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

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

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

    Amitabh Bachchan
  • Bhanu Athaiya was the First Indian to Get an Oscar. She won the award for the Best Costume Designer for Richard Attenborough’s film Gandhi in 1982.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    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
  • Amir Khan's wife Reena and Shah Rukh Khan's Wife Gauri share the same birthday, October 8th.

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

    Bollywood
  • Akshay Kumar is son of producer Aruna Bhatia.

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

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

    Bollywood Jeetendra
  • Both Sridevi and Juhi Chawla's daughters name is Jhanvi.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Bollywood Emraan Hashmi
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • ‘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 uses a mulmul cloth to wipe his nose. You will never find him with a handkerchief or tissue! 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Bollywood Madhuri Dixit
  • 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 wears his wedding ring on his right hand.

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

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

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

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

    Bollywood Salman Khan Shahrukh Khan
  • Kajol's Favorite ring is an OM studded with diamonds which she wears both On and Off screen.

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Bollywood Rishi Kapoor
  • 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