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

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

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

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

    Bollywood Sholay 3D
  • Jeetendra got his first major break when film-maker Shantaram cast him as the hero in Geet Gaaya Pattharonne (1964).

    Bollywood Jeetendra
  • Akshay Kumar is superstitious. He will never write anything on a page unless he first heads it with an ‘Om’.

    Akshay Kumar
  • Shahrukh 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
  • 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
  • Salman Khan was offered Saif Ali Khan's role in 'Kal Ho Na Ho'

    Bollywood Saif Ali Khan Salman Khan
  • Parineeti Chopra was a nerd in her school days & stood first all over India in her 12th standard exams. For this, she was rewarded by the then President of India.
     

    Bollywood Parineeti Chopra
  • 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
  • Sushmita Sen Did you know that former beauty queen and actress Sushmita Sen keeps a python as a pet?
     

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

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

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

    Bollywood Salman Khan
  • Govinda had a narrow escape from death on January 5, 1994. While travelling to a studio for the shooting of 'Khuddar (1994)', the actor's car hit another car, resulting in him sustaining injuries to his head. Though bleeding profusely, Govinda did not cancel the shooting. After visiting a doctor, he shot for the film till midnight.

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

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

    Bollywood Salman Khan
  • Once the sound era in films started with Alam Ara in India, the second film after Alam Ara, Indrasabha had a record 71 songs.

    Bollywood
  • Hrithik Has twoo thumbs on his right hand that are grown together.

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

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

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

    Bollywood Nana Patekar
  • ‘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
  • Salman Khan's all time favorite actors in bollywood are Megastars Dharmendra and Shatrughan Sinha.

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

    Ranbir Kapoor
  • 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
  • Farhan Akhtar is exactly one day older than actor Hrithik Roshan, who's a close friend in personal life.

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

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

    Bollywood Salman Khan
  • Model turned actress Malaika Arora is Salman Khan sister-in-law. Actor turned director Atul Agnihotri is his brother-in-law.

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

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

    Bollywood Dharmendra
  • 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
  • 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
  • Anil Kapoor shaved-off his mustache, for the first time, while filming Lamhe (1991). He has also done so for Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kaate (1998) and Salaam-E-Ishq (2007).

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

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

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

    Aamir Khan Bollywood
  • 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
  • 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
  • Salman Khan likes to collect soaps. In his bathroom, there is a collection of all kinds of handmade and herbal soaps. His favourites are soaps made from natural fruit and vegetable extracts.

    Bollywood Salman Khan
  • Anil Kapoor is the director of Asian Academy of film and television film city noida which conducts film degree programs and is rated as top 10 in the world

    Anil Kapoor Bollywood
  • The longest film in the world is also a Bollywood film. ‘LOC: Kargil’ is 4 hours and 25 minutes long and if you plan to catch this war saga, we recommend you’re sitting comfortably.

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

    Bollywood Rishi Kapoor
  • 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
  • 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 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
  • Anil Kapoor’s family lived in Raj Kapoor’s garage when they first moved to Mumbai. Later they shifted to a room in one of Mumbai’s middle-class suburbs.

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

    Bollywood Salman Khan Shahrukh Khan
  • Rekha was a crazy fan of Mumtaz when she entered the industry

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

    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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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 nickname for Shashi Kapoor was "Taxi".

    Bollywood
  • 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
  • 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
  • Shah Rukh Khan studied in St. Columba's school, New Delhi, where he was awarded the 'Sword of Honor', essentially the award for best student.

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

    Bollywood
  • Devdas was the first film of the pair Dilip Kumar-Vyjanthimala, which though a box office flop, fetched awards for most of the crew and Vyjanthimala got nominated for Best Actress at Filmfare and Dilip Kumar got Best Actor award at Filmfare.

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

    Bollywood Katrina Kaif
  • Devika Rani was the first actress with a degree in film-making.

    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
  • Jeetendra and Rajesh Khanna went to the same school and college - St.Sebastain Goan School and Kishanchand Chellaram College. But unlike Khanna, who actively participated in inter-college competitions and won many awards, Jeetendra never participated in any drama competitions during his college days.

    Bollywood Jeetendra Rajesh Khanna
  • 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
  • John Abraham voice was dubbed by another actor in his first film Jism (2003).

    Bollywood John Abraham
  • 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
  • In his youth, actor Dharmendra was such a big fan of actress Suraiya that he walked miles to watch her film ‘Dillagi’ (1949) over 40 times.

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

    Bollywood Emraan Hashmi
  • 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
  • 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
  • Hrithik Roshan was catapulted overnight to instant superstardom with debut hit film Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000).

    Bollywood Hrithik Roshan
  • Shahrukh Khan wears his wedding ring on his right hand.

    Bollywood Shahrukh Khan
  • Akshay Kumar studied martial arts in Bangkok before becoming an actor.

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

    Bollywood Govinda
  • Jeetendra’s first film was ‘Navrang’ (1959), where he played Sandhya’s body double.

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

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

    Bollywood
  • Dharmendra starred in Alok Chitra's shelved film " Kahin Deep Jale Kahin Dil " in 1965. The film co starred Shashi Kapoor. This would have been the first film they both worked in.

    Bollywood Dharmendra
  • 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
  • Salman Khan arrested by police under the charge of having connection with underworld mafia. He was also questioned about Bharat S. Shah, a producer of Chori Chori Chupke Chupke (2001) since Shah has also been linked with underworld mafia.

    Bollywood Salman Khan
  • At the time of marriage, Dilip Kumar was 44 and Saira Banu was 22.

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

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

    Deepika Padukone
  • The 1957 film Musafir had one Dilip Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar where sings in Dilips own voice....Lagi nahin chhote rama kahe jiya jai. The film was critically acclaimed.

    Bollywood