Did You Know – Amitabh Bachchan’s Original Name Is Inquilaab Srivastava?
Did you know the real name of Amitabh Bachchan?
Seen after a long time last week carrying the body to the cremation ground of Gufi Paintal, the ‘Shakuni Mama’ of the Mahabharat serial, was Arjun. Paintal was not just the iconic character, he was also the casting director of the serial. Arjun was one of many who were beholden to him.
But did you know Arjun is actually Firoz Khan who became famous with this given name? The change was suggested by the serial's writer, Dr Rahi Masoom Raza. One reason was that there was already a big star with the same name, also a producer-director. The other was, according to Raza, the name change would be conducive for Firoz Khan to identify with the image and the role of Arjun, a character who gets the maximum footage in the serial.
Dr Raza suggested the name change because of his own bitter experience. When producer-director B R Chopra approached him to write the serial and he accepted it, there were some who asked: how could a Muslim write a Hindu epic? Hurt, Raza tried to opt out. But Chopra insisted. Now, do you know, Raza changed tack? He said: “I am the son of Ganga, having been born on its bank in Uttar Pradesh. Who can write Mahabharat better than me? Mahabharat ticked the points in all departments, but it shone the best in its dialogues, which seeped into the culture and the spirit in which the epic was composed.
The change of name is as old as Bollywood. Did you know that men who played female characters in the 'silent' era and thereafter, had to adopt female names to identify with the character and allow it to seep into the popular mind?
Did you know that Amitabh Bachchan’s original name is Inquilaab Srivastava?
Did you know Akshay Kumar is actually Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia? For that Madhubala, the Marilyn Monroe of Bollywood was Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi in real life?
Katrina Kaif is Katrina Turquotte. ‘Bhai’ to millions, Salman Khan’s full name is Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan.
Sunny Leone, the former porn star from Canada has Indian roots and her real name is Karenjit Kaur Vohra.
Come to think of it, why do artists change names, when Shakespeare asked everyone 'What's in a name'? We often thought that names had nothing to do with life in general. But ask these celebrities, whose lives revolve around their names. If not for an ordinary person, for people in showbiz, the name is literally everything.
Imagine why else would celebrities change their name before they make their big debut. In fact, there have been cases when a director has asked/made actors change their names because their real names didn't go with their screen presence. Some like Harihar Jariwala changed names twice to strike luck. After many misses and flops, Sanjeev Kumar worked.
Would Amitabh Bachchan be this big if his name was something ordinary like Raj or Deepak? We all know those few celebs who have changed their name before they entered the limelight but there are some more who were born with a different name, but changed it before they entered Bollywood. Because 'Everything is there in a name'.
Thus, it was that Badruddin Jamaluddin Kazi became Johnnie Walker for his walking style. Another comedian in the same mould, John Prakash Rao Janumala became Johnny Lever.
The most famous name change remains that of Dilip Kumar. First, he did not want his conservative family to know he was acting. His father first came to know only from a film poster. Secondly, Devika Rani who groomed Dilip Kumar suggested the name. She had seen how Kumud Lal Ganguly became Ashok Kumar and shot to stardom.
