# List of The Doon School alumni

The Doon School is a boys-only academically selective boarding school in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India, founded in 1935 by Satish Ranjan Das The school's first headmaster was Arthur E. Foot, who had spent some nine years as a science master at Eton College, England. The old boys of Doon are known as Doscos, and the alumni body is represented by The Doon School Old Boys' Society. Admission to the school is based on a competitive entrance examination and an interview.
Doon remains a boys-only school despite continued pressure from political leaders to become coeducational. However, girls are admitted in case they are daughters of the school staff (see entries for sculptor Latika Katt and actor Himani Shivpuri). Although the total number of Doscos is relatively small (estimated at 5,000 since the school was founded in 1935), they include some of India's prominent politicians, artists, writers, social activists and businesspeople.

## Abbreviations used in the following tables

* DNG – Did not graduate
* ? – Class year unknown
Note: The sub-headings are given as a general guide and some names might fit under more than one category

## Government

* Rajiv Gandhi, 6th Prime Minister of India (Class of '62)
* Jyotiraditya Scindia, Member of Parliament and Minister of Information (Class of '88)
* Karan Singh, Politician and Diplomat (Class of '49)
* Naveen Patnaik, Former Chief Minister of Odisha (Class of '64)

### Prime minister

| Name | Class year | Notability | Reference(s) |
| Rajiv Gandhi | 1962 | 6th Prime Minister of India | |

### Cabinet Ministers

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Mani Shankar Aiyar | 1958 | Minister of Panchayati Raj, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports |
| Jitin Prasada | 1991 | Minister of State for Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas |
| Jyotiraditya Scindia | 1989 | Minister of State for Ministry of Commerce and Industry, from Madhya Pradesh |
| Arun Singh | 1960 | Minister of State for Ministry of Defence |
| C.P.N Singh | 1952 | Minister of State for Ministry of Defence |
| Dinesh Singh | 1943 | Foreign Minister & Commerce Minister |
| Karan Singh | 1949 | Rajya Sabha member, Former Indian Ambassador to the United States |
| R.P.N. Singh | 1982 | Minister for Road Transport and Highways |

### Chief Ministers

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Naveen Patnaik | 1964 | Former Chief Minister of Odisha, earlier Lok Sabha member and cabinet minister |
| Amarinder Singh | 1960 | former Chief Minister of Punjab, also Lok Sabha member |
| Kamal Nath | 1964 | former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Lok Sabha member |
| Lt. Gen. Ghulam Jilani Khan | 1943 | Governor of Punjab, Pakistan |

### Members of Parliament and Legislative Assemblies

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Rahul Gandhi | 1983 | Member of Parliament, President of the Indian National Congress |
| Akbar Ahmad | 1966 | Member of Parliament |
| Kalikesh Singh Deo | 1992 | Member of Biju Janata Dal, MLA and later Lok Sabha member from Orissa |
| Sanjay Gandhi | 1964 (DNG) | Lok Sabha member from Uttar Pradesh |
| Piloo Mody | 1944 | Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Gujarat |
| Dushyant Singh | 1991 | Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Rajasthan |
| Vishvjit Singh | 1964 | Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha |
| Manpreet Singh Badal | 1981 | Founder of People's Party of Punjab |
| Adesh Kanwarjit Singh Brar | 1966 | MLA from Punjab Muktsar |
| Ananga Udaya Singh Deo | 1963 | Orissa Minister for Steel & Tourism, also Rajya Sabha member |
| Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon | 1974 | former Minister for Excise and Taxation |
| Uday Pratap Singh | 1977 | MLA from Uttar Pradesh |
| Murtaza Ali Khan | 1942 | MLA from Uttar Pradesh |
| Gajendra Singh Khimsar | 1974 | Rajasthan Minister of Power |
| Chandra Vijay Singh | 1964 | Member of the Lok Sabha |
| Saurabh Narain Singh | 1993 | MLA from Jharkhand |
| Nakul Nath | 1992 | Member of the Lok Sabha |
| Raninder Singh | 1982 | Member of the Indian National Congress |
| Jaivardhan Singh | 2004 | Member of the 14th State Legislative Assembly, Government of Madhya Pradesh |

### Diplomats and Bureaucrats

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Wajahat Habibullah | 1969 | Civil servant |
| Parameswaran Iyer | 1977 | Civil servant; led the Swachh Bharat Mission |
| Uma Shankar Bajpai | 1936 | Foreign Secretary, Ambassador to Canada |
| Vinod Kumar Grover | 1953 | Foreign Secretary, Ambassador to Netherlands |
| Inder Pal Khosla | 1954 | Foreign Secretary, Ambassador to Afghanistan |
| Dalip Mehta | 1958 | Foreign Secretary, Ambassador to Bhutan and Turkmenistan |
| Nagendra Nath Jha | 1964 | Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Ambassador to Ireland and Turkey |
| Aftab Seth | 1959 | Ambassador to Japan, Vietnam and Micronesia |
| Jamsheed Marker | 1940 | Pakistan's Ambassador to nineteen countries |
| Vinay Sheel Oberoi | 1972 | IAS officer; Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development |
| Khursheed Marker | 1941 | Minister of Water and Power, Pakistan |
| Abhinav Kumar | 1991 | IPS Officer, Director General of Police- Uttarakhand, India |

### Communist Activist

| Name | Class year | Notability | Reference(s) |
| Kobad Ghandy | 1969 | Communist activist | |

### Law

| Name | Class year | Notability | Reference(s) |
| Brahma Nath Katju | 1942 | Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court | |

## Armed forces

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Lakshman Katre | 1944 | Air Chief Marshal, Chief of Air Staff |
| B C Nanda | 1949 | Lieutenant General |
| Brijesh Dhar Jayal | 1953 | Air Marshal |
| Trilochan Singh Brar | 1943 | Air Marshal, Vice Chief of Air Staff |
| FN Billimoria | 1952 | Lieutenant General |
| Kuldip Singh Brar | 1954 | Lieutenant General |
| Adi M. Sethna | 1942 | Lieutenant General |
| Deepak Summanwar | 1963 | Lieutenant General |
| Sukhjit Singh | 1949 | Brigadier, Maha Vir Chakra |
| Bhawani Singh | 1949 | Brigadier, Maha Vir Chakra |

## Business

* Sunil Kant Munjal, managing director of Hero MotoCorp (Class of '73)
* Siddhartha Lal, CEO and MD of Eicher Motors (Class of '91)
| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Jivesh Bhandari | 2024 | former director of Tata Sons |
| Rajiv Dutta | 1976 | Chief financial officer, eBay and president, Skype |
| Ajit Narain Haksar | 1943 | Chairman ITC Limited |
| Anil Kumar | 1976 | Director, McKinsey |
| Vikram Lal | 1970 | Chairman, Eicher Group |
| Siddhartha Lal | 1991 | CEO, Eicher Motors |
| Vittal Mallya | 1939 | Chairman, United Breweries Limited, Hoechst AG |
| M. Ct. Muthiah | 1968 | Director of Indian Overseas Bank |
| Sunil Kant Munjal | 1973 | MD, Hero MotoCorp, Confederation of Indian Industry |
| Nikhil Nanda | 1970 | Head, Escorts |
| Mhd. Rafique Saigol | 1949 | Chairman, Pakistan International Airlines |
| Analjit Singh | 1971 | Chairman, Max Healthcare, Vodafone India; founder member, Indian School of Business |
| Malvinder Mohan Singh | 1982 | Executive chairman of Fortis Healthcare and former CEO & MD of Ranbaxy |
| Shivinder Mohan Singh | 1983 | MD, Fortis Healthcare |
| Gautam Thapar | 1976 | Chairman, Avantha Group |
| L. M. Thapar | 1952 | Chairman, Ballarpur Industries Limited |
| A. Vellayan | 1976 | Chairman, Murugappa Group |
| R. C. Bhargava | 1949 | IAS officer, later CEO, Maruti Suzuki |
| Samir Modi | 1988 | Director of Modi Enterprises; Founder of 24Seven convenience stores |
| Sharan Pasricha | 1998 | CEO of Ennismore Hospitality, founder of The Hoxton and Gleneagles |
| Rituraj Kishore Sinha | 1999 | Managing Director SIS Limited |

## Journalism

* Aroon Purie, editor-in-chief of India Today (Class of '62)
* Vikram Chandra CEO of NDTV (Class of '85)
* Karan Thapar, Journalist (Class of '71)
* Prannoy Roy, founder of NDTV (Class of '66)
* Rajiv Makhni, Technology journalist (Class of '84)
* Rakesh Wahi, founder of CNBC Africa (Class of '75)
| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Swaminathan Aiyar | 1960 | Editor of Financial Express, The Times of India, correspondent for The Economist |
| Inderjit Badhwar | 1969 | Executive editor of India Today, writer |
| Vikramaditya Chandra | 1985 | CEO, NDTV |
| Prem Shankar Jha | 1965 | Editor of Hindustan Times, The Economic Times and The Financial Express |
| Peter Mukerjea | 1971 | former CEO, STAR TV |
| Aroon Purie | 1960 | Founder of the India Today Group |
| Prannoy Roy | 1964 | Founder of NDTV |
| Tejeshwar Singh | 1965 | Publisher and Newscaster |
| Karan Thapar | 1971 | Broadcaster, Journalist - CNBC & CNN-IBN |
| Rakesh Wahi | 1975 | Founder - CNBC Africa & Forbes Africa |
| B G Verghese | 1958 | Editor of the Times of India, Magsaysay Award winner |
| Abhinandan Sekhri | 1992 | CEO of Newslaundry |

## Literature

* Amitav Ghosh, Novelist (Class of '72)
* Vikram Seth, Novelist (Class of '69)
* Ramachandra Guha, Historian and non-fiction writer (Class of '73)

### Non-fiction

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Shyam Bhatia | 1967 | Writer (Goodbye Shahzadi, Bullets and Bylines, Brighter Than The Baghdad Sun, "Nuclear Rivals in the Middle East) |
| Pushpindar Singh Chopra | 1959 | Writer (Touching the Sky) and various other books about aviation and military history. Founder Vayu Aerospace and Defence Review. |
| Mahmood Farooqui | 1990 | Writer, Artist (Besieged: Voices From Delhi 1857) |
| Ramachandra Guha | 1973 | Historian, Writer (India after Gandhi) |
| A. N. D. Haksar | 1950 | Writer, Scholar, Translator of Sanskrit texts |
| Shiv Kunal Verma | 1976 | Writer (The Long Road to Siachen: The Question Why and The Northeast Trilogy) |
| B G Verghese | 1958 | Writer, Journalist (Agenda for India) |
| Amardeep Singh (independent researcher) | 1986 | Filmmaker, Writer (Lost Heritage: The Sikh Legacy In Pakistan and The Quest Continues: Lost Heritage - The Sikh Legacy In Pakistan) |

### Fiction, poetry and drama

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Vikramaditya Chandra | 1983 | Writer (The Srinagar Conspiracy) |
| Amitav Ghosh | 1972 | Writer, Ibis trilogy and The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable |
| Vikram Seth | 1969 | Writer, Poet (The Golden Gate, A Suitable Boy) |
| Vishvjit Singh | 1964 | Writer (Kuch Shabd Kuch Lakeerein) |
| Ardashir Vakil | 1978 | Writer (Beach Boy) |

## Education

* Ghulam Jilani Khan, founder of Chand Bagh School and former Defence Secretary of Pakistan (Class of '43)
* Kanti Bajpai, international affairs researcher and professor at National University of Singapore (Class of '72)
* Arvind Virmani, economist (Class of '65)
* Vijay Prashad, historian (Class of '85)
| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Arjun Singh Bedi | 1988 | Professor of Development Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam |
| Bhaskar Vira | 1985 | Head of Department of Geography, University of Cambridge |
| Lalit Pande | 1963 | Founder, Uttarakhand Seva Nidhi Environmental Education Centre |
| Arvind Virmani | 1965 | Economist, former Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India |
| Suman Bery | 1964 | Economist, former director general of National Council of Applied Economic Research |
| Prasenjit Duara | 1967 | Historian/Professor at Duke University, Writer (Culture, Power And The State) |
| Kanti Bajpai | 1972 | Professor at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, former headmaster of The Doon School |
| Shomie Das | 1953 | Former Headmaster of The Doon School; Mayo College; Lawrence School, Sanawar |
| Wajahat Habibullah | 1961 | Director of the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration |
| Deepak Lal | 1955 | Economist at University of California, Los Angeles |
| Gulab Ramchandani | 1948 | Former Headmaster of The Doon School |
| Ravi J. Matthai | 1945 | Director of Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad |
| Vijay Prashad | 1985 | Professor at Trinity College (USA) |
| Lovraj Kumar | 1947 | India's first Rhodes scholar, IAS officer |

## Arts

* Sir Anish Kapoor, Artist (Class of '70)
* Sandeep Khosla, fashion designer (Class of '81)
* Ali Fazal, actor (Class of 2005)
* Rohit Khosla, founder of Ensemble, fashion designer (Class of '76)
* Ashvin Kumar, film director (Class of '91)
* Tarun Tahiliani, fashion designer (Class of '80)

### Fine arts

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Sohrab Hura | 2000 | Photographer |
| Anish Kapoor | 1970 | Sculptor |
| Latika Katt nee Sharma | 1966 | Sculptor |
| Vivan Sundaram | 1961 | Painter |
| Abhishek Poddar | 1986 | Art collector; founder, Museum of Art & Photography |

### Design

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Martand Singh | 1962 | Textile conservator, curator, cultural historian |
| Rohit Khosla | 1976 | Fashion designer |
| Tarun Tahiliani | 1980 | Fashion designer |
| Sandeep Khosla | 1981 | Fashion & Interior designer |
| Manoviraj Khosla | 1985 | Fashion designer |

### Films

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Shivendra Singh Dungarpur | 1987 | Filmmaker, conservator, founder of Film Heritage Foundation |
| Ali Fazal | 2005 | Actor |
| Sudhanshu Saria | 2002 | Screenwriter, Film director |
| Ashvin Kumar | 1991 | Oscar-nominee Film director |
| Rajiv Rai | 1972 | Film producer and director |
| Ashwin Mushran | 1990 | Actor, Voice-over artist |
| Roshan Seth | 1960 | Actor |
| Imaad Shah | 2004 | Actor |
| Vivaan Shah | 2008 | Actor |
| Chandrachur Singh | 1986 | Actor |
| Dan Dhanoa | 1974 | Actor |
| Satyadeep Misra | 1991 | Actor |

### Television

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Himani Shivpuri (née Bhatt) | 1973 | Actor |
| Rajeev Siddhartha | 2004 | Actor |
| Neel Madhav | 2011 | Illusionist, Actor |
| Roopak Saluja | 1993 | Ad director |

### Music

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Bhaskar Menon | 1972 | President, EMI Group |
| Nazir Jairazbhoy | 1945 | Musicologist at University of California, Los Angeles |
| Sahej Bakshi | 2005 | Electronic music composer, as "Dualist Inquiry" |
| Hari Singh | 2000 | Singer, music producer, co-founder Hari & Sukhmani |

### Culinary

| Name | Class year | Notability | Reference(s) |
| Rahul Akerkar | 1976 | Chef, restaurateur, founder of Indigo | |
| Deepak Nirula | 1968 | Restaurateur, founder of Nirula's | ? |

## Sports

* Bunker Roy, Squash champion and founder of Barefoot College, (Class of '62)
* Nandu Jayal, Mountaineer and founder principal of Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (Class of '42)
* Abhinav Bindra, Olympic shooter champion (Class of 2000)
| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Abhinav Bindra | 2000 | Beijing Olympics 2008 Gold Medalist (Air Rifle) |
| Nandu Jayal | 1942 | Mountaineer |
| Bunker Roy | 1962 | National Squash Champion |
| Samarjitsinh Gaekwad | 1986 | Cricketer |
| Michael Dalvi | 1962 | Cricketer |
| Sam Agarwal | 2009 | Cricketer |

## Titular Princes

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Miangul Aurangzeb | 1946 | Crown prince of Swat |
| Mukarram Jah | 1951 | Titular Nizam of Hyderabad (1967–1971) |
| Hso Khan Pha | 1956 | Titular Saopha of Yawnghwe |
| Rana Hemant Singh | 1969 | Titular Maharaja of Dholpur (1969–1971) |
| Sawai Bhawani Singh | 1947 | Titular Maharaja of Jaipur (1970–71) |
| Pragmulji III | ? | Titular Maharaja of Kutch (1991-2021) |

## Sources

The class years of the alumni are sourced principally from the following:
* The Dosco Record is a book of short biographies, similar to what may be found in a Who's Who, which was first produced by J.A.K. Martyn who deliberately modeled it on the Harrow Record. (Martyn had been a schoolmaster at Harrow School before helping A.E. Foot start The Doon School.) As a consequence, alumni are listed in the year in which they joined Doon, rather than the year in which they graduated; Martyn believed that this would make it easier for Doscos to look up their friends. The book is updated every 8 years or so, and is published by the Doon School Old Boys Society ("DSOBS") and distributed only to alumni. It includes biographical information about every Dosco (even people like Sanjay Gandhi who was expelled before completing his studies); it also highlights family connections between Doscos such as whether a particular Dosco was the son of another Dosco, or married the sister or daughter of another Dosco.
* The Rose Bowl is a periodic newsletter that contains alumni news, obituaries, reminiscences, etc. It is produced by the DSOBS and distributed by post to all alumni; a PDF version is also sent by email to alumni.
* The Doon School Register is published, every few years, by the DSOBS. It includes the contact details of every Dosco; deceased alumni are noted as such. Also included are the small number of "Associate Members" (honorary members) of The Doon School Old Boys: for the most part these include former teachers; also included are people such as Salim Ali who had been frequent visitors to Doon and were considered to be part of the Dosco fraternity.
* Doon, The Story of a School, edited by Sumer Singh, published by the Indian Public Schools Society 1985. This (somewhat slim) book was distributed to alumni and contains essays, reminiscences, and stories about the founding of the Doon School.
* The Doon School -- Sixty Years On, edited by Pushpinder Singh Chopra, published by the DSOBS in October 1996. This book is similar in many respects to Doon: The Story of a School, but longer.