Indian Actors Who Dropped Their Surnames

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Posted: 12 years ago
#1

Indian Actors Who Dropped Their Surnames

Monogamous or not, these Indian movie stars are all mononymous… i.e. they're simply known by a single name. Read on to know why Indian superstars like Rajnikanth, Jitendra, Rekha, Kajol, Govinda and Sridevi among others dropped their surnames.

Rajnikanth: How could he not be the first name on this slideshow? In fact, he's the very reason for this compilation. And the inspiration behind every surname-less star — past, present or future, dead or alive, Indian or international. Here are some stars who *obviously* went solo with their first names thanks to the ageless, inimitable Shivaji Rao Gaikwad. Mind it!

Jeetendra: Born Ravi Kapoor, Ekta and Tusshar Kapoor's dad was nicknamed Jeetu or Jumping Jack for his rather energetic dance routines in several films.

Dharmenda: Sons Sunny and Bobby and daughters Esha and Ahana proudly flaunt the Deol family name, but Dharampaji always went only on a first name basis

Rekha: Bhanurekha Ganesan, daughter of Tamil superstar Gemini Ganesan and Telugu actress Pushpavalli chose to keep it short, sweet and ever-enigmatic with Rekha.

Sridevi: She is often referred to as the first superstar of Indian cinema and is set to make a comeback with English Vinglish. Let alone hers, even her parents' surnames aren't common knowledge; Wikipedia mentions her father's name as just Ayyapan and mother's name as Rajeswari.

Govinda: He of the leave-your-brains-at-home slapstick comedies. He of the super street dance moves and even more super facial expressions. This actor-turned-politician is often known as Chi Chi and Virar ka Chokra but never as Govind Arun Ahuja.

Kajol: The Mukherjee family has a trio of actors who choose to be mononymous — former star Tanuja and her daughters, the highly-acclaimed Kajol and the not-so-acclaimed Tanisha.

Prateik: Though actor-turned-politician dad Raj Babbar was upset (born to late actor Smita Patil) and step-brother Arya Babbar had a public outburst because Prateik prefers to be known just by his first name.

Tamannah: Director-comedian Sajid Khan apparently claimed to introduce Tamannah in his forthcoming remake of 80s cult hit Himmatwala opposite Ajay Devgn. However, producer Salim Akhtar recently rubbished this declaration, revealing that Ms Bhatia (who was Tamanna minus the "h" at the end then) made her film debut in 2005 with a box office disaster of his called Chand Sa Roshan Chehra

Helen: This yesteryear dancing sensation with Anglo-Burmese origins, who's step-mother to Salman, Arbaaz and Sohail Khan, was born Helen Jairag Richardson.

Tabu: Guess what this super talented actress has in common with Bollywood's serial kisser? Her surname! How many of us know that Tabu was originally known as Tabassum Hashmi?

Madhavan: He's got several Tamil blockbusters and a few Hindi hits to his credit. But he prefers to be known as R. Madhavan or simply Madhavan. If you're wondering about his full name, it's Madhavan Balaji Ranganathan.

Irrfan: The critically-acclaimed actor recently dropped his surname after having added an "r" to his first name. He told a city tabloid that he didn't want his surname to raise questions about his religion, which he believes is a "personal matter".

http://idiva.com/photogallery-entertainment/indian-actors-who-dropped-their-surnames/15532/16


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ablazedmelody thumbnail
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Posted: 12 years ago
#2
I didn't know Tabu's full name is Tabassum Hashmi. Akshay Kumar also changed dropped his real surname Bhatia for Kumar.
ISano thumbnail
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Posted: 12 years ago
#3
never knew abt tabu's surname but yeah long ago they did tell that her name is tabussam
desicrowd thumbnail
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Posted: 12 years ago
#4
Dilip Kumar changed his name from Yusuf Khan just like Jeetendra...

Same goes for Sanjeev Kumar... Haribhai Jariwala
Madhubala ... Mumraz Jehan Dehlavi
Meena Kumari... Mehjabeen Bano
Vayjaynthimala... Vaijayanthimala Raman
Hema Malini... Chakravarthy


Oh and Rajesh Khanna dropped his first name from Jatin to Rajesh...
Edited by desicrowd - 12 years ago
Rekha_ji thumbnail
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Posted: 12 years ago
#5

Sridevi: She is often referred to as the first superstar of Indian cinema and is set to make a comeback with English Vinglish. Let alone hers, even her parents' surnames aren't common knowledge; Wikipedia mentions her father's name as just Ayyapan and mother's name as Rajeswari.


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Her birth name is Shree Amma Yanger. It used to be displayed on Wikipedia for many many years, but since around the release of English Vinglish, it has mysteriously vanished from there. I think she didn't like people to know her real name so she requested to have it removed!


It still appears on her IMDB page:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004437/bio

..BhUvaNa thumbnail
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Posted: 12 years ago
#6
Most of the south Indian actors don't carry their surnames . In this list tabu, sridevi, rajinikanth, rekha , madhavan are South Indians .
Edited by ..BhUvaNa - 12 years ago
KhatamKahani thumbnail
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Posted: 12 years ago
#7
They really shouldn't be writing about South actors because they don't understand how naming works in the South. The 'surnames' in many cases aren't surnames, but patronymic names. Though in the newer generations, the patronymic naming system slowly changes into surnames.

Kamalhaasan also doesn't have a 'surname.' His given name is Kamalhaasan, which became Kamal Haasan outside the South. And of course, he is an example of how non surnames have transformed into surnames for the new generation (Shruti Haasan).

Edited by likarsh - 12 years ago

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