11 Famous Muslim Bollywood Actors Who Adopted Hindu Screen Names

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• published: 05 Jan 2017
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11 Famous Muslim Bollywood Actors Who Adopted Hindu Screen Names Dilip Kumar (Muhammad Yusuf Khan) The ‘Shehenshah’ of Bollywood, the tragedy king and ultimate method actor, Dilip Kumar was born to act. Dilip Kumar was born in a Pathan-family in Peshawar, Pakistan who was named Muhammad Yusuf Khan. Madhubala (Mumtaz Jehan Dehlavi) Considered as India’s Marilyn Monroe and the epitome of beauty, Madhubala was born as Mumtaz Jehan Dehlavi in a Pashtun family in Swabi district of North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan in 1933. She made her screen debut as a child artiste in ‘Basant’ (1942). On the behest of yesteryear actress Devika Rani she was rechristened as Madhubala to suit the silver screen. And as they say, the rest was history. Ajit (Hamid Ali Khan) Who can forget Ajit, one of the most dreadful villains of the silver screen. Born in Golconda in 1922, Ajit started his acting career with the film ‘Kurukshetra’ where he used his real name, Hamid Ali Khan. It was while acting in the film ‘Bekasoor’ that his director, K Amarnath bestowed him with a shorter name and zeroed in on ‘Ajit’. He did start off as a lead but he later became more famous for his villainous acts in flicks like ‘Suraj’, ‘Yaadon Ki Baaraat’, ‘Zanjeer’ and ‘Kalicharan’, to name a few. Johnny Walker (Badruddin Jamaluddin Kazi) Known for his squeaky voice, pencil-thin moustache and drunken antics on screen, Johnny Walker till date is remembered as one of the most adorable comedians to grace the silver screen. He was rechristened Johnny Walker after a famous Scotch whisky brand by actor-director Guru Dutt who was looking to cast him in his film ‘Baazi’ as a drunkard. Johnny Walker went to do more than 300 films before he breathed his last at the age of 82. Meena Kumari (Mahjabeen Bano) Regarded as one of the greatest actresses to have graced the silver screen, Meena Kumari was known as the tragedy queen who acted in over 90 films. She was born as Mahjabeen Bano in a Sunni Muslim family in 1933. She started her career as a child artiste in 1939 and was rechristened as Baby Meena by director Vijay Bhatt. The name stuck as she later became Meena Kumari once she started doing lead roles. Jagdeep (Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed Jaffery) Yesteryear popular comedian actor Jagdeep too is a Muslim by birth whose real name is Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed Jaffery. The actor started his career as a child artiste in director BR Chopra’s ‘Afsana’ in 1951 but on the behest of director Bimal Roy he changed his name to Jagdeep while he was doing ‘Do Bigha Zamin’. He turned to comic roles with films like ‘Bhabhi’, ‘Brahmachari’, ‘Sholay’ and ‘Andaz Apna Apna’. Sanjay (Shah Abbas Khan) In the beginning of his career Sanjay Khan started off using the name Sanjay in films like ‘Dosti’, ‘Haqeeqat’ and ‘Dus Lakh’ though his real name was Shah Abbas Khan. Later as he became successful he suffixed ‘Khan’ to his name. Born in a Ghaznavi Pathani Muslim family, Sanjay was the younger brother of actor Feroz Khan who had already made a mark for himself in Bollywood. Sanjay became an actor and director of repute in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Jayant (Zakaria Khan) With a tall frame and deep voice, Jayant was an obvious choice to act in films. Born in a Pathani-family in Peshawar in 1915, Jayant started acting at an early age where he got his first break in ‘Lal Chitta’ (1935). He was rechristened by producer-director Vijay Bhatt and came to be known as Jayant. His sons Amjad Khan and Imtiaz Khan too became actors. Nimmi (Nawab Banoo) Regarded as one of the top heroines of the 50’s and 60’s, Nimmi’s original name was Nawab Banoo. She made her screen debut in 1949 at the tender age of 16 opposite Premnath in Raj Kapoor’s ‘Barsaat’. She migrated from Pakistan after partition and made her mark in Bollywood in films like ‘Daag’, ‘Aan’, ‘Amar’, ‘Mere Mehboob’ and ‘Love & God’. Shyama (Khurshid Akhtar) Shyama aka Khurshid Akhtar was given the name by director Vijay Bhatt which stuck all her life. Though she started off as a stage artiste and made her Bollywood debut as a child artiste in ‘Zeenat’ (1945), she is best known for her roles in ‘Aar Paar’ (1954), ‘Barsaat Ki Raat’ (1960), 'Dil Diya Dard Liya' (1966), 'Milan' (1967) and 'Sawan Bhadon' (1970). Arjun (Firoz Khan) Known more for playing the role of Arjun in BR Chopra’s mythological TV serial ‘Mahabharat’, Arjun adopted this screen name. The actor who started off with the name of Firoz Khan in films like ‘like ‘Manzil Manzil’, ‘Zabardast’ and ‘Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak’ didn’t meet with much success. Once ‘Mahabharat’ happened he changed his screen name to Arjun and got to play a villain in a few films like ‘Jigar’ and ‘Tiranga’. https://pycker.com/articles/11-famous-muslim-bollywood-actors-who-adopted-hindu-screen-names