What’s in a name? Well, ask these stars!
1. Raj Kapoor
The renowned actor and filmmaker was, interestingly,
Ranbir Raj Kapoor. He dropped Ranbir, which was later
adopted by his grandson and today’s young heartthrob.
2. Shammi Kapoor
Shamsher Raj Kapoor became Shammi to be remembered
easily and for generations.
3. Ashok Kumar
Famously known as Dadamuni in cine-circles, Ashok’s
real name was Kumudlal Kanjilal Ganguly.
4. Guru Dutt
The yesteryear ace actor and filmmaker, Guru Dutt was
called Vasanth Kumar Shiv Shankar Padukune before
films came his way.
5. Dilip Kumar
A Muslim, Dilip’s real name is Yusuf Khan, which he
changed when he began his Bollywood journey.
6. Madhubala
Mumtaz Begum was her real name, which she changed
and became our favourite Madhubala.
7. Dev Anand
You’ll be shocked to know that the actor was Devdutt
Pishorimal Anand before he cut that short and became
just Dev Anand to make it big in films.
8. Sanjeev Kumar
He was Haribhai Jarivala before Sanjeev Kumar and
success happened to him.
9. Amitabh Bachchan
Bachchan is not his real surname; it is actually
Srivastav. Bachchan comes from his famous poet
father’s penname.
10. Rekha
The evergreen diva’s real name is Bhanurekha Ganesan.
Sounds sort of scary? Good, she changed it.
11. Rajinikanth
The superstar was Shivaji Rao Gaikwad before director K.
Balachander suggested him to become Rajinikanth.
12. Mithun Chakraborty
The Bengali actor’s real name is Gouranga, which he
changed to have a simpler name.
13. Dharmendra
The He-Man of Bollywood changed his name from
Dharam Singh Deol to Dharmendra. His sons, Sunny and
Bobby, too were Ajay Singh Deol and Vijay Singh Deol
respectively before joining filmdom.
14. Jeetendra
Before trying his luck in films, Ravi Kapoor changed his
name to Jeetendra, which definitely boosted his
filmography.
15. Rajesh Khanna
The late acting genius was actually Jatin by birth. He
changed his name to Rajesh before entering films.
16. Jackie Shroff
He was Jaikisha Kaku Bhai before becoming Jackie
Shroff for us.
17. Govinda
The actor’s real name is Govind Arun Ahuja, but kept it
just Govinda for his film career.
18. Salman Khan
Our dashing Dabangg Khan is actually Abdul Rashid
Salim Salman Khan. He kept it short and sweet before
debuting in Bollywood.
19. Saif Ali Khan
His real name is Sajid Ali Khan, which he changed
before beginning his Hindi film journey.
20. Akshay Kumar
Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia became Akshay Kumar for a shining
career in films.
21. Ajay Devgn
Vishal Veeru Devgan – that’s the actor’s real name.
Before entering films, he became Ajay Devgan, and in
2009, he dropped the ‘a’ from his surname.
22. Shilpa Shetty
The leggy beauty’s real name is Ashwini Shetty. She
changed her name for numerological reasons when she
was a teenager.
23. Preity Zinta
The dimpled beauty’s real name is Preetam Zinta Singh.
Sounds too heavy and masculine for a hot babe like her,
right?
24. John Abraham
He thought his real name, Farhan, wasn’t interesting
enough. So he became the hot hunk, John Abraham.
Come to think of it, Farhan Akhtar is quite a successful
name today.
25. Katrina Kaif
The hot babe’s real surname is not Kaif, but Turquotte.
Can’t pronounce it easily? Well, that’s precisely why she
changed it to the current one. Apparently, Jackie
Shroff’s wife Ayesha advised her the same during the
initial years of career.
26. Mallika Sherawat
The bombshell was Reema Lamba before she took the
big plunge into acting. Since there were already few
actresses with that name, the girl decided to become
Mallika Sherawat to stand out, and she sure did!
27. Mahima Chaudhry
Subhash Ghai introduced Ritu Chaudhry as Mahima
Chaudhry in his 1997 flick, Pardes.
28. Jiah Khan
The late actress Jiah Khan was Nafisa before she
entered films. But we guess, the name change didn’t
really work in her favour, as she hardly did any
prominent roles during her film career.
29. Sunny Leone
The former adult star changed her name from Karenjit
Kaur Vohra to Sunny Leone before she entered the porn
industry.
30. Nisha Kothari
Ram Gopal Varma’s find was Priyanka Kothari before the
filmmaker gave her another name, which didn’t really
help her career flourish and she came back to her
original name… but to no avail this time also.
No comments:
Post a Comment