What is their real name?

Many bollywood stars have changed their names before they entered the film industry. Some only change their forename, others their surname, some decide to delete a middle name or shorten their actual name. Here is a list of Bollywood actors that have adjusted their name to become famous.

We will start of with the actors that changed their Muslim names into Hindu names to get accepted by the masses. These were often children or grandchildren of immigrants from Afghanistan.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4QHQMY1j5xc/Tvnq0HletWI/AAAAAAAABBw/dhun5pFb5z...

The first one is the one and only Dilip Kumar. Muhammad Yousuf Khan was born in Peshawar. In the 1930s his family moved to Mumbai. Muhammad was spotted in Pune and that's when he was offered his first role in a Hindi movie. Hindi author Bhagwati Charan Varma gave him the screen name Dilip Kumar.

http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/28600000/Mumtaz-Jahan-Begum-Dehla...

Mumtaz Jahan Dehlavi was born to Afghans immigrants from Pashtun descent in New Delhi. She was the fifth of eleven children and after the death of several of her siblings she had to provide for her family. She started working in movies at the age of nine. She changed her name to Madhubala.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_YmuoPmkeKg/UIda9H3hGMI/AAAAAAAAL2s/JzFhbQ3_qG...

Mahjabeen Bano was the daughter of Ali Baksh and Iqbal Begum. Her father was a veteran of Parsi theater. Mahjabeen's mother wanted to see her daughter in films even though Mahjabeen herself resisted and wanted to go to school instead. She started her acting career at the age of 7 and was renamed Baby Meena. Once she started getting older and started to get adult roles she changed her name into Meena Kumari

http://www.mohdrafi.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Dev-Anand-12-18-11.jpg

Dharam Dev Pishorimal Anand simply shortened his name to Dev Anand once he entered the industry.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WXqYPpPQAAM/ULSe3Gu0xGI/AAAAAAAAFg0/6aL9B1gY13...

Vishal Devgan was born into a film family with his dad being a stunt choreographer and his mother a producer. Vishal Devgan changed his name to Ajay Devgan once he started working in Bollywood.

http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/29400000/akki-akshay-kumar-294521...

Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia, better known as Akshay Kumar studied martial arts in Bangkok and worked there as a waiter. After he returned to Mumbai he became a martial arts teacher in India. One of his students happened to be a photographer and recommended him to start modeling. Rajiv realized that he earned more money this way and decided to start his modelling career. Eventually he ended up in movies where Rajiv and the producers decided to name him Akshay Kumar.

http://www.jilaa.com/images/stories/sunny_dharmendra_bobby.jpg

The Deol brothers are the sons of the legendary actor Dharam Sing Deol. All of them changed there name in one or the other way before entering movies. Dharam Sing Deol became Dharmendra while Vijay Sing Deol is better known as Bobby Deol and Ajay Sing Deol became Sunny Deol. These new names were cooler and easier to remember according to them.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/936778_1015164358...

The girl that doesn't know what a flop is was born in Hong Kong. Her dad left her mother at a young age and didn't have any influence on her upbringing. Katrina Turquotte, the name in her passport, traveled through Europe after which they settled in Hawaii. There she got her first modeling assignment at the age of 14. After this she moved to London and eventually to Mumbai. When she was casted for the movie Boom the producer wanted a more Indian sounding name. This was to make the public accept her more. They choose the Muslim surname Kaif. According to Katrina this is also her dads, Mohammad Kaif's surname.

http://www.celebritiesheight.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mallika-Sher...

Mallika Sherawat changed her name from Reema Lamba because she didn't want people to confuse her with Rimi, Raima and Reema Sen. Mallika means 'empress' and she choose her mothers maiden name Sehrawat as her surname. She stated that she uses this name because of the support her mother has given her.

http://www.boxofficeindia.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/guru-dutt.jpg

Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone was born when his mother, Vasanthi was just sixteen years old. He spent his childhood in Calcutta (Kolkata) and grew close to bengali culture and intellect. He even changed his name to Guru Dutt ad Datta and Dutta are very common Bengali surnames.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U1Z6KqJ8s-c/S3ea6Aqo7YI/AAAAAAAAAvE/HrBq_oapdp...

Haribhai Jariwala choose a more glamorous name when he entered the film world. Sanjeev Kumar was born. A stint in a film school led this Gujarati boy to Bollywood where he became an accomplished actor. Haribhai remained single the rest of his life and died of a massive heart attank in 1985.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Jeetendra_2012_ekta_b...

Ravi Kapoor was born in Amritsar, Punjab. When he entered the film industry he choose the more glamorous name Jeetendra.

https://wiki.indiancine.ma/raw-attachment/wiki/Ashok%20Kumar/ashok-kumar...

Kumudlal Ganguly didn't sound like an actors name was said by many. The Ganguly family used to make many visits to Mumbai and his brothers also entered the industry. In Bollywood he chose the name Ashok Kumar.

http://www2.hiren.info/desktopwallpapers/bollywood/mahima-chaudhary-49n.jpg

Ritu made her Debut in Bollywood opposite the one and only Shah Rukh Khan. However Subhash Ghai was not pleased with the real name of his heroine. He wanted his heroine's name to start with the letter 'M'. Ritu became Mahima Chaudhry.

http://static.cinemagia.ro/img/db/actor/01/84/63/nargis-184079l.gif

Fatima Rashid was a courtesan and Hindustani singer in Allahabad. Her dad was Uttamchand Mohandchand and her mother was Jaddanbai, a Muslim immigrant whose family had settled in Punjab. After this they moved to Allahabad. She made her first film appearance at the age of six years old and her name was changed to Baby Nargis. She was subsequently credited as Nargis in all her films.

http://im.rediff.com/movies/2012/may/09rekha1.jpg

Some actors shortened there names by getting rid of a middle name or shorten their first name.
Banurekha Ganesan was born in Chennai. She was born when her parents where not married and her dad Tamil actor Gemini Ganesan never acknowledged his paternity during her childhood. She grew up with her mother, Telugu actress Pushpavalli. She shortened her name to Rekha.

http://www.topnews.in/files/Raj-Kapoor.jpg

Ranbir Raj Prithviraj Kapoor was born in Peshawar, Khybar Pakhtunkhwa. Together with his brothers Balbir Raj Kapoor and the Shamsher Raj Kapoor they took Bollywood by storm. They are the film family of India with a legacy that goes back five generations. Ranbir choose his second name Raj in his movies while Shamsher changed his name to the more glamorous name Shammi. Balbir choose to become Shashi in the industry. Interestingly, Ranbir Kapoor, son of actors Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh Kapoor has his grandfather's name that was initially ditched by him.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Tabu_still8.jpg

Tabassum Hashmi is known for her great acting in the industry and is now also working in Hollywood movies. Tabassum was born in Hydarabad to Jamal Hashmi and Rizwana. She comes from a family of professors and teachers. In 1983 she moved to Mumbai to study at the St, Xavier's College for two years. She entered Bollywood at a young age as a child actor. Her name was shortened and Tabassum Hashmi became Tabu.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/2012/07/rajesh_khan...

Jatin Khanna was born in Amritsar in Punjab and was adopted and raised by foster parents who were relatives of his biological parents. In school he started playing on stage and won many prizes in inter college drama competitions. Jatin's Ucle KK Talwar changed his first name to Rajesh when he entered films. His friends and wife called him Kaka.

http://www.timescontent.com/tss/photos/preview/7163/Manoj%20Kumar.jpg

Hare Krishna Goswami was born in Abbottabad, a town of the Khybar-Pakhtunkhwa (British India and now Pakistan). When he was 10, his Gosain Hindu family had to move to Delhi owing to partition. His family lived as refugees in Vijay Nagar, Kingsway Camp and later moved to Patel Nagar area of New Delhi. After graduating from Hindu College, University of Delhi, he decided to enter the film industry with the name Manoj Kumar.

http://www.liveindia.com/salmankhan/Salman_Khan_Topless.jpg

Abdul Rashid was the eldest son of screen writer Salim Khan and his first wife Salma. His grandfather was a Muslim immigrant from Afghanistan and settled in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. When Abdul entered the industry he didn't get rid of his first name alone, he got rid of his first three names and choose his fourth name Salman. Adbul Rashid Salim Salman Khan simply shortened his name to Salman Khan.

http://static.cinemagia.ro/img/db/actor/01/39/98/amitabh-bachchan-680631...

Inquilaab Shrivastava was born in Allahabad in a writers family. The phrase 'Inquilaab Zindabad' which means 'long live revolution' was a very famous phrase during the Indian independence struggle. His father was a hindi poet and came up with the surname Bachchan, which means child-like. His father used this pen-name for his work. The poet Sumitranandan Pant suggested Inquilaab's family to change his name to Amitabh which means, 'the light that would never go off'. Amitabh debuted in movies with the surname Bachchan and for all public purposes, it has become the surname of all members of his family.