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

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

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

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

    Aamir Khan Bollywood
  • Amitabh Bachchan loves snacking on Bourbon biscuits and cashew nuts.

    Amitabh Bachchan Bollywood
  • Rohit Dhawan had suggested the title ‘Main Tera Hero’ for Varun Dhawan..

    Varun Dhawan
  • Feroz never attended college. Once he cleared his Senior Cambridge exams, he headed for Bombay, where he rented accommodation for Rs 300 a month. His job as an assistant at movie production house Wadia & Bros paid him exactly Rs 300 a month. To earn more money, he became a hustler at a club and placed bets on snooker matches.

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

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

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

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

    Bollywood Hrithik Roshan
  • Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was once rejected for a TV serial dubbing job before she became famous. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Bollywood Shahrukh Khan
  • The film ‘Lagaan’ by Aamir Khan has the most number of British actors playing a significant role in the entire history of Bollywood cinema.

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

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

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

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

    Bollywood Saif Ali Khan Salman Khan
  • 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
  • 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
  • Aamir Khan was supposed to play the role of Max in Josh but later it was played by Shahrukh.

    Aamir Khan 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
  • Madhuri's Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, which is one the biggest Blockbuster films to be have ever made in Bollywood not only broke records in India, but also in abroad. In UK the movie grossed 1 million pounds and created a record which hasn't been broken.

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

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

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

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

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

    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
  • Rakhee favorite snach is cheese and marmalade on crackers.

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

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

    Aamir Khan
  • Salman Khan is the only actor to have had six back to back 100 Crore plus films. Dabangg (2010), Ready (2011), Bodyguard (2011), Ek Tha Tiger (2012), Dabangg 2 (2012) and Jai Ho (2014). His film Wanted (2009) grossed around 100 Crore plus at the Indian Box Office and even did great business at the International Box Office.

    Bollywood Salman Khan
  • 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
  • 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
  • Aamir Khan's favorite sport is Chess and Rubik's cube

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

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

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

    Amitabh Bachchan
  • 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
  • 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
  • Rockstar’ was shot in reverse order, with the climax being shot first. Reason: The makers did not want to disturb the continuity of Ranbir Kapoor’s hairstyle.

    Bollywood Ranbir Kapoor
  • 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
  • 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
  • Hrithik Roshan was awarded the "National Citizen's Award" on August 25 2001 in Delhi. The award recognises excellence in various activities affecting national life.

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

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

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

    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
  • 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
  • When Mithun and Sridevi were involved, Mithun had given Sri a pet name. He used to call her Pepsi. This was before the soft drink came to India.

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

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

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

    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
  • 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
  • Shekhar Kapur's 'Mr. India' was originally written for Amitabh Bachchan but Big B refused to do the 'invisible' role

    Bollywood
  • 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 wears his wedding ring on his right hand.

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

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

    Bollywood Shahrukh 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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