinod Chopra are all Khatris
Some famous Khatris :
- Manmohan Singh (Kohli), Prime minister of India
- Dev Anand – Bollywood actor
- Om Prakash Malhotra Former Chief of Army Staff, Governor of Punjab
- Mulk Raj Anand, pioneering Indian novelist in English
- Vijay Kumar Malhotra MP, Deputy leader BJP
- Sangam Rai Kapoor – Founder of the house of Maharajas of Burdwan
- Gurinder Chadha – Kenyan- Brit movie director (‘Bend it like Beckham’, ‘Bhaji on the Beach’)
- Yash Chopra – Bollywood movie director and producer
- Satish Gujral, artist and muralist who trained under Diego Rivera
- Inder Kumar Gujral former Prime Minister of India
- Anish Kapoor – Indo-British sculptor
- The father-son duo of Prithviraj Kapoor and Raj Kapoor legendary actors, directors, and producers of Indian movies
- Shekhar Kapur – movie director (‘Bandit Queen’, ‘Elizabeth’)
- Devaki Nandan Khatri, pioneer Hindi author
- Raj Khosla-Renowned Movie Director
- Narendra Kohli, Hindi author
- Master Tara Singh (Malhotra) – freedom fighter and leader of the movement for the creation of Punjabi subah
- Deepa Mehta – award-winning Indo-Canadian director of the trilogy ‘Earth’,’Wind’,’Fire’
- Meera Nair, the director, and producer of award-winning movies as ‘Salaam Bombay’
- Kuldip Nayyar – crusading Indian journalist
- Mohan Singh Oberoi- hotelier, founder of the Oberoi chain of hotels
- Y.K. Sabharwal, Chief Justice of India
- The brothers Balraj and Bhisham Sahni, the former a well-known actor and the latter the Hindi author (‘Tamas’)
- Birbal Sahni – renowned botanist
- Kundan Lal Saigal (Sahgal/Sehgal), the legendary singer and actor in early North Indian (Hindi and Bengali) talkies, known as the Enrico Caruso of North India for his vocal range.
- Roshan Seth – Indo-British actor (‘My Beautiful Laundrette’ etc.)
- Vikram Seth, the novelist, who so sensitively portrayed urban Khatri life after the partition of India in ‘A Suitable Boy’
- Dr. Karam Singh Kapur -litterateur, author of ‘Punjabi Mahakav’ etc.
- Prakash Lal Tandon – Indian professional manager, author of ‘Punjabi Century’ and ‘Beyond Punjab’
- Purushottam Das Tandon freedom fighter
- Sukhdev (Thapar) – freedom fighter, revolutionary comrade of Bhagat Singh
- Khushwant Singh, Author, and commentator
- Bhai Mohan Singh, Founder of Ranbaxy
- Sunny Vij, LSE
