New Delhi: It is common knowledge that before stepping into the limelight, Bollywood celebs are known to modify their real names into stage names. Be it numerology, a producer’s decision or simply not liking their names, the most popular celebs have changed their names.
Bollywood A-listers such as Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan and Saif Ali Khan have changed their names. Here is a list of the Bollywood celebrities who are now only known by their stage names.
Bollywood celebrities who changed their name
The first celeb who you might not have known has changed his name is Salman Khan. At birth, Salman was given the name Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan. While Salim is his father’s name, Abdul Rashid is his grandfather’s name.
One of the biggest celebrities of Indian cinema Rajinikanth was born Shivaji Rao Gaikwad. As per reports, Tamil film director K Balachander gave him the stage name Rajinikanth to avoid confusion with actor Sivaji Ganesan.
Fun fact, Saif Ali Khan’s birth name is Sajid Ali Khan, which he changed to Saif Ali Khan. On the other hand, Rekha’s full name is Bhanurekha Ganesan. She shortened her name to Rekha and used it as her stage name.
Ayushmann Khurrana’s original name is Nishnat Khurrana. Not many know, that his parents’ changed his name to Ayushmann when he was only 3 years old. It has been reported that the actor’s father, who is an astrologer, added extra alphabets to his name.
In the same vein, very few people know that Kiara Advani’s real name is Alia Advani. But, as Alia Bhatt was already a well-known actress during her debut, she changed her name. Katrina Kaif’s birth name is Katrina Turqotte. However, she later took her father’s surname before her Bollywood debut as she believed that it would be easier for the Indian audience to pronounce.
Another actor who completely changed his name is Akshay Kumar. Although he already made his Bollywood debut as Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia, his real name. But, after playing a 10-second role named Akshay in Mahesh Batt’s movie Aaj, he liked to name so much that he changed his name. Similarly, Jackie Shroff’s real name is Jaikishen Kaku Bhai. In an interview, the actor explained that one of his foreign classmates started calling him Jai-ki, and from there, it eventually evolved to Jackie.
There you go, here is a list of a few of the many Bollywood celebrities who changed their names before stepping into the limelight.
