Not all Bollywood stars were born with the perfect on-screen name and often times debuted with a brand new screen name or even truncated their names.  Take a look at the list below and see your favorite star's real name!

• Akshay Kumar: It seems Akshay Kumar was born with the perfect name and was destined to be an actor.  However, Akshay Kumar was really born as Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia.
• Ajay Devgan: Vishal Devgan
• Amitabh Bachchan: Big B decided to continue with his father's pen name and became Amitabh Bachchan from Amitabh Srivastav.
• Dharmendra: Dharm Singh Deol
• Sunny Deol: Like his father, Sunny Deol changed his name from Ajay Singh Deol.
• Bobby Deol: Bobby Deol also followed in his father's and brother's footsteps and changed his name although he was born as Vijay Singh Deol.
• Dev Anand: Devdutta Pishorimal Anand
• Dilip Kumar: Yusuf Khan
• Jitendra: Ravi Kapoor
• Johnny Lever: Johnny Lever has found success as both an actor and a comedien.  However, having the perfect screen name was no laughing matter for him.  Johnny Lever was in fact born as John Rao.
• Kishore Kumar: Abhas Kuman Ganguly
• Manoj Kumar: Harikishan Goswami
• Mithun Chakraborty: Gauranga Chakraborty
• Nana Patekar: Vishwanat Patekar
• Rajesh Khanna: Jatin Khanna
• Raj Kapoor: The first superstar of the legendary Kapoor family, Raj Kapoor was born as Ranbir Raj.  Today, although he recently debuted, Ranbir Kapoor (named after his grandfather) carries on the Kapoor legacy.
• Raj Kumar: Kulbushan Pandit
• Rajni Kant: Shivaji Rao Gaekiwad
• Sanjeev Kumar: Haribhai Jariwala
• Sunil Dutt: Sunil Dutt was unable to use his real name, Balraj Dutt, since actor, Yudhisthir used Balraj Sahni as his on-screen name.
• Ashok Kumar: Kumudlal Kunjilal Ganguly
• Guru Dutt: Vasanth Kumar Shiv Shankar Padukone
• Govinda: Govinda Arun Ahuja
• John Abraham: Although he was born Farhan Abraham, he decided to use his Christian name "John" on-screen.
• Kumar Gaurav: Manoj Tulli
• Lucky Ali: Maqsood Mehmood Ali
• Madhubala: Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi
• Mahima Chaudhary: Ritu Chaudhary
• Mallika Sherawat: Mallika Sherawat was born Reema Lamba (which definitely doesn't suit her on-screen persona!).  She decided to use her mother's maiden name (Sherawat) and renamed herself "Mallika" since it means "queen."
• Rekha: Bhanurekha Ganesan
• Salman Khan: Handsome hunk Salman shortened his name from Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan.
• Shammi Kapoor: Shamsher Raj Kapoor
• Shashi Kapoor: Balbirraj Kapoor

Written by :

Rea Bhasin

 

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