Bollywood is full of glamour, gossip, paparazzi & well-kept secrets. If you thought you knew Bollywood in & out, here’s a list that’ll definitely make you do a double check! This list of some of the most unknown Bollywood facts will seriously blow your mind!
1.Waheeda Rahman has played both mother and lover to Amitabh Bachchan . She played his love interest in ‘Adalat’ (1976) and mother in ‘Trishul’ (1978).
2. Aamir Khan’s ‘Lagaan’ had the maximum number of British actors ever to be cast in a single movie in the history of Bollywood cinema.
3. Sunil Dutt initially used to be an RJ for Radio Ceylon and wanted to interview his favorite actress Nargis. But he could not say a single word in front of her & the interview had to be cancelled. Years later, when he finally got a chance to work with her in ‘Mother India’ (1957), they fell in love and got married.
4.In the film ‘Heroine,’ Kareena Kapoor wore over 130 different dresses by top fashion designers from all over the world. It has been reported that Kareena’s wardrobe for the film was one of the most expensive out of all the Bollywood movies ever created!
5. Saif Ali Khan was the original choice for Shahrukh Khan’s role in ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’. In fact, it is harder to believe that Tom Cruise was also considered for the role of Raj Malhotra!
6. ‘Rockstar’ was shot in reverse, with the climax being shot first. Reason: The film makers did not want to mess Ranbir Kapoor’s hairstyle.
7. 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.
8. Raj Kapoor’s ‘Mera Naam Joker’ was the first Hindi movie to have not one but two intervals!
9. Actor Amjad Khan was almost dropped from the film ‘Sholay’ (1975) because scriptwriter Javed Akhtar found his voice too weak for Gabbar Singh’s role. Danny Denzongpa was approached for that role initially which finally went to Amjad Khan.
10. Srideviwas only 13, when she played Rajnikanth’s step mom in a Tamil film called ‘Moondru Mudichu.’
11. Shekhar Kapur was originally engaged to be married to Shabana Azmi but it didn’t work out.
12. ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ was a trilingual movie – with all scenes shot thrice in Hindi, Tamil & English. When the Tamil one flopped miserably, the English language one was aborted almost immediately!
13. Ila Arun and Alka Yagnik shared the best female playback award for ‘Choli Ke Peeche’ in ‘Khalnayak.’ This was the only time when two playback singers shared an award in the history of Bollywood awards.
Also, this song was protested by as many as 42 political parties!
14. Devika Rani was the first actress with a degree in film-making.
15. ‘Kaho Naa.. Pyar Hai’ was added to the Guinness Book of World Records 2002 edition for winning the most number of awards for a movie. The movie won a total of 92 awards!
16. The song ‘Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyon’ in the film by the same name is the longest Hindi film song. The length of this iconic song is 20 minutes and the song is featured in 3installments in the film.
17. Rajnikanth never said “Enna Rascala! ”
18. Our Mr. Perfectionist, Aamir Khan comes from the pedigree of a very famous revolutionary& eminent writer, none other than, Maulana Abul Kalam Azaad.
19. Bollywood actress Kalki Koechlin’s great-grandfather Maurice Koechlin, was the Chief engineer for the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and also the iconic Statue of Liberty.
20. Hrithik’s actual surname is Nagrath & not Roshan!
21.Ashok Kumar was a lab assistant in Bombay Talkies before he became an actor in 1936.
22. Ranveer Singh, original name, Ranveer Singh Bhavnani is actually Sonam Kapoor’s cousin!
23. Mera Naam Joker & LOC: Kargil both with a run time of 255 minutes are the longest films ever made in India.
Disclaimer: In point 23, as pointed out by one of our readers, LOC: Kargil is not the world’s longest film. But it is the longest film made in India. ‘Tamas’ released in 1987 is 19 minutes longer than LOC: Kargil. However, it was first shown on Doordarshan as mini-series.
