49 Fun Facts About Indian Celebrities

Which actor, born in 1942, is often said to have nearly been named Inquilaab, after the slogan 'Inquilab Zindabad'?

Amitabh Bachchan got his name from the poet Sumitranandan Pant, a friend of his father, the poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan; the actor has since said on his quiz show that he was never actually called Inquilaab.

Which Tamil superstar, born Shivaji Rao Gaikwad, was a Bangalore bus conductor before acting?

Rajinikanth was still a conductor with the Bangalore Transport Service when his friend and co-worker Raj Bahadur pushed him to join the Madras Film Institute and helped pay his way.

Which future India captain worked as a travelling ticket examiner at Kharagpur from 2001 to 2003?

MS Dhoni checked tickets for South Eastern Railway until 2003, made his India debut the next year, and by 2007 was captain of the side that won the first T20 World Cup.

Which actress, later the star of Main Hoon Na, was the first Indian crowned Miss Universe, in 1994?

Sushmita Sen had beaten Aishwarya Rai to the Miss India title months earlier; Rai, the runner-up, was sent to Miss World instead and won that too.

Which batter made his Test debut against Pakistan in Karachi in November 1989, aged just 16?

Sachin Tendulkar was struck on the nose by a Waqar Younis bouncer in the final Test of that series, waved away medical help and batted on as it bled.

Which Jamshedpur-born actress was the first South Asian to headline a US network drama, in Quantico?

Priyanka Chopra, already a Bollywood star, signed a talent deal with ABC before being cast as FBI recruit Alex Parrish, the role that won her two People's Choice Awards.

Which action star, born Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia, worked as a chef and waiter in Bangkok before acting?

Akshay Kumar spent five years in Bangkok learning Thai boxing, then taught martial arts in Bombay, where a student's father steered him into modelling.

Which actress made her Hollywood debut opposite Vin Diesel in xXx: Return of Xander Cage (2017)?

Deepika Padukone, daughter of badminton champion Prakash Padukone, played the sport at national level as a teenager before giving it up to model.

Which Madurai-born engineer became chief executive of Google in 2015 and of its parent Alphabet in 2019?

Sundar Pichai, born Pichai Sundararajan, joined Google in 2004 and rose by leading the team behind its Chrome browser.

Which British actress, born in Hong Kong, married Vicky Kaushal at a fort in Rajasthan in December 2021?

Katrina Kaif, born Katrina Turcotte, spoke so little Hindi at first that voice artists dubbed her lines in most of her early films.

Which singer, named Hema at birth, was renamed after Latika, a character in one of her father's plays?

Lata Mangeshkar sang the patriotic 'Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo' in the presence of Jawaharlal Nehru in January 1963, in the shadow of the Sino-Indian War.

Which actress, daughter of Tamil star Gemini Ganesan, won a National Award for playing the courtesan Umrao Jaan?

Rekha, born Bhanurekha Ganesan, left school in her early teens to act; arriving in Bombay with no Hindi and mocked for her looks, she remade herself into one of Hindi cinema's great stars.

Which Hindi film legend was born Muhammad Yusuf Khan in Peshawar's Qissa Khawani Bazaar?

Dilip Kumar's childhood house in Peshawar was declared a national heritage monument by Pakistan's government in 2014.

Which industrialist led his family group from 1991 to 2012, buying Tetley, Corus and Jaguar Land Rover?

Ratan Tata retired in 2012 but came back four years later, replacing his own successor Cyrus Mistry as interim chairman until February 2017.

Which billionaire's family home is Antilia, a 27-storey private tower in Mumbai?

Mukesh Ambani's Antilia, named after a mythical island, sat unlived-in for months after its 2010 housewarming; the family moved in only in September 2011, amid press talk that its vastu, a tradition akin to feng shui, was wrong.

Which composer was born Dileep Kumar in Madras?

A. R. Rahman took his new name when he and his family converted to Islam in his early twenties; fans know him as the 'Mozart of Madras' and 'Isai Puyal', the Musical Storm.

Which singer was unofficially banned by All India Radio and Doordarshan from May 1976 during the Emergency?

Kishore Kumar was blacklisted by broadcasting minister Vidya Charan Shukla after refusing to sing at a Congress party rally, and stayed off state airwaves until the Emergency ended.

Which actress made her screen debut as a small child in the 1967 Tamil film Kandhan Karunai?

Sridevi, cited as Indian cinema's first female superstar, went straight from child roles to heroine without, by her own account, ever experiencing school or college life.

Which actor's charity Being Human sells T-shirts and other products to help the underprivileged?

Salman Khan also launched SKBH Productions in 2011, with profits from its films donated to the Being Human organisation.

Which shooter's two Paris 2024 bronzes made her the first Indian since independence to win two medals at one Olympics?

Manu Bhaker won 10 m air pistol bronze and a mixed-team bronze with Sarabjot Singh, three years after a pistol malfunction wrecked her Tokyo Games.

Which tennis player's bronze at Atlanta 1996 was India's first individual Olympic medal in 44 years?

Leander Paes beat Brazil's Fernando Meligeni for the medal despite a badly injured wrist, and through Paris 2024 remained the only Indian with an Olympic tennis medal.

Which Infosys co-founder, who began with ₹10,000 lent by his wife in 1981, is Rishi Sunak's father-in-law?

Narayana Murthy founded Infosys in Pune with six fellow engineers on his wife Sudha Murty's savings, and ran it as chief executive for the next 21 years.

Which billionaire left Stanford at 21 to run his late father's vegetable-oil company?

Azim Premji renamed the cooking-oil maker Wipro and, after IBM left India, steered it into computers, turning a shortening and soap firm into a software giant.

Which actor won both Filmfare Best Debut and Best Actor for Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai (2000), directed by his father?

Hrithik Roshan had stammered since the age of six and needed daily speech therapy; before his debut he worked as an assistant director on four of his father's films.

Which actor's television debut was hosting Satyamev Jayate, a talk show on social issues, in May 2012?

Aamir Khan's first episode, on female foeticide, led Rajasthan's chief minister to meet him and agree to a fast-track court for the cases it exposed.

Which superstar made his television debut as cadet Abhimanyu Rai in the 1989 army serial Fauji?

Shah Rukh Khan had first been cast in Lekh Tandon's serial Dil Dariya, but production delays let Fauji reach screens first.

Which Student of the Year (2012) debutante starred opposite Gal Gadot in Netflix's Heart of Stone?

Alia Bhatt had first appeared on screen as a child in the 1999 thriller Sangharsh, thirteen years before her first leading role.

Which actress, daughter of Randhir and Babita, won Filmfare Best Actress as Geet in Jab We Met (2007)?

Kareena Kapoor was first cast in another 2000 blockbuster but walked out days into shooting, making her debut later that year in Refugee instead.

Which actor, raised in Tonk and Jaipur, played the adult Pi Patel in Ang Lee's Life of Pi?

Irrfan Khan was picked as a young cricketer for the CK Nayudu Trophy but could not afford to go; he turned to acting and joined the National School of Drama in 1984.

Which Tamil actor-politician won a President's gold medal at age six for Kalathur Kannamma (1960)?

Kamal Haasan got the part after a doctor friend of his mother took him along on a house call to producer A. V. Meiyappan, whose son recommended the boy.

Which actress, who played Anarkali in Mughal-e-Azam, was born Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi in Delhi in 1933?

Madhubala was spotted at nine by Bombay Talkies' head Devika Rani, became the 'Venus of the Indian screen', and died at only 36 of a heart defect.

Which star of Aradhana and Anand scored 17 consecutive box-office hits between 1969 and 1971?

Rajesh Khanna, Hindi cinema's 'first superstar', entered films by winning the 1965 All India Talent Contest run by United Producers and Filmfare, and debuted in Aakhri Khat in 1966.

Which actor played the dual role of Amarendra and Mahendra in the two Baahubali films?

Prabhas reshaped his body for the two parts, getting lean to play the son and bulking up to about 105 kg to play the father.

Which Tamil actor wrote and sang the viral hit 'Why This Kolaveri Di'?

Dhanush dashed off the song's broken 'Tanglish' words, saying they just came to him; within a week of its release in November 2011 the video had millions of views.

Which director, son of screenwriter V. Vijayendra Prasad, made both Baahubali films and RRR?

S. S. Rajamouli keeps his films in the family: his father wrote the stories of Baahubali and RRR, and his cousin M. M. Keeravani composed RRR's Oscar-winning 'Naatu Naatu'.

Which actor worked a year as a chemist in Vadodara before starring in Anurag Kashyap's Gangs of Wasseypur?

Nawazuddin Siddiqui, a chemistry graduate, was so broke in his early Mumbai years that a drama-school senior let him share a flat only if he cooked the meals.

Which playback star from Jiaganj in West Bengal began as a contestant on the 2005 reality show Fame Gurukul?

Arijit Singh was Spotify's most-streamed artist in India every year from 2019 to 2025, yet still lives mainly in his small hometown rather than Mumbai.

Which Faridabad-born singer won a National Film Award for the title song of Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003)?

Sonu Nigam first sang in public at four, joining his father on stage for Mohammed Rafi's 'Kya Hua Tera Wada'; fans later nicknamed him the 'Modern Rafi'.

Which singer-actor became the first Indian Punjabi artist to perform at Coachella, in April 2023?

Diljit Dosanjh made his Hindi film debut in Udta Punjab (2016), winning Filmfare's Best Male Debut, and sang 'Born to Shine' on Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show in 2024.

Which Indian classical musician, who taught Beatle George Harrison, is the father of jazz singer Norah Jones?

Ravi Shankar played the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and Woodstock in 1969, and the Concert for Bangladesh album won the Grammy for Album of the Year.

Which Carnatic singer from Madurai was the first Indian to perform at the UN General Assembly, in 1966?

M. S. Subbulakshmi, Kunjamma to her family, once drew from Nehru the line 'Who am I, a mere Prime Minister, before a Queen, a Queen of Music?'

Which India batter married actress Athiya Shetty, daughter of Suniel Shetty, in January 2023?

KL Rahul owes his name to a mix-up: his father, a Sunil Gavaskar fan, meant to name him after Gavaskar's son but misremembered Rohan as Rahul.

Which opener from Sangli was the first Indian to score a century in all three formats of women's cricket?

Smriti Mandhana completed the set with a T20 international hundred against England in June 2025, months before helping India win the Women's World Cup for the first time.

Which all-rounder won an Audi 100 as 'Champion of Champions' at the 1985 World Championship of Cricket?

Ravi Shastri made 182 runs and took eight wickets, and Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi ordered customs to waive the heavy import duty on his prize car.

Which shuttler from Hisar won India's first Olympic badminton medal, a bronze at London 2012?

Saina Nehwal took the bronze when her Chinese opponent Wang Xin was forced to withdraw injured; in 2015 she became the first Indian to reach a World Championships final.

Which athlete, schooled in Panipat, became India's youngest individual Olympic champion at Tokyo 2020?

Neeraj Chopra joined a gym after being teased about his weight, saw javelin throwers training at Panipat's Shivaji Stadium and took up the sport; in 2025 he became the first Indian past 90 m.

Which Ghaziabad-born actress won Miss Universe 2000 in Cyprus, then toured 42 countries as titleholder?

Lara Dutta's crown was part of a rare Indian treble in 2000, when the Miss World and Miss Asia Pacific titles also went to Indian contestants.

Which Chandigarh-raised model won Miss Universe 2021 in Eilat, Israel, while still a master's student?

Harnaaz Sandhu ended her final answer on stage with 'I believed in myself and that's why I am standing here today'; as a child she had spent two years in England.

Which beauty queen from Rohtak, crowned in Sanya in 2017, debuted as Sanyogita in Samrat Prithviraj?

Manushi Chhillar was a medical student when she won, after telling the judges that the job deserving the highest salary, respect and love was a mother's.