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

    Preity Zinta
  • Diana Penty's role in the film Cocktail was first offered to Deepika Padukone.

    Diana Penty
  • Mohammad Rafi, who loved watching boxing, requested the organisers on his tour to Chicago to get him an appointment with Mohammad Ali. Otherwise a busy man, Ali proceeded to Rafi’s hotel room when he found out that the legendary Indian singer wanted to meet him.

    Bollywood
  • ‘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
  • Anil Kapoor's father Surinder Kapoor was Nargis and Geeta Bali's secretary.

    Anil Kapoor Bollywood
  • Salman studied acting at actress Daisy Irani's acting institute along with his friends Sajid Khan and Chunky Pandey.

    Bollywood Chunky Pandey Salman Khan
  • In Ishqiya, Preity Zinta was the makers original choice. However, Vidya Balan took over the female lead.

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

    Bollywood
  • Shah Rukh Khan always agreed to star in Aditya Chopra's films without looking at the script first.

    Bollywood Shahrukh Khan
  • 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
  • Lagaan is the first Bollywood film in which maximum number of foreigners have worked.

    Aamir Khan
  • Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was once rejected for a TV serial dubbing job before she became famous. 

    Bollywood
  • 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
  • The first motion picture in India was ‘The Wrestlers’ screened in 1899 a portrait photographer called Harischandra Sakharam Bhatavdekar.

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

    Bollywood Emraan Hashmi
  • Anil Kapoor was a child artiste in the shelved film Tu Paayal Main Geet starring Shashi Kapoor. He was playing the role of the young childhood Shashi Kapoor.

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

    Akshay Kumar Bollywood
  • In Don 2, Shah Rukh Khan (Don) is seen riding on a long motorway aboard a bridge, a motorbike, with a license plate reading “Don 3″. Hence, there may be a possibility of a sequel.

    Bollywood Shahrukh Khan
  • Hrithik Roshan fought hard to overcome a stammering problem.

    Bollywood Hrithik Roshan
  • Dev Anand was highest paid Hindi actor from 1957-1964 and and the 2nd highest paid Hindi actor from 1965-1975.

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

    Bollywood
  • 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
  • Jeetendra total film appearances were in 226 films and 121 of them were box office hits and 102 were flops.

    Bollywood Jeetendra
  • Deepika Padukone made her first runway appearance in 2003, at just Seventeen Magazine.

    Deepika Padukone
  • Arjun Rampal has acted with Nicole Kidman in ad for Schweppes Drink, produced by Sir Ridley Scott (Gladiator Director) and directed by Shekhar Kapoor.

    Arjun Rampal Bollywood
  • 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
  • Shahrukh Khan wears his wedding ring on his right hand.

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

    Bollywood
  • Ex-Miss Universe Sushmita Sen adopted a baby girl. Her name is Renee and she lives with Sushmita.

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

    Bollywood
  • While shooting for the underwater scene in KNPH, Hrithik Roshan's foot got stuck in a rocky crevice and he nearly drowned.

    Bollywood Hrithik Roshan
  • Aamir Khan is such a perfectionist! IN the movie Ghulam he did a dangerous stunt where he has to run against a speeding train ALL BY HIMSELF. He almost got killed during that scene

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

    Bollywood Shahrukh Khan
  • Ranbir Kapoor still takes Rs 1,500 pocket Money from his mom every week.

    Ranbir Kapoor
  • Raj kapoor worked as assistant director on Dilip Saab's first film- Jwar Bhata' before making his debut in 'Aag'.

    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
  • Guru Dutt committed suicide in 1964 by an overdoes of sleeping tablets.

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

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

    Bollywood
  • Salman was voted 7th best-looking man in the world by People Magazine.

    Bollywood Salman Khan
  • 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
  • Salman Khan did his first playback singing for the film 'Hello Brother'.

    Bollywood Salman Khan
  • Raj Kapoor used to work as a sweeper boy and clapper boy

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

    Aamir Khan Bollywood
  • Shahrukh Khan Father Meer Mohammed Taj Khan died of Cancer in 1981 and his Mother Lateef Fatima Khan died of complications in Diabetes in 1991.

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

    Bollywood Dharmendra
  • Shah Rukh Khan runs a production company "Dreamz Unlimited" with actress, friend, co-star Juhi Chawla and director, friend Aziz Mirza.

    Bollywood Shahrukh Khan
  • Shahrukh Khan had Graduated from Hansraj College, Delhi University and followed it up with a Masters Degree in Mass Communications (Film making) from Jamia Millia Islamia University, in New Delhi, but after a year Shah Rukh opted out as he had to make his acting career in Bollywood.

    Bollywood Shahrukh Khan
  • Rakhee favorite snach is cheese and marmalade on crackers.

    Bollywood
  • Award winning singer Sonu Nigam played the younger avatar of Sunny Deol in the film 'Betaab'.

    Bollywood Sunny Deol
  • Salman Khan made his debut in 1988 in 'Biwi Ho To Aisi' as Farouq Sheikh's Younger Brother.

    Bollywood Salman Khan
  • Aditya Chopra rejected 24 verses before approving the song 'Mere Khwaabon Mein Jo Aaye' for his debut film DDLJ.

    Bollywood
  • On the sets of Amar Akbar Antony Rishi Kapoor smeared kajal on Neetu Singh's face just before the shoot of a song. Poor girl had to redo her makeup.

    Bollywood Rishi Kapoor
  • 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
  • Indra Sabha with 71 songs is the film with most number of songs.The film was made in 1932 by madan Theatres.

    Bollywood
  • Shahrukh Khan 3rd child was born via a surrogate mother on 27 May, 2013.

    Bollywood Shahrukh Khan
  • Dilwale Dulhaniya Lejayenge has won the most number of filmfare awards till date.

    Bollywood
  • Salman Khan was offered Saif Ali Khan's role in 'Kal Ho Na Ho'

    Bollywood Saif Ali Khan Salman Khan
  • Rishi Kapoor is petrified of flying. He cannot board a plane till he is drunk out of his wits.

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

    Bollywood
  • Raj Thackeray wanted to make a film with Amitabh Bachchan in 2005.

    Amitabh Bachchan
  • Jeetendra got his first major break when film-maker Shantaram cast him as the hero in Geet Gaaya Pattharonne (1964).

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

    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
  • Fans of Amitabh Bachchan built him a temple in Calcutta. The temple has his movies and a lot of info about him.

    Amitabh Bachchan 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
  • Aamir Khan's favorite sport is Chess and Rubik's cube

    Aamir Khan
  • Shahrukh was turned down the Quiz Master's (Prem Kapoor) role in Slumdog Millionaire and the role went to Anil Kapoor.

    Anil Kapoor Bollywood Shahrukh Khan
  • Hrithik Roshan was catapulted overnight to instant superstardom with debut hit film Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000).

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

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

    Bollywood Hrithik Roshan
  • Aishwarya's first ever commercial was for Camlin pencils while in 9th grade.

    Bollywood
  • During the shoot of Gangs of Wasseypur, in Banaras, the assistant director Sohil Shah, died in an accident, when he fell off a bridge while in a jeep. Sohil suffered an instant hemorrhage when he hit his ear against a metal rod.

    Bollywood
  • 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
  • Rani Mukherjee While in school at the age of 14, Rani did a cameo role in her father's Bengali film Biyar Phool (1992).
     

    Rani Mukerji
  • Hrithik Roshan had a stammering problem since childhood. In order to combat the problem, he took speech lessons and, today, he is one of the most eloquent Bollywood stars.
     

    Hrithik Roshan
  • Rohit Dhawan had suggested the title ‘Main Tera Hero’ for Varun Dhawan..

    Varun Dhawan
  • Irfan Khan is the first Bollywood actor who star in two films that won the Academy Award for Best Director (Slumdog Millionaire (2008) and Life of Pi (2012)). Both films also won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography and Best Original Score.

    Bollywood Irrfan Khan
  • In most of Salman's films his character name has been Prem and more recently Radhe and Chulbul Pandey has now been synonymous with him.

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

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

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

    Bollywood Shahrukh Khan
  • Katrina Kaif's father was a Kashmiri Indian.

    Bollywood Katrina Kaif
  • 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
  • ‘Silsila’ (1981) is the only movie in which Shashi played an elder brother to Amitabh. In all the other movies starring the duo, Amitabh has essayed the role of the elder sibling. The films include hits like ‘Deewar’, ‘Suhaag’, ‘Do Aur Do Paanch’ and ‘Namak Halaal’.

    Amitabh Bachchan
  • 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
  • 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
  • Meena Kumari, Nargis, and Madhubala were all discovered as child artistes before they become actresses.

    Bollywood
  • 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
  • During escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, Dilip Kumar had agreed to accept an award from Pakistan, and was threatened by workers of an extreme right-wing political party in Bombay, India. He actually wrote to the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, for protection. The threat has now subsided with improved relations between India and Pakistan.

    Bollywood
  • Salman Khan's real name is Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan.

    Bollywood Salman Khan