"If you are lucky life will guide you to your guru"

“You can have many students, but not always the right guru. If you are lucky, God’s grace takes you to the right teacher,” said Tanmoy Bose. On Teacher’s Day, these words ring true as we honour the mentors who shape lives with wisdom and discipline.

From actors and singers to cricketers and musicians, stars recall the gurus who nurtured their passions, instilled values, and left lessons that guide them even today.You will play like you. Be yourself: Tanmoy BosePercussionist Tanmoy Bose speaks of his Guruji, Pandit Shankar Ghosh, the legendary tabla maestro. “The sole reason I pursued music was him. He was a father figure to me. His personality and music deeply impacted me,” Tanmoy says.

Guruji’s advice stayed with him: “Why play like me? Play like you. Your real teachers are within you- your ears, your eyes. What you listen to, what you see, you analyse, and then you learn” - shaped his confidence.

“From him I learned surrender, the greatest strength Indian classical music can teach.”

I share both personal and professional bond with my mother.: Sohini SenguptaFor thespian and actress Sohini Sengupta, her mother Swatilekha Sengupta is both parent and guru.

“She taught me the art of making acting our life. Even when I cook, I narrate dialogues,” Sohini shares. Theatre, she says, is her “japon, my ultimate goal,” and that devotion is her mother’s gift.

If you carry your guru’s blessings, nothing can stop you: Iman ChakrabortySinger Iman Chakraborty names Rajkumar Roy as her lifelong guru after her mother. “Raju da was a perfectionist. I wasn’t this serious then, and he scolded me a lot, but that strictness shaped me,” she recalls.

For her, a guru’s bond is lifelong: “Guru’s words stay with you forever. That is why I feel truly lucky.

Perfect practice makes a man perfect: Ranadeb BoseCricketer Ranadeb Bose dedicates his career to his late coach Gopal Bose. “He connected life and cricket, teaching me both needed focus and dedication,” he says. His coach’s constant question—“How are you doing?”—always pushed him harder. “Unless I was the best, I had no right to be complacent.

His words still guide me every day.”

He was like the elder brother I never had - Rwitobroto MukherjeeActor Rwitobroto Mukherjee remembers his first teacher, Sumanlal Dutta. “It was never a formal class. He nurtured my love for literature, sports, arts—everything I cherish today,” he says. Their bond endures: “He still calls me Fishu for my love of fish, and I call him Bubai sir. Beyond academics, he gave me priceless life lessons. From him, I learned that the journey of learning never ends.”