Rajinikanth - He was born as Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, but when he made his acting debut in 1975 with the movie 'Apoorva Raagangal' his name was changed to Rajinikanth by the director K. Balachander.
Amitabh Bachchan - It is said that initially his father named him as Inquilab Shrivastava, but when his father adopted his pen-name "Bachchan", he changed his name to Amitabh.
Akshay Kumar - He was born as Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia to a Punjabi family. According to some sources "His name, Akshay, has a direct connect with his first-ever film. Gaurav’s name in the film was Akshay. He loved it so much that he decided to adopt it as his official name".
Manoj Kumar - His original name is Harikrishna Giri Goswami. He was so inspired by Dilip Kumar that he decided to name himself Manoj Kumar after Dilip's character (Manoj Kumar) in the 1949 movie "Shabnam".
A.R. Rahman - The Oscar winning music composer was born as Dileep Kumar, and changed his name to Allah-Rakha Rahman, so that it could suit his image.
Sanjeev Kumar - He was born as Harihar Jethalal Jariwala, and opted out this name when he signed his first film with the director Saawan Kumar Tak. He is the one who advised him to change his name.
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