Shakespeare says
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet.”
But Bollywood stars don’t believe in it. Every one wants a good screen name. And if they feel they don’t have, they just adopt another one. Stars take stage names for many reasons, often because their real name is considered unattractive, dull, unintentionally amusing, already used, difficult to pronounce or spell ((most common reason)), or projects the wrong image. Sometimes performers wish to adopt a name that is unusual (sometimes even outlandish), memorable, or that complements his/her performing persona; or because they wish to remain anonymous in relation to another sphere of work. ‘Kumar’ and ‘Kapoor’ are most attractive names for Bollywood stars and everyone wants to change his name to either Kumar or Kapoor. (Manoj, Kishor, Ashok, Dilip, Akshay).
Johny Lever’s real name is John Rao and he adopted Lever from ‘Hindustan Lever’ where he was working. Mallika Sherawat’s birth name is Reema Lamba; she adopted the screen name of “Mallika”, meaning “queen”, to avoid confusion with other actresses named Reema. “Sherawat” is her mother’s maiden name. She uses her mother’s name as a tribute to her mother’s love and support.
Here is List of some of famious Bollywood actors and actresses who adopted different screen name….
Actors:
Akshay Kumar : Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia
Ajay Devgan : Vishal Devgan
Ashok Kumar : Kumudlal Kanjilal Ganguly
Balraj Sahani : Yudhishthir Sahni.
Bobby Deol : Vijay Singh Deol
Dharmendra : Dharam Singh Deol
Dilip Kumar : Yusuf Khan
Guru Datt :Gurudatt Shivshankar Padukone
Jitendra : Ravi Kapoor
Johnny Lever : John Rao
Lucky Ali : Maqsood Mehmood Ali
Kishore Kumar : Abhas Ganguly
Manoj Kumar : Harikishen Goswami
Mithun : Gouranga Chakraborty
Nana Patekar : Vishwanath Patekar
Raj Kumar : Kulbushan Pandit
Rajesh Khanna : Jatin Khanna
Rajnikant : Sivaji Rao Gaekwad
Sanjiv Kumar : Harihar Jariwala
Sunil Dutt : Balraj Dutt
Sunny Deol : Ajay Singh Deol
Actresses
Madhubala : Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi
Mahima Chaudhari : Ritu Chaudhry
Mallika Sherawat : Reema Lamba
Mandakini : Janki Roy
Meena Kumari : Mahjabeen Bano
Nadira : Farhat Ezekiel
Nargis : Fatima Rashid
Preity Zinta : Preetam Singh Zinta
Rekha : Bhanurekha Ganesan
Tabu : Tabassum Hashmi
Tuntun : Uma Devi Khatri
Well, names do make a difference. Names like Manoj kumar and Sanjiv Kumar sound more dashing than their older versions and at least a hero has to sound like a hero. Boring names will simply not jell with the audience. Ultimately, substance matters more but ability has to be supported by visibility and names have their significance.
Preity Zinta=Pritam Singh Zinta? LMFAO
Some people do change name becuase they want to change their image and personality, but many people change becuase of Identy crisis. I dont have any problem with people changing name as long it does good for them. Good luck to them:)
@ Hiren…
In golden days Heroes wanted good screen name and for that they adopt Kumar version…but now trend has changed and Hero usually don’t change his name like all the khans…they didn’t change their name. I think now trend is to use the name as it is…. Manoj Vajpayee (or Bajpayee) didn’t change his name (even if it has resemblance with ABV ) kunal khemu, shaeni Ahuja (May be I spelled it wrong. It’s too difficult to spell!!)
Imran Hashmi – It sounds me like Pakistani actor but now we are used to it ( and his kissing killer image)
@ Ish
I was also laughing but the source is Wiki so we have to trust it
@ ekawaaz
I too
Preity Zinta’s real name is Preetam Singh Zinta. That sounds like the name of a man! :O
“Preity Zinta : Preetam Singh Zinta”
Really!?!?!??? That does sound like the name of a man!!
[...] Shashi [Desi Blogger] Did you know the great Madhubala was actually “Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi”. Well, this dude does, he has many more. [...]
please tell me or display some info. about shahrukh khan (king khan). is this his real name???? let me know, please!!!
priety zinta = preetam sing zinta!!
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwww! so freakin manly!!
cute dimple though!! great actress…screen name suits her!!!
lovin….peace!!
preetam singh zinta? this is a man’s name.the other name goes with her image.
priety zinta’s original name is so funny.
what man you have made a big mistake
u hav not included my name in this list
i am the next super star of bollywood
my name is AKSHAY KUMAR in bollywood and my real name is RAJEEV BHATIA
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probably preetam sigh was a better name for’preity’ cause it really went with the masculine face she has(and she ain’t pretty at all baby!) !!!!
i cnt beleive so many actors av changed their names wot iz da point dey shud b proud ovhu dey r
ahem ahem hu says priety aint pretty she iz gorgeous