BacktoCricaddict Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 Evidently, on Dec 11, Dilip Kumar aka Yusuf Khan will turn 98. That's remarkable, but not the point of this thread. That discussion led me think about why actors change their names. Why did Yusuf Khan not keep his original name? Dilip Kumar? Not even in the same ballpark. Same thing with Meena Kumari, Madhubala ... So why did/do Bollywood actors change their names? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee_rules Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 Acceptance in society in general. Coming from partition and choosing to live in India might have made them or the producers nervous after investing their money . They would have forced it. A lot of Hindus also have changed names to sound cooler Dharmendra - Dharam Singh Deol Jeetendra - Ravi Kapoor Manoj Kumar - Harikrishna Giri Goswami Raj Kumar - Kulbhushan Pandit Ajit (villain) - Hamid Ali Khan Dev Anand - Dharamdev Pishorimal Anand Akshay Kumar - Rajiv Bhatiya tweaker 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FischerTal Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 unfortunate that Salman Khan didn't change his name to Cho**ya. suits him coffee_rules and raki05 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 Shivaji Rao Gaekwad tweaker 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikred Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 Acceptance in society in general. Coming from partition and choosing to live in India might have made them or the producers nervous after investing their money . They would have forced it. A lot of Hindus also have changed names to sound cooler Dharmendra - Dharam Singh Deol Jeetendra - Ravi Kapoor Manoj Kumar - Harikrishna Giri Goswami Raj Kumar - Kulbhushan Pandit Ajit (villain) - Hamid Ali Khan Dev Anand - Dharamdev Pishorimal Anand Akshay Kumar - Rajiv Bhatiya I thought Ajit was some Northie Hindu whose family settled in Hyderabad. Did not know he was a Hyderabadi Muslim. Sent from my SM-M315F using Tapatalk coffee_rules 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee_rules Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 Trend is changing now Dileep is AR Rahman now. That is a positive progression of the society for Bollywood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stan AF Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 2 hours ago, coffee_rules said: Trend is changing now Dileep is AR Rahman now. That is a positive progression of the society for Bollywood Don't know if others in the list above converted to hinduism and changed their names but AR rahman converted to muslim from being a hindu. And he doesn't like people calling or associating him with his former name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Straight Drive Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 (edited) 10 hours ago, BacktoCricaddict said: Evidently, on Dec 11, Dilip Kumar aka Yusuf Khan will turn 98. That's remarkable, but not the point of this thread. That discussion led me think about why actors change their names. Why did Yusuf Khan not keep his original name? Dilip Kumar? Not even in the same ballpark. Same thing with Meena Kumari, Madhubala ... So why did/do Bollywood actors change their names? It is talked about that Yusuf Khan took changed name because some producer thought it would negate the negative impact of revenue from movie and also for getting more roles in his acting career and getting more accepted in the industry Edited November 25, 2020 by Straight Drive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee_rules Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 7 hours ago, Stan AF said: Don't know if others in the list above converted to hinduism and changed their names but AR rahman converted to muslim from being a hindu. And he doesn't like people calling or associating him with his former name. I didn't speak about conversion/religion too. ARR didn't think of changing his name. Also, he is not the actor on whose name the film is doing business. So, it's not the same case. Others like SRK, Salman, Aamor didn't change names either in the 80s/90s, so the earlier trend of Muslim actors' changing name is not there anymore. In TN, Vijay (Joesph Vijay), Vikram (John Victor Kennady) have chosen Hindu sounding names. Same for - Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranvir Posted November 26, 2020 Share Posted November 26, 2020 Ajay Devgan has done a double whammy from Vishal Degan to Ajay Devgan and now for good fortune Ajay Devgn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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