This thread is about "what's in a name".

That's one thing people like to quote from Shakespeare a lot when showing off an idea without telling who actually thought about it. But names, do matter.

Especially in Bollywood.

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The first one that comes to mind is Mr. Dilip Kumar. A fine actor and one of my personal favourites. But he wasn't always Dilip Kumar. He was "Mohammad Yusuf Khan".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilip_Kumar

But he is one of the most well known ones (probably because of his fame).

2/

Did you know that Madhubala was actually "Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi"?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhubala 

Though she is a darling and revered as one of the most beautiful ones, this is a lesser known fact, at least by most people I know (and have known).

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Another famous actress following this pattern is "Meena Kumari". Her actual name was "Mahjabeen Bano".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meena_Kumari

Can you see a trend? Can you spot the fame and see which era / generation they belong to?

4/

Did your parents or grandparents ever tell you about such a thing? Let's follow the trail.

One of the most familiar faces in the 70's was Reena Roy. According to Wikipedia (and the citations therein): "Reena Roy was born Saira Ali"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reena_Roy 

Shocked?

5/

The famous comedian of yesteryears, "Johnny Walker" is actually "Badruddin Jamaluddin Kazi".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Walker_(actor)

Just in case you are wondering "Did the whiskey brand come first or the actor did?" - The whiskey brand was there first (way before the actor was born).

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But did you know "Mona Darling" that the person "Jinhe saara sheher Lion ke naam se jaanta hai" - his real name was "Hamid Ali Khan"?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajit_Khan 

I can bet at least 9/10 people do not know about this one!

7/

So here is the pattern: during the early days of Bollywood, people changed their names for films so that they were perceived to belong from another religion. A major reason cited (wikipedia) is that they wanted "Success" in a "Hindu majority" country.

No actor does that now.

8/

Now let's look at a related trend which is pretty apparent:

Shahrukh's wife is Gauri.
Aamir Khan's wives were/are Reema Dutta/Kiran Rao
Saif's wives - Amrita Singh/Kareena Kapoor
Farhan Akhtar - Adhuna Bhabani

There are so many other examples of successful actor couples.

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I hope and wish they all stay happy and keep enjoying the success. Now let's check the pattern of so-called unsuccessful ones:

Soha Ali Khan - a fine actress almost suddenly disappeared. Her husband - a good actor himself is almost out of Bollywood too.

10/

Have you heard of "Aditya Pancholi"? He was an okay actor but he got lost with time. It was also the time when Naseeruddin Shah rose to prominence. Do you know their wives names? Try searching the web about it.

11/

While success comes in part due to talent, some part of it does depend on the chances you get. The recent issue of Sushant Singh Rajput has gotten some limelight into the practice within Bollywood and that got me searching the web and I discovered this pattern.

12/

I started looking out for patterns of nepotism and instead found the patterns of effect of religion on Bollywood - how being successful required one to have a Hindu name (and actors changing their stage names) to most successful banners almst always cast non-hindu actors now

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There are more interesting patterns that I have found which I would share later.

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