Shah Rukh Khan also known as SRK (born Shahrukh Khan; 2 November 1965), is an Indian film actor, producer and television personality. Referred to in the media as "Baadshah of Bollywood", "King of Bollywood" or "King Khan", he has appeared in over 80 Hindi films in genres including romance, action and comedy. His work in Bollywood has earned him numerous accolades, including fourteen Filmfare Awards from thirty nominations. For his contribution to film, the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri, and the Government of France has awarded him both the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and the Légion d'honneur. Khan was the second-richest actor in the world in 2014, with a net worth of US$600 million.

Khan started his career in theatre and appeared in several television series in the late 1980s. He made his Bollywood debut in 1992 with Deewana. Early in his career, Khan was recognised for his unconventional choice of portraying negative roles in the films Darr (1993), Baazigar (1993), and Anjaam (1994). He then rose to prominence by playing a series of roles in romantic dramas, including Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001). Khan later earned critical acclaim for his portrayal of an alcoholic man in Devdas (2002), a NASA scientist in Swades (2004), a hockey coach in Chak De! India (2007), and an autistic man in My Name Is Khan (2010). Thirteen of the films he has acted in have accumulated gross earnings of over INR1 billion (US$16 million) worldwide, making him one of the most successful leading actors of Hindi cinema.

Khan is currently co-chairman of the motion picture production company Red Chillies Entertainment and its subsidiaries, and is a co-owner of the Indian Premier League cricket team Kolkata Knight Riders. In 2007, he made his debut as a television presenter with the Star Plus game show Kaun Banega Crorepati. Media often label him "Brand SRK" because of his brand endorsement and entrepreneurship ventures. Khan has also been involved in philanthropic endeavours related to health care, relief funds, and children's education—for which he was honoured with UNESCO's Pyramide con Marni award in 2011. He is considered to be one of the biggest film stars in India and has a massive fan following; the Los Angeles Times described him as perhaps the world's biggest movie star.He regularly features in listings of the most influential people in Indian culture and in 2008, Newsweek named him one of the 50 most powerful people in the world.

Early life and background

Khan was born on 2 November 1965 in New Delhi. He spent the first five years of his life in Mangalore where his maternal grandfather Ifthikar Ahmed served as chief engineer of the port in the 1960s.According to Khan, his paternal grandfather was from Afghanistan. Khan's father Meer Taj Mohammed Khan, an ethnic Pashtun, was an Indian independence activist from Peshawar, British India (present-day Pakistan), a follower of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, and was affiliated with the All Indian National Congress. He moved to New Delhi before the 1947 partition of India. Khan's mother Lateef Fatima was the daughter of a senior government engineer.[16][b] His parents met when his mother was involved in an auto accident, and his father (who is 13 years older than she) rescued her, took her to the hospital, and donated blood. They were married in 1959. Khan described himself on Twitter as "half Hyderabadi (mother), half Pathan (father), some Kashmiri (grandmother)". His cousin in Peshawar claims that the family is actually of Hindkowan origin, and also contradicts the claim that his grandfather Jan Muhammad was from Afghanistan.

Khan grew up in the Rajendra Nagar neighbourhood of Delhi. His father had several business ventures including a restaurant, and the family lived a middle class life in rented apartments. Khan attended St. Columba's School where he received the school's highest award, the Sword of Honour. In his youth, he acted in stage plays and was popular for imitating Bollywood actors. One of his childhood friends and acting partners was Amrita Singh, who later became a Bollywood actress. His favourite actors at the time were Mumtaz and Amitabh Bachchan. Khan enrolled at Hansraj College (1985–1988) to earn his Bachelors degree in Economics, but spent much of his time at Delhi's Theatre Action Group (TAG),where he studied acting under the mentorship of theatre director Barry John. He started studying for a Masters Degree in Mass Communications at Jamia Millia Islamia, but left to pursue his career. He also attended the National School of Drama, Delhi during his early career in Bollywood. His father died of cancer when Khan was in his mid teens,[c] and his mother died in 1991 from complications of diabetes.

Khan married Gauri Chibber, a Punjabi Hindu, in a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony on 25 October 1991, after a six year courtship. According to Khan, while he strongly believes in Islam, he also values his wife's religion. At home, his children follow both religions; the Qur'an is situated next to the Hindu deities. They have a son Aryan (born 1997) and a daughter Suhana (born 2000). In 2013 they became parents of a third child named AbRam through a surrogate mother.Khan has an older sister Shahnaz Lalarukh who was born in 1960. After the death of their parents, she went into depression and Khan took on the responsibility of caring for her. Shahnaz continues to live with the Khans in their Mumbai mansion.

Popularity and wealth

Khan is considered one of the biggest movie stars in the world and is referred to by the media as "King Khan", "The Baadshah of Bollywood", and "The King of Bollywood".In 2011, Steven Zeitchik of the Los Angeles Times said, "He is the biggest movie star you've never heard of. And perhaps the world's biggest movie star, period."[8] His popularity in India has been attributed to his emergence during the liberalisation and changing economic scenario of the 1990s; he was able to personify an ambitious, assertive and yet feel-good India. His popularity reaches beyond India as well; from 1989 through 2003, he starred in seven of the top ten Hindi films in the U.K.

Shah Rukh Khan posing outside at a film festival

Khan at the International Film Festival of Marrakech in 2012
Khan is the object of a sometimes fanatical following, with a fan base estimated to number over one billion. On streets of India, posters of him are sold next to those of religious deities, and shrines have been built in his honour. Fans have changed their name to match his, sent him letters written in blood, and wait outside his home hoping for a sighting. In August 2009 Khan was detained at the Newark, New Jersey airport when a name similar to his "popped up on the computer". When he was taken to a room for questioning, some officers and other detainees recognised him and asked for autographs.

Khan is one of the wealthiest and most powerful celebrities in India. In 2009, his net worth was estimated at over US$540 million. In 2013, according to the Hurun Report, Khan was placed in the 114th position on a list of the wealthiest Indians, with personal assets of over $400 million. In 2014, the firm Wealth X ranked Khan second in their listing of the richest actors in the world, with an estimated net worth of $600 million. Khan was the only Bollywood actor to feature in the list. Khan was placed at number one on Box Office India's list of top actors for the first time in 1994, and repeated the feat in 1995 and 1998, and from 2002 to 2008. For his work in the 2000s, Khan was considered one of the ten "Most Powerful Entertainers of the Decade" by FICCI. In 2008, Newsweek named him one of the 50 most powerful people in the world. Khan was placed first on Forbes India's "Celebrity 100 list", a list based on the income and popularity of Indian celebrities, for 2012 and 2013. Khan owns several properties in India and abroad. Mannat, his residence in Mumbai, is a tourist spot and a heritage building deemed important to the townscape and hence exempt from demolition. Khan owns a house in New Delhi, a GB£20 million apartment in London, and INR4 billion (US$65 million) of property in Dubai that includes a villa on the Palm Jumeirah.

Public image

Khan was given the birth name Shahrukh Khan, but he prefers his name to be written as Shah Rukh Khan, and is commonly referred to by the abbreviation SRK. He is well known for his devotion to his work and his ability to commit heavily to each role. Director Aziz Mirza describes Khan as a natural actor who has "a rawness in him" and "a crowd appeal, even when he was just with friends". Despite the adulation, Khan has often been criticised for his lack of subtlety in performing roles. In the book Everybody Wants a Hit: 10 Mantras of Success in Bollywood Cinema, author Derek Bose wrote, "The joke going around then was that Shahrukh Khan had no more than five expressions to play about with and by cleverly juggling them in film after film, made his mark as a superstar". Rival actors have been known to publicly accuse him of overacting.

Khan's perceived typecasting in romantic roles has met with polarised reactions from commentators; the author Arnab Ray wrote that Khan "became trapped in the conventional romantic lover-boy image, continuing to essay, over the years, a series of roles that were mind-numbingly alike". Aseem Chhabra of Rediff.com said he "plays the romantic man with such pizzazz and in the old-world style that he is treat to watch, as he woos the hearts of his co-stars and his audience!" Khan's non-macho persona, and close ties with director Karan Johar, have led to persistent media rumors about his sexuality, which has made for a rocky relationship with fan magazines. Regardless, the media has bestowed many honours on Khan, and he is one of the most celebrated movie stars in India.

A 2007 poll by the magazine Eastern Eye named Khan the sexiest Asian man; he was ranked third in the same magazine's polls in 2008 and 2011. He has regularly featured among the top ten on The Times of India '​s list of the 50 most desirable men in India. Media have said his dimples are one of his distinctive physical features. Khan has also achieved recognition as a style icon in India. In 2011, the British edition of GQ magazine featured him as one of the best dressed men in the world. The following year, the Indian edition of GQ included Khan in their listing of Bollywood's 11 best dressed men. In 2009, he modeled at both the Lakme Fashion Week and the India Couture Fashion Week.

Bhanurekha Ganesan (born 10 October 1954), better known by her stage name Rekha, is an Indian film actress who has mainly appeared in Hindi films. Noted for her versatility and acknowledged as one of the finest actresses in Hindi cinema, Rekha started her career in 1966 as a child actress in the Telugu film Rangula Ratnam, which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu for that year, though her film debut as a lead happened four years later with Sawan Bhadon. Despite the success of several of her early films, she was often panned for her looks and it was not until the mid-to-late 1970s that she got recognition as an actress. Rekha has acted in over 180 films in a career spanning over 40 years. Throughout her career, she has often played strong female characters and, apart from mainstream cinema, appeared in arthouse films, known in India as parallel cinema.

She has won three Filmfare Awards, two for Best Actress and one for Best Supporting Actress, for her roles in Khubsoorat (1980), Khoon Bhari Maang (1988) and Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi (1996), respectively. Her portrayal of a classical courtesan in Umrao Jaan (1981) won her the National Film Award for Best Actress. Though her career has gone through certain periods of decline, she has reinvented herself numerous times and has been credited for her ability to sustain her status. In 2010, she was honoured with the Padma Shri by the Government of India.


Early life

Rekha was born in Chennai (then Madras) to Tamil actor Gemini Ganesan and Telugu actress Pushpavalli. Her father enjoyed considerable success as an actor and Rekha was to follow in his footsteps. She is an alumnus of the popular Church Park Convent in Chennai. Although she is half-Tamil and half-Telugu, she considers Telugu her mother tongue as she was brought up speaking only Telugu at her home. She also speaks Hindi, Tamil and English fluently.

Her parents were not married at the time of her birth, and her father did not acknowledge his paternity during her childhood. It was in early 1970s, when she was looking for a footing in Bollywood, that she revealed her origins. Later, at the peak of her career, Rekha told a magazine interviewer that father's neglect still rankled and that she had ignored his efforts at reconciliation. Rekha quit school to start a career in acting. She did not have any personal aspirations in this direction, but the troubled financial state of her family compelled her to do so.

Personal life

In 1990, Rekha married Delhi-based industrialist Mukesh Aggarwal. A year later—while she was in London—he committed suicide, after several previous attempts, leaving a note, "Don't blame anyone". She was pilloried by the press at that time, a period which one journalist termed as "the deepest trough in her life." She was rumoured to have been married to actor Vinod Mehra in 1973, but in a 2004 television interview with Simi Garewal she denied being married to Mehra referring to him as a "well-wisher". Rekha currently lives in her Bandra home in Mumbai.

Rekha's best known relationship was her long-time affair with superstar Amitabh Bachchan. The couple was last seen together in the film, Silsila, and their affair ended soon after.

Hema Malini (born 16 October 1948) is an Indian actress, director and producer, Bharatanatyam dancer-choreographer, and a politician, well known for her roles in Hindi cinema. She made her acting debut in Sapno Ka Saudagar (1968). She went on to appear in numerous Bollywood films, most notably those with actor and future-husband Dharmendra and with Rajesh Khanna. Malini was initially promoted as "Dream Girl", and in 1977 starred in a film of the same name. During this period, she established herself as one of Hindi cinema's leading actresses, noted for both her comic and dramatic roles, her beauty, and her accomplished classical dancing.

Malini is one of the most successful female film stars in the history of Indian cinema. Appearing in over 150 films in a career span of 40 years, she has starred in a large number of successful films, and her performances in both commercial and arthouse cinema, were often recognised. During her career, she has been nominated 11 times for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress, of which she won once in 1972. In 2000, she was presented with the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award. In the same year, she was honoured with the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian honour, by the Government of India. In 2012, the Sir Padampat Singhania University conferred an Honorary Doctorate on Malini in recognition of her contribution to Indian cinema. She also served as the Chairperson of the National Film Development Corporation. She was awarded the prestigious "SaMaPa Vitasta Award 2006" in Delhi by SaMaPa – "Sopori Academy of Music And Performing Arts" by Music Legend Pandit Bhajan Sopori for her lifetime contribution and service to Indian culture and Dance.

Of late Malini spends most of her time on charitable and social ventures, while making occasional appearances in films. She is a member of India's Bharatiya Janata Party and was nominated member by the party in Rajya Sabha, the upper House of parliament during 2003–2009.

Early life and family

Hema Malini Chakravarty was born into a Tamil speaking Iyengar family in Ammankudi near Orathanadu to V.S. Ramanujam Chakravarthy[15] and Jaya Chakravarthy on 16 October 1948.[1] Her mother was a film producer. Malini was the youngest of the three children and has two brothers.[16] She was not interested in academics but enjoyed history, her favourite subject in school.[16] She was educated at Andhra Mahila Sabha in Chennai. She studied at DTEA Mandir Marg till class 10 but did not complete class 10 when she got into acting.

Hema fell in love with her co-star Dharmendra during the filming of Sholay. She eventually married him in 1980. Before they married, they both converted to Islam.[18] Dharmendra was married to Prakash Kaur who refused to divorce him. Apart from Sholay, the Dharmendra-Hema pair appeared together in films like Seeta Aur Geeta, Dreamgirl, Charas and The Burning Train. After her marriage she became the step-mother of Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol, both popular actors in Bollywood. She has two daughters with Dharmendra, Esha Deol (born 1981) and Ahana Deol (born 1985). Her elder daughter Esha is a well-known actress in Bollywood who married a diamond merchant Bharat Takhtanj, on 29 June 2012: while her younger daughter Ahana is an aspiring director who worked as an assistant director to Sanjay Leela Bhansali for his film Guzarish (2010).

Hema Malini's niece is actress Madhoo who had starred in films Phool Aur Kaante (1991), Roja (1992) and Annayya (1993).


Political career

She was nominated as Rajay Sabha MP (2003–2009) by the then President of India, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, from Maharashtra.

In February 2004, she joined the party (BJP) officially. With her film career less hectic, she has been an active member of the party, attending party meetings and rallies and campaigning for the party through various elections. In March 2010, she was made general secretary of the BJP. In February 2011, it was reported that Hema Malini has been recommended by H.N.Ananth Kumar, party general secretary.

In the General Elections 2014 (Lok Sabha -India) Hema Malini made a dream debut from Mathura Lok Sabha constituency defeating incumbent Jayant Chaudhary of RLD by an impressive margin of 3,30,743 Votes. She would be now entitled to Rs. 5/- Crores of Funds – under MPLAD Fund Scheme – for which she could recommend projects to be executed in Mathura Lok Sabha MP Constituency.

Hema Malini and her husband, Dharmendra (Bollywood Hero of Yester Years) have been involved in politics, as members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She was elected to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India, with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party.[35][36] She campaigned for the BJP candidate, Vinod Khanna, former Bollywood actor in the 1999 Lok Sabha Elections in Gurdaspur in Punjab. In 2004, Hema Malini joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Other work

Hema Malini is a trained Bharatanatyam artist. Her daughters are well trained in the same dance form; the three have performed together at charity dance concerts. Malini is also trained in Kuchipudi by Vempati Chinna Satyam and Odissi by Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra. Her refulgent smile eased her portrayal of a wide range of characters ranging from the fiery Narasimha to a graceful Rama in Tulasidas's Ramcharitmanas. In 2007, she performed in Mysore on the eve of Dussera, where she played the roles of Sati, Parvati and Durga. She had performed at the Khajuraho Dance Festival with her daughters.

In 2003, she played the role of Goddess Durga in television serial Jai Mata Ki, directed by Puneet Issar and aired on Star Plus. She then starred in the title roles of twin sisters in the Sahara One serial Kamini Damini. She directed and starred in the television serial Noopur, in which she played the role of a Bharatanatyam dancer. She owned the editorship of New Woman, a Hindi woman's magazine. In 2000 she was appointed as the first-ever woman chairperson of the National Film Development Corporation for three years. She owns a dance school, Natya Vihar Kalakendra.

In 2007, she was signed by Kent RO Systems, a mineral water purifier system, as its brand ambassador. She is one of the three brand ambassadors of Pothys, a textile showroom in Chennai (the others being Sudha Ragunathan and Trisha Krishnan).

The first biography of Malini, Diva Unveiled-Hema Malini, was written by Ram Kamal Mukherjee and first published in 2005.

Jaya Bachchan (born Jaya Bhaduri; 1948) is an Indian actress and politician. She is an alumna of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. Jaya Bachchan is the wife of Amitabh Bachchan, and the mother of Shweta Bachchan-Nanda and Abhishek Bachchan. Bachchan is recognised as one of the finest Hindi film actresses of her time, particularly known for reinforcing a naturalistic style of acting in both mainstream and "middle-of-the-road" cinema.

Making her film debut as a teenager in Satyajit Ray's Mahanagar (1963), Bachchan's first screen role as an adult was in Guddi (1971), directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, with whom she would collaborate in several films. She was noted for her performances in films, including Uphaar (1971), Koshish (1972), Kora Kagaz (1974), among others. She appeared alongside her husband Amitabh Bachchan in films such as 'Bansi Birju ( 1972 ) .'Zanjeer (1973), Abhimaan (1973), Chupke Chupke (1975), Mili (1975) and Sholay (1975).

Following her marriage and the birth of her children, Bachchan restricted her film work for some years, and after her appearance in the 1981 film Silsila, she took an indefinite sabbatical from films. She returned to acting with Govind Nihlani's Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa in 1998. Since then, she has appeared in such films as Fiza (2000), Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001), Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003), which garnered her several awards and nominations.

During her career, she has won nine Filmfare Awards including three for Best Actress and three for Best Supporting Actress, which makes her the overall most-awarded performer in the female acting categories, along with Nutan. She was awarded the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. In 1992, she was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India.

Early life

Jaya Bhaduri was born in Jabalpur to a Hindu Bengali family. Her mother is Indira Bhaduri and her father, Taroon Kumar Bhaduri, was a writer, journalist and stage artist in Jabalpur. She studied in St. Joseph's Convent School, Bhopal where she was also the School Head Girl. She was awarded the Best All-India N.C.C. Cadet Award during the Republic Day celebrations in 1966. She later studied at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, completing her graduation there as a gold medalist.

Political career

Bachchan was elected as a Samajwadi Party member of parliament, representing Rajya Sabha, and in February 2010 she stated her intent to complete her term.[15][clarification needed] She was re-elected in 2012.

Controversies

Drona music release speech controversy

Bachchan's speech during the music launch of film Drona was criticized by some sections of politicians in Maharashtra. In response to the film's director, Goldie Behl, making his introductory speech in English, she said "Hum UP ke log hain, isliye Hindi mein baat karenge, Maharashtra ke log maaf kijiye". (We are from UP, so we will speak in Hindi. People of Maharashtra, please excuse us) Subsequently, she encouraged actress Priyanka Chopra to speak in Hindi.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray commented that Jaya had no business alluding to all the people of Maharashtra in that statement. He threatened to ban all Bachchan films unless Jaya apologized in a public forum for hurting Maharashtrians. MNS workers began to attack theaters screening The Last Lear starring her husband, Amitabh Bachchan. Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut also criticized her statement saying: "After making all your success and fortune in Mumbai, if you feel like saying that, we are from UP, its very unfortunate." Amitabh Bachchan tendered an apology for her statements on her behalf.

Personal life

On 3 June 1973, she married actor Amitabh Bachchan. The couple has two children: Shweta Bachchan-Nanda and Abhishek Bachchan, who is also an actor. Shweta is married to industrialist Nikhil Nanda in Delhi, and has two children, Navya Naveli and Agastya Nanda, while Abhishek Bachchan is married to Aishwarya Rai, also an actor, and has a daughter, Aaradhya Bachchan.

Rajesh Khanna ( About this sound pronunciation (help·info) born: Jatin Khanna; 29 December 1942 – 18 July 2012, Amritsar, Punjab, India) was a Bollywood actor, film producer and politician. He is referred to as the "first superstar" and the "original superstar" of Indian cinema. He starred in 17 consecutive solo hit films in the period 1969 to 1972. In 1973, BBC made a film on him, titled Bombay Superstar. Khanna is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of Hindi cinema.

He appeared in a total of 180 films - 163 feature films and 17 short films. He was the solo lead hero in 106 films. He won three Filmfare Best Actor Awards and was nominated for the same fourteen times. He received the most BFJA Awards for Best Actor (Hindi) – four times and nominated 25 times. In 1991, he was awarded the Filmfare Special Award for completing 25 years in the industry, and for appearing as the single lead hero in more films than any other male actor in Hindi films within 25 years of his debut. In 2005, he was awarded the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award. He made his debut in 1966 with Aakhri Khat and rose to prominence with his performances in films like Raaz, Baharon Ke Sapne, Ittefaq and Aradhana. He had 35 Golden Jubilee Hits (where the films ran for more than 50 weeks in theatres across India) in the period 1967–1975, three more in 76–78 and 35 more in the period 1979–1991. He also had 22 silver jubilee hits (that is films ran in theatres for more than 25 weeks) in the period 1966–1991. He was the highest paid Indian actor from 1970 to 1987 where Amitabh Bachchan shared the same tag with Khanna from 1980 to 1987. He was also a Lok Sabha member of the Indian National Congress from New Delhi constituency from 1992 to 1996.

He married Dimple Kapadia in March 1973, eight months before her debut film Bobby was released and had two daughters from the marriage. Their elder daughter Twinkle Khanna is married to actor Akshay Kumar, while they also have a younger daughter Rinke Khanna.

After being critically ill, Khanna died on 18 July 2012. Khanna has been posthumously awarded India's third highest civilian honour Padma Bhushan. On 30 April 2013 he was officially bestowed with the title The First Superstar of Indian cinema at Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Awards A postage stamp, bearing his face, was released by India Post to honour him on 3 May 2013. On his first death anniversary, a bronze statue of Rajesh Khanna was unveiled at Bandra Bandstand, Mumbai.

Early life

Born on 29 December 1942, in in Amritsar in the state of Punjab, as Jatin Khanna, Khanna was adopted and raised by foster parents – Chunni Lal Khanna and Leela Wati Khanna, who were relatives of his biological parents after his father had migrated from pre-partitioned Pakistan to Gali Tiwarian in the city of Amritsar. His biological parents were Lala Hiranand and Chandrani Khanna and Lala worked as headmaster of the MC High School in Burewala (in present day Pakistan), Vehari District, Punjab, Pakistan. His adopted parents belonged to a family of railway contractors who had moved from Lahore to Bombay in 1935. Khanna lived in Saraswati Niwas in Thakurdwar near Girgaon, Mumbai and attended St. Sebastian’s Goan High School there, along with his friend Ravi Kapoor, who later took the stage name Jeetendra, and whose mothers were friends. Khanna gradually started taking interest in theatre and did a lot of stage and theatre plays in his school and college days and won many prizes in the inter college drama competitions. In 1962 Khanna played a wounded dumb soldier in the play 'Andha Yug' and impressed with his performance the chief guest suggested him to get into films soon. Khanna became a rare newcomer who struggled in his own MG sports car to get work in theatre and films in the early sixties. Khanna did his first two years of Bachelor of Arts in Nowrosjee Wadia College in Pune from 1959 to 1961. Both friends later studied in K. C. College, Mumbai. Khanna also tutored Jeetendra for his first film audition. Khanna's uncle KK Talwar changed Khanna's first name to Rajesh when Khanna decided to join films. His friends and his wife called him Kaka.

Political and business career

At the insistence of Rajiv Gandhi, he started campaigning for Congress since 1984. In the election for New Delhi seat in the 1991 Lok Sabha election, Khanna lost to L.K. Advani by a narrow margin of 1589 votes after which Khanna stood on the ground at the counting station insisting that he had been cheated of a win. A by-election took place and Khanna won the same seat in 1992 by defeating Shatrughan Sinha by 25,000 votes. Rajesh Khanna was a member of Parliament for the Indian National Congress, from the New Delhi constituency, where he won the 1992 by-election, retaining his seat until the 1996 after which he was not interested in active politics. When Khanna was MP, he did not accept new acting assignements but only acted in the film Khudai (1994). After leaving parliament, he was a political activist for the INC and campaigned for the party till the 2012 Punjab election.

Khanna and a group of foreign investors bought land in Shirdi on which they planned to build a religious resort for disciples of Sai Baba of Shirdi.

Personal life

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Khanna fell in love with the then fashion designer and actress Anju Mahendru. They were in a relationship for seven years. Mahendru states that the couple did not speak to each other for 17 years after the break-up. Later Khanna married the budding actress Dimple Kapadia in March 1973, before Kapadia's debut film Bobby released in November of that year. They have two daughters from the marriage; Twinkle and Rinke.[140] Khanna and Kapadia separated in 1984 but did not complete the divorce proceedings. In the eighties Tina Munim was romantically involved with Khanna while working with Khanna in 11 movies from 1980 to 1987. Munim had been a fan of Rajesh since her school days. According to website Bollywood Mantra reporter, relation with Tina ended in 1987 when Khanna refused to marry her as their marriage would have bad impact on his daughters. Khanna and Kapadia however maintained an amicable relationship where they both were seen together at parties and family functions together. Kapadia also campaigned for Khanna's election and worked in his film Jai Shiv Shankar (1990).

Khanna's elder daughter Twinkle Khanna, an interior decorator and a former film actress, is married to actor Akshay Kumar while his younger daughter Rinke Khanna, also a former Hindi film actress, is married to a London-based investment banker Samir Saran. On 17 July 2012, a woman named Anita Advani claimed that she had been Khanna's live-in partner, and sent a legal notice to his family members asking for compensation. The family denied the claims.

Illness and death

In June 2012, it was reported that Rajesh Khanna's health had been deteriorating for some time, On 23 June he was admitted to Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai due to health complications. He was discharged on 8 July from the hospital and was reportedly fine.

On 14 July, Khanna was readmitted to the Lilavati Hospital but was discharged on 16 July. He died on 18 July 2012, at his bungalow, Aashirwad, in Mumbai. Sources confirmed that his health was deteriorating since July 2011 as he was diagnosed with cancer. After his death his co-star Mumtaz said that Khanna was suffering from cancer since a year and had undergone chemotherapy sessions. His funeral took place on 19 July at 11:00. His funeral was attended by nearly 9 lakh people and his fans had come from places like Surat, Ahmedabad, California, Singapore and from other foreign countries Police had resort to lathi-charge to control the crowd of fans who had gathered for the procession from Khanna's Bandra house to crematorium. He died in the presence of his wife Dimple Kapadia, daughters Rinkie Khanna and Twinkle Khanna, son-in-law Akshay Kumar, grand children, Anju Mahendru and other close relatives. His pyre was lit by his grandson, Aarav, with the assistance of Akshay Kumar.  Amitabh Bachchan cited that Khanna's last words were 'Time is up', 'Pack up'. In his special recorded message to his family, friends and fans which was played on his "chautha" he thanked and saluted his friends and fans for the love they showered on him. On 25 July 2012, his ashes were immersed in Ganges by his wife Dimple Kapadia and daughter Rinke Khanna.

Awards

Khanna won four Best Actor Awards in the Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards, and received 25 nominations. He won three Filmfare Best Actor Awards, one Filmfare Special Guest Actor Award in 1973, and received a Filmfare Special Award in 1991, after 25 years in the Hindi film industry. He received the Filmfare Life Time Achievement Award at the 50th anniversary Filmfare award ceremony in 2005.

Dharam Devdutt Pishorimal Anand (26 September 1923 – 3 December 2011), better known as Dev Anand, was an Indian film actor, writer, director and producer known for his work in Hindi cinema. Part of the Anand family, he co-founded Navketan Films in 1949 with his elder brother Chetan Anand. Anand is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of Indian cinema.

The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan in 2001 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2002 for his contribution to Indian cinema. His career spanned more than 65 years with acting in 114 Hindi films of which 104 have him play the main solo lead hero and he did 2 English films.

Early life

Dev was born Dharam Dev Pishorimal Anand on 26 September 1923 in the Shakargarh tehsil of the Gurdaspur district in Punjab (British India) (present-day Narowal district of Pakistan). His father Pishori Lal Anand was a well-to-do advocate. Dev was the third of four sons born to Pishori Lal Anand. One of Dev's younger sister is Sheela Kanta Kapur, who is mother of Shekhar Kapur. His older brothers were Manmohan Anand (Advocate, Gurdaspur Dist. Court) and Chetan Anand and younger one was Vijay Anand. Dev Anand spent his early years in Gharota village near Gurdaspur, Gurdaspur town. He did his schooling till matriculation from Sacred Heart School, Dalhousie, Himachal Pradesh (then in Punjab) and went to college Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh before going to Lahore to study. Later Dev completed BA degree in English Literature from the Government College, Lahore in British India.

Career

After completing BA degree in English Literature from the Government College, Lahore (then in British India, now in Pakistan),Dev Anand left his hometown for Bombay in the early 1940s. He began his career in the military censor's office at Churchgate, for a monthly salary of Rs. 165. Later he joined as a clerk in an accountancy firm for a salary of Rs. 85. He joined his older brother, Chetan, as a member of the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA).Dev Anand aspired to become a performer after seeing Ashok Kumar's performance in films like Achhut Kanya and Kismat. Dev Anand quoted in an interview that "I remember when I gatecrashed into the office of the man who gave me the first break, he kept looking at me – Babu Rao Pai of Prabhat Film Studios. At that time he made up his mind that this boy deserves a break and later mentioned to his people that ‘this boy struck me because of his smile and beautiful eyes and his tremendous confidence." Then he was soon offered the lead role in Prabhat Films' Hum Ek Hain (1946), a film about Hindu-Muslim unity, where Dev Anand played a Hindu boy and was paired opposite Kamala Kotnis. While shooting the film in Pune, Anand befriended the actor Guru Dutt. Between them, they agreed that if one of them was to become successful in the film industry, they would help the other to be successful. They formed a mutual understanding that when Anand produced a film, Dutt would direct it and when Dutt directed a film, Anand would act in it.

Death

Dev Anand died in his room at The Washington Mayfair Hotel in London at the age of 88 on 3 December 2011 (4 December 2011 by Indian Standard Time) of a cardiac arrest. His death came just months after the release of his last film, Chargesheet. Anand was reportedly in London for a medical check up at the time of his death. Condolences poured in from all corners of the Indian film industry, with most of them remembering his positive attitude towards life. On 10 December, his funeral service was held at a small chapel in London after which his casket was taken to the Putney Vale Crematorium in South West London for cremation. His ashes were returned to India for immersion burial in the Godavari River.

Dilip Kumar (born Muhammad Yusuf Khan on 11 December 1922) is an Indian film actor also known as Tragedy King, and described as "the ultimate method actor" by Satyajit Ray. He debuted as an actor in the film Jwar Bhata in 1944 produced by Bombay Talkies. His career has spanned over six decades and with over 60 films. He starred in films of a variety of genres such as the romantic Andaz (1949), the swashbuckling Aan (1952), the dramatic Devdas (1955), the comical Azaad (1955), the historical Mughal-e-Azam (1960) and the social Ganga Jamuna (1961).

In 1976, Dilip Kumar took a five-year break from film performances and returned with a character role in the film Kranti (1981) and continued his career playing leading roles in films such as Shakti (1982), Karma (1986) and Saudagar (1991). His last film was Qila (1998). Dilip Kumar has acted with actress Vyjayanthimala the most, where they both had acted seven films together including the former's home production Gunga Jamuna resulting in great on-screen chemistry and an alleged affair between them.

The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan award in 1991 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1994 for his contributions towards Indian cinema and nominated him to Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian parliament for a term. He is the first recipient of Filmfare Best Actor Award (1954) and still holds the record for the most number of Filmfare awards won for that category with eight wins. Critics acclaimed him among one of the greatest actors in the history of Hindi cinema.

Early life

Dilip Kumar was born Yusuf Khan into a Hindko-speaking Awan family of 12 children on 11 December 1922 at his house in the Qissa Khawani Bazaar area of Peshawar, in what is now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. His father, Lala Ghulam Sarwar, was a landlord and fruit merchant who owned orchards in Peshawar and Deolali (in Maharashtra, India). Dilip Kumar did schooling from prestigious Barnes School, Deolali, near Nasik. In the late 1930s, his family of 12 members relocated to Mumbai. Around 1940, Dilip Kumar left home for Pune where he started his career as a canteen owner and a dry fruit supplier. In 1943, actress Devika Rani, who owned Bombay Talkies spotted Dilip Kumar in Aundh military canteens Pune, and cast him with a lead role in the film Jwar Bhata (1944), which marked Dilip Kumar's entry into the Hindi film industry. Hindi author Bhagwati Charan Varma gave him the screen name Dilip Kumar. It is believed that Dilip Kumar could speak a number of languages, including English, Persian, Hindi, Urdu, Hindko, and Pashto.

Public life

Dilip Kumar has been active in efforts to bring the people of India and Pakistan closer together. He was nominated a member of Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian parliament for a term.

He was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1994. In 1998 he was awarded the Nishan-e-Imtiaz, the highest civilian award conferred by the government of Pakistan. He is the second Indian to receive the award. At the time of the Kargil War, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray demanded Dilip Kumar return his Nishan-e-Imtiaz, citing "that country's blatant aggression on Indian soil." Dilip Kumar refused, saying:

"This award was given to me for the humane activities to which I have dedicated myself. I have worked for the poor, I have worked for many years to bridge the cultural and communal gaps between India and Pakistan. Politics and religion have created these boundaries. I have striven to bring the two people together in whatever way I could. Tell me, what does any of this have to do with the Kargil conflict?"

Dilip Kumar launched his Twitter account and his first tweet was on his 89th Birthday in 2011.

Personal life

Dilip Kumar was first in love with the actress Kamini Kaushal, but they could not marry due to her being married to her deceased sister's husband. Subsequently he was romantically involved with the actress Madhubala but they had to part ways as her family was opposed to their marriage. He married actress Saira Banu, who was 22 years younger than him, in 1966. He married a second time in 1980 to Asma but the marriage ended soon after.

Around 10 September 2011 it surfaced that the health of Dilip Kumar is worsening. Some incredible tweets even mistakenly spread news of his death.[34] Later Saira Banu made a public statement that the actor is in good health and in high spirits. On September 15, 2013, the 90 year old Dilip Kumar suffered a silent Heart attack and was subsequently admitted to Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai. On September 16, a Hospital statement said that his condition was stable and he was put under observation in ICU for 48 hours due to his bypass status and advanced age. He had undergone heart surgery 14 years before.

Dilip Kumar first time in his life performed Umrah the holy pilgrimage to Makkah in 2013 along with his wife Saira Bano

Awards and popularity

Dilip Kumar is widely considered as one of the greatest actors in the history of Hindi cinema. He holds the Guinness World Record for winning the maximum number of awards by an Indian actor. He has received many awards throughout his career, including 8 Filmfare Best Actor awards and 19 Filmfare nominations. He was honoured with the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993.

Dilip Kumar was appointed Sheriff of Mumbai (an honorary position) in 1980, the Government of India honored Kumar with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in 1991 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1994. The Government of Andhra Pradesh honored Kumar with NTR National Award in 1997. The Government of Pakistan conferred Kumar with Nishan-e-Imtiaz, the highest civilian award in Pakistan, in 1997. The ruling political party of Shiv Sena in Maharashtra had objected on this award and questioned Kumar's patriotism. However, in 1999 in consultation with the then Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Kumar retained the award. He was honored with CNN-IBN Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.

Dharmendra (born Dharam Singh Deol on 8 December 1935) is a Hindi film actor. In 1997, he received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to Hindi cinema.

His starring roles in action films earned him nicknames such as "Action King" and "He-Man". One of his most notable roles was in Sholay (1975).

He has also been a member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India, representing Bikaner constituency in Rajasthan from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In 2012, he was honoured India's third highest civilian honour Padma Bhushan by the Government of India.

Early life

Dharmendra was born in a Punjabi Jat Sikh family in Phagwara in Kapurthala district in the Indian state of Punjab to Kewal Kishan Singh Deol and Satwant Kaur. His ancestral village is Dangon which is located next to Pakhowal, Ludhiana. He spent his early life in village Sahnewal and studied at Government Senior Secondary School at Lalton Kalan. His father was a school headmaster in the village of Lalton Kalan, Ludhiana. He did his intermediate from Ramgarhia College, Phagwara in 1952.

Personal life

Dharmendra's first marriage was to Prakash Kaur at the age of 19 in 1954. From his first marriage, he has two sons, Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol both successful actors, and two daughters,Vijeeta Deol and Ajeeta Deol.

He has 4 grand sons named Karan, Rajvir, Aryaman, and Dharam. Karan Deol was an assistant director on the sets of Yamla Pagla Deewana 2 and he also rapped in a song sung by Diljit Dosanjh in the film YPD 2. Karan is to make his Bollywood debut by 2015 in Dharmendra's home production.

Dharmendra fell in love with Hema Malini during the filming of Sholay. She eventually married him in 1980. As the Hindu Marriage Act forbade polygamy, he converted to Islam in 1979 to avoid protests and give legitimacy to his second marriage. The couple has two daughters, Esha Deol and Ahana Deol. Esha is an actresses and Ahana is a dancer.

Amitabh Harivansh Bachchan (born 11 October 1942) is an Indian film actor. He first gained popularity in the early 1970s for movies like Deewar and Zanjeer, and was dubbed India's first "angry young man" for his on-screen roles in Bollywood, and has since appeared in over 180 Indian films in a career spanning more than four decades.Bachchan is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of Indian cinema. So total was his dominance of the movie scene in the 1970s and 1980s that the French director François Truffaut called him a "one-man industry".

Bachchan has won many major awards in his career, including three National Film Awards as Best Actor (a record he shares with Kamal Hassan and Mammootty), a number of awards at international film festivals and award ceremonies and fourteen Filmfare Awards. He is the most-nominated performer in any major acting category at Filmfare, with 39 nominations overall. In addition to acting, Bachchan has worked as a playback singer, film producer and television presenter. He also had a stint in politics in the 1980s. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri in 1984 and the Padma Bhushan in 2001 for his contributions towards the arts.

Bachchan made his Hollywood debut in 2013 with The Great Gatsby, in which he played a non-Indian Jewish character, Meyer Wolfsheim.

Early and personal life

Bachchan was born in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, in north central India. His father, Harivansh Rai Bachchan, was a Hindi poet, and his mother, Teji Bachchan, was a Punjabi Sikh from Faisalabad (now in Pakistan). Bachchan was initially named Inquilaab, inspired from the phrase made famous during the Indian independence struggle, Inquilab Zindabad, which means "long live revolution". However, at the suggestion of fellow poet Sumitranandan Pant, Harivansh Rai changed the name to Amitabh which means, "the light that will never die." Though his surname was Shrivastava, his father had adopted the pen-name Bachchan (meaning "child-like" in colloquial Hindi), under which he published all his works. It is with this last name that Amitabh debuted in films, and, for all public purposes, it has become the surname of all members of his family. Bachchan's father died in 2003 and his mother in 2007.

Bachchan is an alumnus of Sherwood College, Nainital and later attended Kirori Mal College, Delhi University. He has a younger brother, Ajitabh. His mother had a keen interest in theatre and had been offered a role in a film, but preferred her domestic duties. She had some degree of influence in Bachchan's choice of career because she always insisted that he should take the centre stage.

Bachchan is married to actress Jaya Bhaduri. The couple have two children, Shweta Nanda (wife of businessman Nikhil Nanda) and Abhishek Bachchan (actor and husband of actress Aishwarya Rai).

Awards, honours and recognitions

Apart from National Film Awards, Filmfare Awards and other competitive awards which Bachchan won for his performances throughout the years, he has been awarded several honours for his achievements in the Indian film industry. In 1991, he became the first artist to receive the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award, which was established in the name of Raj Kapoor. Bachchan was crowned as Superstar of the Millennium in 2000 at the Filmfare Awards. The Government of India awarded him with the Padma Shri in 1984 and the Padma Bhushan in 2001. France's highest civilian honour, the Knight of the Legion of Honour, was conferred upon him by the French Government in 2007 for his "exceptional career in the world of cinema and beyond". In 2011, actor Dilip Kumar blogged that Black should have been nominated for an Oscar. Kumar added: "If any Indian actor, in my personal opinion, deserves the world's most coveted award, it is you."

In 1999, Bachchan was voted the "greatest star of stage or screen" in a BBC Your Millennium online poll. The organisation noted that "Many people in the western world will not have heard of [him] ...[but it] is a reflection of the huge popularity of Indian films."[68] In 2001, he was honoured with the Actor of the Century award at the Alexandria International Film Festival in Egypt in recognition of his contribution to the world of cinema. Many other honours for his achievements were conferred upon him at several International Film Festivals, including the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2010 Asian Film Awards.

In June 2000, he became the first living Asian to have been modelled in wax at London's Madame Tussauds Wax Museum.[71] Another statue was installed in New York in 2009, Hong Kong in 2011, Bangkok in 2011 and Washington, DC in 2012.

Amitabh Bachchan with the Olympic flame in London on 27 July 2012
In 2003, he was conferred with the Honorary Citizenship of the French town of Deauville. He was honoured with an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Jhansi, India, in 2004, the University of Delhi in 2006,[78] the De Montfort University in Leicester, UK, in 2006, the Leeds Metropolitan University in Yorkshire, UK, in 2007, the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, in 2011 and the Jodhpur National University in 2013.

On 27 July 2012, Bachchan carried the Olympic torch during the last leg of its relay in London's Southwark.

Severals books have been written about Bachchan. Amitabh Bachchan: the Legend was published in 1999, To be or not to be: Amitabh Bachchan in 2004, AB: The Legend: (A Photographer's Tribute) in 2006, Amitabh Bachchan: Ek Jeevit Kimvadanti in 2006, Amitabh: The Making of a Superstar in 2006, Looking for the Big B: Bollywood, Bachchan and Me in 2007 and Bachchanalia in 2009. Bachchan himself also wrote a book in 2002: Soul Curry for you and me – An Empowering Philosophy That Can Enrich Your Life. In the early 80s, Bachchan authorised the use of his likeness for the comic book character Supremo in a series titled The Adventures of Amitabh Bachchan. In May 2014, La Trobe University in Australia named a Scholarship after Bachchan.