The Brunette Diaries

Bollywood stars and their lucky charms

In films, sports and politics, we have often heard of superstitions that people follow to assure success. Bollywood stars, in fact, have this ingrained in their lifestyles. Let us look at some quirky superstitions that Bollywood stars have.

Amitabh Bachchan

Though the superstar ditched all his rings a few years ago, we cannot forget when Amitabh sported several rings on his long fingers. In fact, the longest finger on his left hand had two rings. Amitabh believed in these gem-stone rings quite religiously since his career flourished only after he started wearing them.

Salman Khan

This superstar stud may leave the house without his shirt but he will never leave the house without his turquoise blue bracelet. Salman’s father who sports a similar bracelet had gifted him this one. A number of ardent Salman fans have also sported similar bracelets. I’m sure you might have come across at least one such fan.

Imran Khan

Imran doesn’t have any lucky charms as such but he always asks for his movies to be released in the first week of July. ‘Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Naa’, ‘I Hate Luv Storys’ and ‘Delhi Belly’ released in that week and were successful. Besides this, Imran believes that if his wife Avantika features as a special appearance in his movie, then it is bound to be a hit. He cites examples of movies like ‘Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Naa’, ‘I Hate Luv Storys’ and ‘Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu’.

Mugdha Godse

Mugdha feels that her life has become more peaceful after getting herself a spiritual tattoo. The tattoo reads ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ in the Devanagri script.

Dia Mirza

Dia Mirza always carries with her a Buddhist blessing written on a paper that her mother had gifted her. Dia feels that this brings her blessings and prosperity.

Bollywood celebrities and their obsession with luxury cars

When it comes to Bollywood celebrities, luxury is a word that is easily associated while describing them. Luxury houses, luxury amenities and how can we overlook their luxury cars. Here we take a look at some lavishly spending Bollywood celebrities and their mean machines.

Sanjay Dutt

Car crazy Sanjay Dutt is a proud owner of a bright red Ferrari 599 GTB. The estimated prize is somewhere close to Rs. 5.5 crore for this car. Besides this, he also owns a whole fleet of cars including a Porsche SUV. Sanjay gifted his wife Manyata a Rolls Royce Ghost on the birth of their twins.

Twinkle Khanna

Akshay Kumar’s wife is one of the few Bentley owners in Mumbai. Gifted by Akshay, this car is said to be worth around Rs. 3 crore.

Sunil Shetty

Sunil owns a civilian version of the Hummer H3 which is used by the US army. This car costs approximately Rs. 1.5 crore.

Amitabh Bachchan

Vidhu Vinod Chopra gifted Amitabh Bachchan a Rolls-Royce Phantom while working with him for the movie ‘Eklavya’. This car is the costliest in Amitabh’s collection.

Abhishek Bachchan

Amitabh gifted his son, Abhishek, a luxurious Bentley Continental GT on his 31st birthday. This car costs more than two crore and has sophisticated touch screen controls and rotary switches.

Ajay Devgn

It is a well known fact that Ajay is a car fanatic. This car crazy actor has a BMW Z4, a Maserati, a Ferrari and a Mercedes Z-class. Quite an impressive collection, we’d say!

Shilpa Shetty

Not too long ago, Shilpa received a Lamborghini from husband Raj Kundra. This car, besides being one of the fastest cars ever, costs a whopping Rs. 3.6 crore.

Houses of Bollywood actors

The grandeur of Bollywood celebrities is best expressed with their lavish houses around the city. Here we take a look at some celebrities and their houses.

Amitabh Bachchan

Amitabh owns three houses Jalsa, Prateeksha and Janak which are all located in the posh Juhu Scheme area of Mumbai, and are at walking distance from each other. The Bachchans initially used to stay in Jalsa, but after Abhishek Bachchan gained stardom they moved into the bigger Prateeksha. Janak is used as an office. Every Sunday, whenever Senior Bachchan is in town, he makes it a point to greet his fans outside his house, Jalsa. Fans, who know about his practice, start gathering outside the famous abode by 5 PM, so that they get to see this legendary star from as close as possible.

Shah Rukh Khan

Shah Rukh has a palatial sea facing house named ‘Mannat’ in Bandra, Mumbai. The house has six floors each catering to a different need. It has a private cinema, a library, a gym and a few rooms for photo shoots. Shah Rukh lives with his wife Gauri, two children and sister Lala Rukh Khan.

Deepika Padukone

Daughter of legendary badminton player Prakash Padukone, Deepika stays in a four bedroom spread with three parking lots in the BeauMonde Towers near the Siddivinayak temple in Prabhadevi, Mumbai. It is on the 26th floor and is worth INR 16 crores. This apartment has been rumoured to have been gifted by her ex boyfriend Sidharth Mallya. But if it was indeed nothing but a rumour, then Deepika, who was 25 at that time, must be the youngest achiever in B-town to buy such an expensive house!

Salman Khan

This Khan can easily afford a lavish bungalow in the heart of Mumbai; but he chooses to stay in an apartment with his family! His building, Galaxy Apartments, is a landmark and also a tourist attraction in the area, just like his contemporary, SRK’s Mannat. This superstar lives with his parents Salim and Salma Khan, Helen, Arbaaz Khan, Malaika Arora and their son, Sohail Khan and his wife and son, and his sister Arpita.

John Abraham

John Abraham’s sea facing apartment is a duplex is located in Mumbai near the Arabian Sea and has a clear view of it. This house comes in the category of simple yet stunning. Each room of his apartment is finely planned and designed along with the apt furniture and accessories.

Bollywood celebrities who changed their names

Bollywood celebrities have changed their names for various reasons. Numerology, superstition and sometimes just for a better name, celebrities have changed a letter or more in their names. Let us look at a few.

Katrina Kaif

Kat’s surname was Turquotte. After Jackie Shroff’s wife advised Katrina to change her surname in the early days of her career, the long legged beauty did as suggested. The logic behind the change was to let people pronounce her full name without any difficulty.

Mallika Sherawat

This hottie’s real name is Reema Lamba. But after realizing that there were many actresses in the industry with the same name, she decided to change it to Mallika Sherawat to avoid confusion. Sherawat, however, was her mother’s maiden name.

Amitabh Bachchan

Bachchan, also known as Big B has a cult like fan following in India. However, just a few know that in his debut film titled ‘Saat Hindustani’, Amitabh was actually Amitabh Srivastav before he switched to Amitabh Bachchan soon after the film’s disastrous fate.

Akshay Kumar

Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia! We wonder if he would make it big with that name. Akshay Kumar, who was a struggling chef, entered the film industry only after changing his name.

Ajay Devgn

Action choreographer Veeru Devgan named his son Vishal Veeru Devgan. But just before Vishal was to enter filmdom, he got himself a new identity – Ajay. And in 2009, he dropped ‘a’ from his last name.

John Abraham

John’s Parsi name ‘Farhan’ wasn’t interesting enough for him to grab attention. So he chose the name given to him by his father.

Rekha

Rekha, such a nice, small and sweet name. Compare this with Bhanurekha Ganesan. We’re glad she decided to give her name a change!