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.

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 relationships you may not know about

There are many Bollywood relationships that most of us are unaware about. Check out this list of relationships you might not have known.

(Also read – Bollywood celebs before stardom)

Bachchan family

Amitabh’s daughter Shweta is married to industrialist Nikhil Nanda, who is the son of Ritu Nanda – daughter of Raj Kapoor and Krishna Raj Kapoor. So the Bachchans and the Kapoors – the two biggest families in Bollywood – are actually related!

Sidharth Malhotra

Director Sidharth Malhotra of ‘We Are Family’ fame is the grandson of actor Prem Nath. We’re pretty sure only a few people knew that!

(Try reading – Top 5 highest grossing Bollywood films)

Sharman Joshi

Sharman is married to Prerna Chopra, daughter of actor Prem Chopra. Whereas, Prem’s other daughter Punita is married to actor Vikas Bhalla.

Fardeen Khan

Fardeen Khan is married to Natasha Madhwani who is the daughter of veteran actress Mumtaz.

Shekhar Kapur

Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur is actually the nephew of legendary actor Dev Anand. Kapur is the son of Dev Anand’s sister, Sheel Kanta Kapur.

(You may find this interesting – Bollywood celebrities who changed their names)

Mithun Chakravarthy

Mithun is married to Geeta Bali’s daughter Yogeeta Bali. Geeta was the first wife of actor Shammi Kapoor.

Tabu

Niece of Shabana Azmi, Tabu gained stardom from a young age. She is also the sister of actress Farha Naaz.

Abhishek Kapoor

Abhishek Kapoor, who was the director of ‘Rock On’ is the nephew of Jeetendra, thus the cousin of Ekta Kapoor and Tusshar Kapoor.

Shakti Kapoor

One of Bollywood’s most famous villains, Shakti Kapoor, is the brother-in-law of Padmini Kolhapure. He is married to Padmini’s sister Shivangi.

Vidhu Vinod Chopra

Ramanand Sagar and Vidhu Vinod Chopra are half brothers. Their father married Vinod’s mother after Ramanand’s mother passed away.

Ranveer Singh

Actor Ranveer Singh, who is rumoured to be a Deepika Padukone’s flame, is Sonam Kapoor’s maternal cousin.

Simi Garewal

Simi Garewal is the first cousin of Yash Chopra’s wife Pamela. Simi’s mother Darshi and Pamela’s father Mohinder Singh were siblings. Interestingly, it was Simi who had introduced Pamela to Yash at a wedding!

(Also read – Houses of Bollywood actors)

Farhan Akthar

Farhan and Zoya Akthar are the cousins of Sajid and Farah Khan – their mothers are sisters. Quite surprising isn’t it?

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!