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

    Preity Zinta
  • 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
  • Waheeda Rahman played both mother and lover to Amitabh Bachchan. She played the love interest of Big B in ‘Adalat’ (1976) and mother in ‘Trishul’ (1978).

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

    Akshay Kumar Bollywood
  • Raj Kapoor's nickname for Shashi Kapoor was "Taxi".

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Bollywood Katrina Kaif
  • Lootera movie is based on O'Henry's classic story, 'The Last Leaf'

    Bollywood Ranveer Singh
  • 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
  • Salman Khan's all time favorite actors in bollywood are Megastars Dharmendra and Shatrughan Sinha.

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

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

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

    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
  • Akshay Kumar is son of producer Aruna Bhatia.

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

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

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

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

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

    Bollywood Salman Khan
  • 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
  • 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
  • Amitabh Bachchan He worked in Calcutta for the shipping firm Shaw & Wallace as executive and as a freight broker for Bird and Co. It was in Calcutta that he bought a second-hand Fiat as his first car.
     

    Amitabh Bachchan
  • Being a Muslim man Shahrukh Khan married to a Hindu woman, he and his wife combine both religious backgrounds into their children's education.

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

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

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

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

    Akshay Kumar Bollywood
  • In Ishqiya, Preity Zinta was the makers original choice. However, Vidya Balan took over the female lead.

    Bollywood Preity Zinta Vidya Balan
  • 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
  • Emraan Hashmi did his first film Footpath with the screen name " Farhan Hashmi".

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

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

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

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

    Bollywood Saif Ali Khan Salman 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
  • 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
  • Farhan Akhtar is exactly one day older than actor Hrithik Roshan, who's a close friend in personal life.

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

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

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

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

    Bollywood
  • Hukumat, Dharmendra 74th solo hero film, was highest grosser, at the box office in 1987.

    Bollywood Dharmendra
  • Rekha was a crazy fan of Mumtaz when she entered the industry

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

    Bollywood John Abraham
  • 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