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Top 20 Bollywood celebrities who changed their real names before entering movies

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Amitabh Bachchan picture rejected by Filmfare

Top Bollywood celebrities who changed their real names before getting into Movies

When it comes to Bollywood movies, everything has to look and sound dramatic, including the names. So even though Shakespeare may have said “what’s in a name”, it seems name really matters in Bollywood.

No wonder so many actors (male and female) changed their real names to something which goes with the image of a star.

While most of you would probably be aware that veteran actor Dilip Kumar is not a Hindu, but a Muslim in real life, not many of you would probably know that Amitabh Bachchan’s real name is Inquilab Srivastava.

Really? Yes!

Here we take a look at the to Bollywood celebrities who changed their names before getting into Bollywood.

Akshay Kumar (Real Name Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia)
Here’s an interesting story behind Akshay’s name change. The actor had a tiny (15-second) role in Mahesh Bhatt’s film Aaj (1987), where he played the character of a Karate instructor. The movie’s lead hero was Kumar Gaurav, and apparently, Kumar Gaurav’s screen name was also Akshay in that film. Our Khiladi Kumar liked that name and decided to keep Akshay Kumar as his onscreen name. The name change did turn out to be lucky for the Khiladi superstar.

Salman Khan (Real Name Abdul Rashid Salim Khan)
Aamir Khan (Real Name Mohammad Amir Hussain Khan)
Ranveer Singh (Real Name Ranveer Bhavnani)
Saif Ali Khan (Real Name Sajid Ali Khan)
Ajay Devgan (Real Name Vishal Devgan)
Govinda (Real Name Govind Arun Ahuja)
John Abraham (Real Name Farhan Abraham)
Sunny Deol (Real Name Ajay Singh Deol)
Bobby Deol (Real Name Vijay Singh Deol)

Amitabh Bachchan (Real Name Inquilab Srivastava)
Rajinikanth (Real Name Shivaji Rao Gaikwad)
Mithun Chakraborty (Real Name Gauranga Chakraborty)
Sanjeev Kumar (Haribhai Zariwala)
Dilip Kumar (Real Name Muhammad Yusuf Khan)

Also read: Portfolio picture of Amitabh Bachchan which was rejected by Filmfare in the 60s

Here are the leading ladies who changed their names.

Katrina Kaif (Kate Turquotte)
Sunny Leone (Real Name Karenjit Kaur Vohra)
Rekha (Real Name Bhanurekha Ganesan)
Preity Zinta (Real Name Preetam Zinta)
Mallika Sherawat (Real Name Reema Lamba)
Mahima Chaudhary (Real Name Ritu Chaudhary)

Know of any other actor who changed his/her name before getting into the industry? Please let us know.

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