• Preity Zinta Besides her acting, Preity Zinta has also written a series of columns for BBC News Online of South Asia.
     

    Preity Zinta
  • Style diva Rekha wears only crimson or chocolate colored lipstick when making public appearances.

    Bollywood
  • Nana Patekar actually stayed in military camp for several months to prepare for his movie Prahaar.

    Bollywood Nana Patekar
  • Anupam Kher awarded the "Special National Jury Award" and the "Actor of the Decade Award" (Millennium Honours) among others, but he also holds the record as the only actor in the industry to have won eight consecutive Filmfare awards.

    Bollywood
  • Aamir Khan once shaved off his hair because a girl rejected him.

    Aamir Khan Bollywood
  • Akshay Kumar is the son-in-law of India and Hindi Film Industry's first ever Superstar, Rajesh Khanna and actress, Dimple Kapadia, as well as the brother-in-law of actress Rinke Khanna.

    Akshay Kumar Bollywood
  • Akshay Kumar Though nominated seven times at the Filmfare awards, he's won just twice - Best actor in a comic and negative role for Garam Masala and Ajnabee, respectively. 

    Akshay Kumar
  • Amitabh Bachchan loves snacking on Bourbon biscuits and cashew nuts.

    Amitabh Bachchan Bollywood
  • Actor Annu Kapoor used his real name " Anil Kapoor" for his first film Adharshila. He later changed it to Annu Kapoor to avoid confusion with Anil Kapoor.

    Bollywood
  • Dharmendra’s fee when he debuted in 1960 in the movie ‘Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere’ was a meager 51 rupees.

    Bollywood Dharmendra
  • Shahrukh Khan personal bodyguard's name is Yasmin Khan. When his bodyguard got married, Shahrukh gifted him a flat that is located beside his residence Mannat.

    Bollywood Shahrukh Khan
  • Salman Khan was swimming champion in his school days and was tipped to represent India at international events.

    Bollywood Salman Khan
  • ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ (1960) was a trilingual – with all scenes shot thrice in Hindi, Tamil and English. When the Tamil one flopped miserably, the English language one was aborted.

    Bollywood
  • Sunil Dutt initially used to be an RJ for Radio Ceylon and wanted to interview his favorite actress Nargis, but it had to be cancelled when he could not say a single word to her. Later, when he worked with her in ‘Mother India’ (1957), they fell in love and got married.

    Bollywood Dharmendra
  • Amitabh is a great fan of Brazilian soccer players. His favorite however is Rudd Gullit. He also has a fondness for golf.

    Amitabh Bachchan Bollywood
  • Shahrukh Khan launched his perfume "SK" with the French perfumers and Jeannes Arthes.

    Bollywood Shahrukh Khan
  • Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge has become a milestone, which is yet to be achieved by anyone even after a decade. It has completed 700 weeks of undeterred run at Mumbai’s Minnerva theatre a couple of years back. It was released nationwide on October 20, 1995.

    Bollywood
  • Salman Khan has been wearing Feroza (turquoise) stone bracelet for the past 15 years.

    Bollywood Salman Khan
  • Feroz Khan started a film titled Kasak in the 1980s. After recording a song he shelved the film. The song was later used in Yalgaar. The song E Mere Watan sung by Mohd Aziz and Nitin Mukesh..

    Bollywood
  • Amitabh Bachchan holds an art degree from Sherwood College, Nainital.

    Amitabh Bachchan Bollywood
  • In the early stages of her career, Karisma Kapoor was mortally terrified of photo-sessions.

    Bollywood Karisma Kapoor
  • Akshay Kumar is son of producer Aruna Bhatia.

    Akshay Kumar Bollywood
  • Shahrukh Father ran a transport company and his mother was a magistrate.

    Bollywood Shahrukh Khan
  • Salman Khan was initially offered the role of Devdas, which was later on enacted by his rival Shahrukh Khan.

    Bollywood Salman Khan Shahrukh Khan
  • In Sholay, both Amit Bachchan and Sanjeev Kumar were more keen to play the dacoit Gabbar Singh which eventually was played by newcomer Amjad Khan.

    Amitabh Bachchan Amjad Khan Bollywood Sanjeev Kumar Sholay 3D
  • In the film ‘Heroine’ Kareena Kapoor wore over 130 different dresses provided from top designers from all over the world. It has been reported that Kareena’s wardrobe for the film was one of the most expensive out of all the Bollywood movies ever created.

    Hrithik Roshan Kareena Kapoor
  • Award winning singer Sonu Nigam played the younger avatar of Sunny Deol in the film 'Betaab'.

    Bollywood Sunny Deol
  • In two completely unconnected movies, Irrfan Khan speaks of 'Richard Parker': the tiger in Life of Pi (2012) and Spiderman's dad in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012).

    Bollywood Irrfan Khan
  • Sholay won only one award even after its mega success at the box office.

    Bollywood Sholay 3D
  • The producers of Ghajini were not keen on casting Asin opposite Aamir Khan as she is a South Indian actress. However, Aamir was so much impressed with Asin’s performance in the original Tamil version that he insisted on her playing the lead. It is said that he personally requested Asin to play the lead in the Hindi version. Priyanka Chopra was the original choice.

    Aamir Khan Bollywood
  • Amitabh Bachchan is so punctual that many a times he used to open the gates of Filmistan Studios himself for he used to reach the place before the watchman or gatekeeper.

    Amitabh Bachchan
  • Dilwale Dulhaniya Lejayenge has won the most number of filmfare awards till date.

    Bollywood
  • Kaho Naa.. Pyar Hai’ was added to the Guinness Book of World Records 2002 edition for winning the most number of awards for a movie. The movie won a total of 92 awards.

    Hrithik Roshan Ileana D Cruz
  • Dil Chahta Hai was written keeping in mind Akshaye Khanna, Hrithik Roshan and Saif Ali Khan. When Hrithik turned down the role, it went to Abhishek Bachchan. However, Aamir Khan was finally roped in. Also Sonali Kulkarni’s role as Pooja was initially offered to Isha Koppikar.

    Aamir Khan Abhishek Bachchan Bollywood Hrithik Roshan
  • On August 21, 1979 Dharmendra converted to Islam, changed his name to Dilawar Khan, got married to actress Hema Malini, as his first wife, Prakash Kaur, could not be divorced either as she was mother his 4 children and he had fallen in love with Hema Malini only from 1975 whereas had married Prakash Kaur in 1954. In accordance with the Hindu Marriage Act it is illegal for a Hindu to get re-married when his first wife is still alive. Two Congress party-members have launched law-suits against him under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code in this connection as he failed to make a declaration of his religion when he joined the Janata Party.

    Bollywood Dharmendra
  • Geet Gaaya Pattharonne was Jeetendra first hit, but that didn't fetch him offers as a lead hero. It was Farz released in 1967, his 4th film appearance and 3rd as the male lead, which made him a known face.

    Bollywood Jeetendra
  • 'Barsaat' was given an 'A' certificate by the censors because actress Nargis was not wearing a dupatta in the film.

    Bollywood
  • Salman Khan wrote films like 'Veer' and 'Chandramukhi'. Unfortunately all three films failed at the Box Office.

    Bollywood Salman Khan
  • Salman Khan in his early days as a struggling actor he never used his father's name and influence like many other heroes with relatives in the industry. He used to visit producers on his own and audition for roles.

    Bollywood Salman Khan
  • For a country that is obsessed with films, there are still very few cinema screens. India has fewer than 13,000 screens compared with nearly 40,000 screens in the US.

    Bollywood
  • Imran Khan is not an Indian citizen, but he is actually a US citizen.
     

    Imran Khan
  • Anurag Basu wanted Katrina Kaif originally to narrate the story in ‘Barfi!’ instead of Ileana D’Cruz. But the director had to go with the latter when Katrina refused due to unknown reasons.

    Bollywood Ileana D Cruz
  • Dilip Kumar has won the most awards as the Best Actor with 8 awards spanning over 3 decades.

    Bollywood
  • Hrithik Roshan loves collecting photographs. He would never travel anywhere without his personal camera even as a child. He has a vast collection photographs and special scrapbooks marking each occasion.

    Bollywood Hrithik Roshan
  • Rakhee favorite snach is cheese and marmalade on crackers.

    Bollywood
  • Shahrukh Khan owns three Production Houses in India, Dreamz Unlimited, Red Chillies Entertainment and Red Chillies Idiot Box. Red Chillies Idiot Box Production house will start producing Television Serials in India.

    Bollywood Shahrukh Khan
  • Emraan Hashmi's grandmother actress Poornima (Zanjeer) was Mahesh Bhatt's mother (Shirin Mohammed Ali) biological sister.

    Bollywood Emraan Hashmi
  • Priyanka Chopra is the only Indian in the USA to have been selected at the state level for the National Opus Honor Choir, extensive charity work back in India and the USA, and joined the CAF and CII in their literacy program and is their ambassador.
     

    Priyanka Chopra
  • The 'Khalnayak' song 'Choli Ke Peeche' was protested by as many as 42 political parties.

    Bollywood Madhuri Dixit
  • Actor Amjad Khan was almost dropped from ‘Sholay’ (1975) because scriptwriter Javed Akhtar found his voice weak for Gabbar Singh's role. Danny Denzongpa was approached for that role initially.

    Bollywood
  • Raj Kapoor’s ‘Mera Naam Joker’ was the first Hindi movie to have two intervals.

    Bollywood
  • Dharmendra did 13 B grade Action films with Hemant Birje in 1991-2003.

    Bollywood Dharmendra
  • Actor Emraan Hashmi used the screen name Farhaan Hashmi for a few months in the early part of his career. He went back to using Emraan Hashmi a short while later.

    Bollywood Emraan Hashmi
  • During the making of 'Sholay' Dharmendra paid the light boys to make mistakes during shots, so that he could embrace Hema Malini again and again.

    Amitabh Bachchan Bollywood Dharmendra Hema Malini Sholay 3D
  • Both Sridevi and Juhi Chawla's daughters name is Jhanvi.

    Bollywood Juhi Chawla
  • When Sridevi was only 13, she played Rajnikanth’s stepmom in a Tamil film called ‘Moondru Mudichu’.

    Bollywood
  • Govinda had got 2007 - Most Stylish Comeback Award at the MTV Lycra Style Awards.

    Bollywood Govinda
  • Saif Ali Khan was the original choice for Shahrukh Khan’s role in ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’. Even Tom Cruise was considered for the role of Raj Malhotra (SRK’s role in the film)

    Bollywood Saif Ali Khan Shahrukh Khan
  • Salman Khan uses a mulmul cloth to wipe his nose. You will never find him with a handkerchief or tissue! 

    Bollywood Salman Khan
  • Shahid Kapoor starting off his career by working in music videos and advertisements, Kapoor made his Bollywood debut as a background dancer in Subhash Ghai's Taal. Later, he made his debut as a lead in Ishq Vishk and won a Filmfare Best Male Debut Award for his performance.

    Bollywood Shahid Kapoor
  • The only time in the history of any Indian award, when the best female playback singer award was shared was between Ila Arun and Alka Yagnik for ‘Choli Ke Peeche’ in ‘Khalnayak’.

    Anil Kapoor Ila Arun
  • Ranbir Kapoor still takes Rs 1,500 pocket Money from his mom every week.

    Ranbir Kapoor
  • SRK joined Barry John's theatre group in New Delhi and learned acting from him, Barry John also taught acting to Manoj Bajpayee in his theatre group.

    Bollywood Shahrukh Khan
  • Salman was offered Baazigar (1993) by Abbas-Mustan, but turned down the film after the makers refused to accommodate changes suggested by his father Salim Khan. The role went to Shah Rukh Khan.

    Bollywood Salman Khan
  • Kareena Kapoor : Kareena's name was derived from the book Anna Karenina, which her mother read while she was pregnant with her. But her family and close friends call her Bebo. 

    Kareena Kapoor
  • Dev Anand held the record for the most solo hero Hindi films starting from 1957 - when Dev already had 40 solo hero films and by 1985 he had 90 solo hero films, which was the maximum by a Hindi hero.

    Bollywood
  • Jaya Bachchan hates to carry handbags, so all her salwar-kameez, formal or informal, all of them, have two pockets on the sides to hold her essentials like keys, combs etc.

    Bollywood
  • Fardeen Khan was arrested on May 5th 2001 in connection with Cocaine Seizure.

    Bollywood
  • Mahima Chaudhary has a shoe fetish. She spends most of her free time shopping for shoes. During one such shopping stint, she actually picked up a dozen pairs of the same variety in every colour available

    Bollywood
  • Shilpa Shetty Did you know Shilpa is scared to drive her car? Yes, the actress doesn't know how to drive a car and always has a driver along with her where ever she goes. 

    Bollywood
  • Bappi Lahiri composed for films starring Jeetendra beginning from Himmatwala. Together Bappi and Jeetendra did 20 films between 1983 to 1988. Of these 20, 16 were silver jubilee hits and 4 were flops.

    Ajay Devgan Bollywood Himmatwala
  • Akshay Kumar won Best Villain award for Ajnabee (2001) as it was his first ever award since his career started in 1991.

    Akshay Kumar Bollywood
  • Because the cinema industry was still considered a low profession in the 40s, music director Naushad was introduced by his parents to his bride as a tailor. And ironically, the music that played in his ‘baraat’ was from ‘Rattan’ (1944) – that had been composed by him.

    Bollywood
  • Lata Mangeshkar's song ‘Ae Malik Tere Bande Hum’ from ‘Do Aankhen Barah Haath’ (1957) which was an original composition by Vasant Desai, was adapted by a Pakistani school as the school anthem.

    Bollywood
  • Dharmendra Hema Malini were paired in lead roles romantically in 31 films but have worked in 35 films. Of them, had 20 hits.

    Bollywood Dharmendra Hema Malini
  • Dev Anand picked up his movie titles and story lines from newspaper headlines and stories.

    Bollywood
  • Raj Kapor used to work as a sweeper boy and clapper boy.

    Bollywood
  • Hrithik Roshan had got 30000 (!) marriage proposals on Valentine's day 2000.

    Bollywood Hrithik Roshan
  • The popular United Kingdom Magazine "Guardian" said Lagaan is a must-see movie especially for the British.

    Bollywood
  • Hrithik Roshan was an assistant to his father during the making of Koyla.

    Bollywood Hrithik Roshan
  • Govinda was voted No.10 in a BBC News Online Survey to find out the Top 10 Greatest Stars of Stage and Screen of the last 1000 years.

    Bollywood Govinda
  • Salman Khan suffers from trigeminal neuralgia, a facial nerve disorder commonly known as the suicide disease.

    Bollywood Salman Khan
  • Akshay Kumar was awarded the highest Japanese honour of “Katana” and a sixth degree Black Belt in Kuyukai Gojuryu Karate.

    Akshay Kumar Bollywood
  • Rishi Kapoor is petrified of flying. He cannot board a plane till he is drunk out of his wits.

    Bollywood Rishi Kapoor
  • Farhan did something very unconventional in Bollywood by singing all his songs himself for the movie Rock On!! (2008) as the movie featured him as a rockstar.

    Bollywood Farhan Akhtar
  • Shah Rukh Khan debut film was Dil Aashna Hai but due to the delay in the release of the film Deewana was considered as his debut film.

    Bollywood Shahrukh Khan
  • Raveena Tandon had adopted two girls from an orphanage somewhere around 1997-98. They live with her and go to school.

    Bollywood
  • Shamita Shetty is deeply into Sports and Body training and holds a Diploma in Fashion Designing.

    Bollywood
  • Sunil Dutt initially used to be an RJ for Radio Ceylon and wanted to interview his favorite actress Nargis, but it had to be cancelled when he could not say a single word to her. Later, when he worked with her in ‘Mother India’ (1957), they fell in love and got married.

    Bollywood
  • Govinda actually sang for himself in some of his movies like, "meri pant bhi sexy" from "dulaara" and "gori gori" from "shola aur shabnam".

    Bollywood Govinda
  • Emraan Hashmi did his first film Footpath with the screen name " Farhan Hashmi".

    Bollywood Emraan Hashmi
  • The song ‘Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyon’ in the film by the same name is the longest Hindi film song. The length of this iconic song is 20 minutes and the song is featured in three installments in the film.

    Amitabh Bachchan Jeetendra
  • Shahrukh Khan's first salary was Rs 50 which he earned by working as an usher at a Pankaj Udhas' concert in Delhi. He used the money to take the train to Agra and see the Taj Mahal. 

    Shah Rukh Khan
  • Raj Kapoor was superstitious and went off drinking as well as eating non-vegetarian food before the release of ‘Satyam Shivan Sundaram’ (1978).

    Bollywood
  • Ashok Kumar was a lab assistant in Bombay Talkies before he became an actor in 1936.

    Bollywood
  • Raj Kapoor had promised Feroz Khan that if Rajendra Kumar declined Sangam he would sign him for the film.

    Bollywood
  • Dilip Kumar was offered a lead role in the international project ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ (1962) by director David Lean. However for reasons unknown, the actor declined the offer. The role subsequently went to Egyptian actor Omar Sharif.

    Bollywood
  • Farhan Akhtar directed the music video for the 1998 hit song "Breathless" from the debut album ofShankar Mahadevan, which made him famous. Later on Farhan Akhtar and Shankar Mahadevan went on to collaborate in every movie Farhan directed, with Shankar composing the music for his films as the trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (Shankar Mahadevan,Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa).

    Bollywood Farhan Akhtar
  • Jeetendra career's first blockbuster, without being a remake of a Tamil Film, was Caravan in 1970.

    Bollywood Jeetendra
  • Shahrukh Khan son, Aryan Khan, voice of Tez Lajawaab (Dash), character for Hindi dubbed version of Disney's animated film, The Incredibles (Hum Hain Lajawaab).

    Bollywood Shahrukh Khan