Pictures: Bollywood stars who changed their names

By Puri

William Shakespeare once said - What's there in a name? But for our Bollywood stars a name is everything as it can break or make their careers. There are many actors who changed their names before making their debut in the dream world of B-Town.

Jiah Khan, who committed suicide on last Monday, had also changed her name. Jiah's real name was Nafisa Khan. But after seeing Angelina Jolie's movie Gia, at the age if 16, she changed her name.

Many Bollywood actors change their names because of the numerology factor. They try to experiment with their fate by deleting or adding alphabets from the name.

However, the trend of changing names is not new. Yesteryear actor Dilip Kumar, also known as the tragedy king of Bollywood was originally known as Muhammad Yousuf Khan. But the legendary actor changed his name to Dilip Kumar before he made his film debut.

Click on the slider to know about other B-Town stars who changed their name.

Shilpa Shetty

Shilpa Shetty

Did you know that Shilpa Shetty's original name was Ashwini Shetty.

Ajay Devgn

Ajay Devgn

Ajay Devgn was born as Vishal Veeru Devgan, but he changed his name before entering Bollywood.

Katrina Kaif

Katrina Kaif

Katrina Kaif's real name is Katrina Turquotte, but Jackie Shroff's wife suggested her to change the name to Kaif.

Akshay Kumar

Akshay Kumar

Bollywood hottie Akshay Kumar's original name is Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia.

Jiah Khan

Jiah Khan

Jiah Khan, who committed suicide on last Monday, had also changed her name. Jiah's real name was Nafisa Khan.

John Abraham

John Abraham

Farhan is Bollywood actor John Abraham's real Parsi name.

Mallika Sherawat

Mallika Sherawat

Reema Lamba aka Mallika Sherawat changed her name before making her Bollywood debut.

Govinda

Govinda

Govind Arun Ahuja changed his name based on the suggestion of his numerologist.

Mahima Chaudhry

Mahima Chaudhry

Subhash Ghai changed the name of Ritu Chaudhry to Mahima Chaudhry.

Dilip Kumar

Dilip Kumar

Veteran actor Dilip Kumar was originally known as Muhammad Yousuf Khan.

Madhubala

Madhubala

Not many people know that Madhubala's original name was Mumtaz Begum.

Dev Anand

Dev Anand

Late actor Dev Anand was born as Devdutt Pishorimal Anand.

Rekha

Rekha

Did you know Rekha's original name is Bhanurekha Ganesan?

Nisha Kothari

Nisha Kothari

Director Ram Gopal Varma renamed Priyanka Kothari as Nisha Kothari.

Reena Roy

Reena Roy

Yesteryear actress Roopa Roy's mother changed her name to Reena Roy.

Read more about: jiah khan

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