Rajnikanth

He worked as a bus conductor, he is now the highest paid actor in India receiving upto 16 crores for his latest movie; he is a popular action hero, melodrama king, a comedian, a villain, a scriptwriter, and even a producer, he is worshipped like god by his audience; and to top it all he is 56 years of age! Who other than the superstar of south Indian film industry, Rajnikanth, can pull all this off! If it’s the Big B in Bollywood, then it’s the Big R down south.

Rajnikanth, originally christened Sivaji Rao Gaewad, was born to Marathi couple Ramoji Rao and Jijabai on the 12th of December, 1950 in Bangalore. Rajnikanth studied at the Acharya Pathshala and Vivekananda Balak Sangh. However, apparently he had to leave school in between because his family was not very well off. He started doing petty jobs, such as that of a bus conductor, to earn a living. But Rajnikanth loved acting so he also did stage plays with his jobs. It was at this time when a friend helped Rajnikanth to join the Chennai Film Institute to polish his inherent talent and learn the nuances of acting.

Rajnikanth’s three decade long innings as an actor started with a Kannada movie Katha Sangama in 1975. He was soon noticed by director K. Balchander who gave Sivaji Rao his first role in the Tamil movie Apoorva Raagangal in 1975 and also christened him Rajnikanth. The role must have been small but it was the initiation point of a miracle in Tamil movies. For around 4 years Rajnikanth worked as a successful villain in Tamil movies, such as Moondru Mudichu and Avargal. He also worked in some Telugu and Kannad movies during this period. However, his potential in essaying emotional roles was not yet identified by the Tamil film industry.

Rajnikanth got his first major role as an emotional hero in Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai in 1979, which was a box office hit. Thereafter, from 1980 to early 1990s he showed commendable performances in numerous Tamil movies, particularly remakes of Hindi movies starring Amitabh Bachchan. He not only became the melodrama king but also excelled as an action hero. His popularity was recently proved when his latest movie Sivaji: The Boss opened to full theaters this summer in Tamil and Telegu. Despite, being one of the most expensive movies ever made in India, Rajnikanth’s 100th Tamil movie is a hit at the box office!

While his career front was climbing the ladder of success, there were developments on the personal front too. He got married to a very educated lady, Latha, from a respectable family in 1981. Rajni and Latha have two daughters Aishwarya and Soundarya who are settled in their lives.

Rajnikanth is not a just versatile actor in Tamil cinema but you can call him a multi-linguist actor. He has more than 160 movies in languages other than Tamil! These include Hindi, Bengali, telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. In fact one of his Tamil movies Muthu has also been dubbed in Japanese. Surprisingly, he had also bagged a role in a Hollywood movie Bloodstone as early as in 1988. In addition, this multi-faceted personality has also been successful as a script writer and a producer. In the 1990s, Rajnikanth also forayed into politics switching between supporting DMK-TMC alliance and at other times AIADMK-BJP alliance.

As his versatility grew, so did his fan following. After MGR, he was the only one to be loved to the limit of worship by his fans. Apart from great fan following, Rajnikanth’s talent has been rewarded in various forms. The Tamil Nadu Government has bestowed him with the best actor award four times during his career. He has also won the Filmfare award for best actor in regional cinema for the movie Nallavanuku Nallavan in 1984. This epitome of success has also been awarded the very respectable Padmabhusan for his contribution to Indian cinema.

Rajnikanth has not just received goodness from the society but done a lot of good for the society apart from being an entertainer. He donated a large amount to Coimbatore blast relief fund, has planned to construct a school and hospital for the needy, and even paid back distributors for the flop Baba! A gem of an actor and a gem of person – that is Rajnikanth for you.

Abhishek Bachchan

An illustrious son of iconic parents is actor Abhishek Bachchan. Girls swoon over his debonair personality and looks and boys are forever inspired by his style. From a time when critics were ready to write him off just as another star son with no talent, to today when he has succeeded like success, Abhishek Bachchan has come a long way.

Abhishek’s family needs to introduction considering his family name. He is the son of superstars Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bahaduri. He was born on the 5th of February, 1976 in Mumbai. He has inherited the height and deep voice from his father, mischief from mother Jaya “Guddi” Bahaduri, and the best of mannerisms and looks from both. Abhishek loves his family. His sister Shweta is married to Nikhil Nanda who is a known personality in the business circles and the son of Ritu Nanda, the daughter of Raj Kapoor. Shweta has two children Navya Naveli and Agastya, who Abhishek dotes on.

Being the son of the Big B, Abhishek and sister Shweta have had a lavish but protective childhood. Abhishek has studied from some the best schools in India and abroad. He started his schooling from Bombay Scottish, Jamnabai Narsee schools in Mumbai and Modern School in New Delhi, and finally did high school from Aiglon College in Switzerland. He then decided to graduate in business from the Harvard University in the United States but left it midway to return to India and start his innings as an actor.

Abhishek’s first film was a much speculated affair in the industry circles and the audience. He was the son of the Big B and his launch pad had to be the best. After a lot of proposals, Abhishek was finally launched by JP Dutta in the movie Refugee in 2000. The film was a serious love story based in the backdrop of a disturbed border area. The movie was not a huge success at the box office but Abhishek’s performance did not go unnoticed, particularly by the critics. Post Refugee, he was deluged with offers.

From 2000 to 2004, we saw him various movies that did not have the ticket counters ringing. These included movies, such as Dhai Akshar Prem Ke, Tera Jadoo Chal Gaya, Om Jai Jagdish, LOC Kargil, Main Prem Mi Diwani Hoon, and Kuch Naa Kaho. Whether it was the wrong choice of movies or plain bad luck, none of the movies did any good to him and similar to the case of his father’s career, the industry people were on the verge of writing him off. This was when Mani Ratnam came to his rescue and gave Abhishek the first negative but strong performance of his career in his movie Yuva in 2004. Suddenly Abhishek Bachchan won the Filmfare award for the best supporting actor!

Yuva was the initiation of a good period in Abhishek’s career and was followed up by successful movies from 2004 to 2007 such as Dhoom, Bunty Aur Bubli, Sarkar, Dus, Bluffmaster, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, Dhoom 2, Guru, and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom being the most recent. His comic timing was appreciated in movies such as Bunty Aur Bubli and Bluffmaster whereas his potential to essay serious roles was proved in movies such as Sarkar and Guru. In addition to acting, being his dad’s son, how could he not have been tempted to sing! Abhishek has also lent his voice to two songs in the movies Bluffmaster and Dhoom and has been appreciated for this.

Apart from developments on the career front from 2000 to 2007, there were also developments on the personal front for Abhishek. Over these seven years, the most eligible bachelor has now become a married man. Abhishek was initially engaged to Karishma Kapoor. The engagement was announced on Big B’s 60th birthday amidst much celebrations and gaiety. However, the engagement was called off within four months for reasons which are still unknown to the public. Although, the relationships between the Bachchans and the Kapoors were soured, Abhishek moved on with his life soon to fall in love with one of the most beautiful women in the world and his co-star in quite a few movies, Aishwarya Rai. The relationship was kept under wraps for a long time till finally they got engaged in January 2007. The lovely couple got married on 20th of April 2007 in a private ceremony at the Bachchan’s home.

Post marriage and a fabulous honeymoon to Europe, Abhishek is back to work as the audience awaits his movies Drona and Laga Chunari Mein Daag this year.

Sunny Deol

Sunny Deol has inherited the drop-dead Greek god looks and the punch-you-in-the-face action star image from his father. In one scene, his innocence would make him look so gullible and in the next shot he would be a convincing savior for the heroin. One of the most versatile actors in Bollywood, I am talking about Sunny Deol, the son of the legendary Dharmendra.

Sunny, originally christened Ajay Singh Deol is the first born of Dharmendra from his first wife Prakash Kaur. Ajay aka. Sunny was born in New Delhi on the 19th of October, 1956. Sunny did his schooling from Sacred Heart Boys’ High School, Mumbai. However, academics were surely not going to be his cup of tea and so he was off to Birmingham to study acting at the Old Web Theater. The one who had gone to England was a raw lad with a wish to live up to his legendary father’s reputation and the one who returned was to become one of Bollywood’s most dependable actors.

Sunny started his career with the superhit, Betaabi, in 1983. The movie had memorable music and good performances by the lead couple Sunny and Amrita Singh. The audience loved Sunny as a romantic hero in this movie and he was also nominated for the filmfare best actor award for the movie. Unfortunately, post Betabi his career saw a dry spell and the film pundits were trying hard to close his chapter in the industry when he came back with a bang in his new incarnation. His new incarnation was that of an action hero in the movie Arjun in 1985. The action genre films then became his forte and he scored hits such as Ghayal, Tridev, Ghatak, Border, and India. Ghayal won him the Filmfarwe award for the best actor. However, the dare-devil Punjabi lad, famous for his punch, was not to stick to his genre and experimented with romantic roles as well.

Some of his successful movies in romantic roles include Gadar – Ek Prem Katha, Chaalbaaz, Darr, and the commendable Damini. For his tremendous performance in Damini, he deserved nothing less than the national award. In 2007, Sunny was seen in the movie Apne with brother Bobby and father Dharmendra. The trio have appeared together for the first time in a movie. Apne was received very well by the audience. In 2007, he will also been seen in the movies Fool n Final and Big Brother. In 2008, he will be doing a sequel to his very popular movie Ghayal.

Its funny, but one thing common to all his movies is that they do not have any major dance performances by Sunny. Unfortunately, he has two left feet and he realized that when he tried his hands, or better so feet, at dancing in the movie Jeet. Another noticeable commonality in Sunny’s movie has been his fervor to promote nationalism or patriotism through his movies. He has acted in numerous movies that are particularly on the theme of patriotism such as Border, Jo Bole So Nihaal, 23rd March 1931: Shaheed, India, and The Hero: Love Story of a True Spy.

As sunny the actor excelled with time, Sunny the director was born. Sunny’s first directorial venture was a very soft movie Dillagi. The movie starred Sunny and younger brother and established actor Bobby Deol in reel life roles as brothers. You would be surprised to know that the names chosen for Sunny and Bobby in this film are actually the names of Sunny’s two sons from his wife Pooja – Ranvir and Rajvir. Despite rumors of an apparent affair with Dimple Kapadia and then proximity with Raveena Tandon, Sunny and Pooja still seem to be together.

Sunny loves acting and had proved to be a veteran actor in the action and romantic genre of Hindi cinema. Lately, he has also become much less shy of the media than he used to be. The audience is expecting to enjoy his acting for a long long time to come.

Govinda

A hearty wide smile, jazzy clothes, rhythmically tapping feet, and a happy-go-lucky attitude is what describes the popular actor Govinda. Govinda is an actor, comedian, dancer, and politician all rolled into one pleasant personality whom the masses love. Born on the 21st of December 1963 and brought up in Virar (for which he is often addressed as Virar ka Chhokra in the media circles), he was christened Govind Arun Ahuja by his parents. His family was not alien to Bollywood. His father, Arun Kumar Ahuja was a film producer and his elder brother Kirti Kumar, is an actor, director, and producer. Govinda has inherited his melodious voice from his mother Nirmala Devi, who was herself a talented singer. He had the highest regards for his mother who lovingly called him Chi Chi. She was also the one who chose his life partner, Sunita. Govinda has often mentioned during interviews that he can never think of hurting his wife because she is his mother’s choice. Govinda and Sunita have a daughter, Narmada, and son Yashovardhan.

Govinda owns a credit of over a 120 Hindi movies. He began his innings in 1985-86 with the box office success Illzam. Some other moderately successful films followed from 1986-1988 of which Hatya, directed by his brother Kirti Kumar, was the most successful. In all these movies Govinda utilized his dancing skills for which he was also known as the modern jumping jack. His role was more of an emotional, melodramatic hero in these films. Till this time, his potential as an actor and particularly as a comedian had gone unnoticed. It was the beginning of the Govinda-David Dhawan collaboration in the 1990s that introduced and established Govinda as a comedy hero. The audience loved Govinda in his new reel incarnation.

The Govinda-David Dhawan collaboration of around 17 movies surprisingly started in 1989 with an action movie Taaqatwar. The comic series began with Shola Aur Shabnam in 1992 and was strengthened with Aankhein in 1993. Other movies that followed from the David Dhawan clan were Raja Babu with Karisma Kapoor, Coolie No. 1 with Karisma, Saajan Chale Sasural with Tabu and Karisma, Hero No. 1 with Karisma, Haseena Maan Jaegi with Sanjay Dutt and Karisma, and so on. He ruled the 1990s as a comedy hero with his last successful film as Jodi No. 1 in 2000 after which he saw a downwards trend in his career. This could have probably been due to his rejection of roles in some movies, such as Taal, Devdas, Gadar, and Biwi No. 1, which went on to become superhits.

During this low period, Govinda entered into politics and joined the Congress party. Owing his fan following and the masses’ love for Govinda, he was elected to the Lok Sabha. However, with some serious allegations of lack of responsibility during the deadly 2005 Mumbai rains and upsetting his party his career as a politician did not touch the skies.

The credit of 120 movies has also brought with itself numerous nominations and some prestigious awards for Govinda, such as the Filmfare award for best actor in a comic role for Haseena Maan Jaegi and a special Filmfare awrd for the movie Sajan Chale Sasural. . In addition, in an online survey held to discover the top 10 greatest stars of stage and screen of the last 1000 years, he was a part of the list at number 10 with names of such high stature as Charlie Chaplin and our very own Amitabh Bachchan. Govinda also has the honor of being compared to Amitabh Bachchan for playing a large number of double roles in his movies.

Govinda also had a short and not a very successful innings as a game show anchor on television. He hosted the show Jeeto Chappar Phaad Ke on Zee TV. However, he is now back on big screen with a bang. His two comic movies Bhagam Bhag and Partner have proved successful and as home coming for this extremely talented actor.

Arjun Rampal

Girls drool over him for his good looks and hot body and for the male fans he is a perfect role model. Arjun Rampal was born to Gwen and Amarjeet Rampal on November 26, 1972. He has a younger sister who is presently pursuing her studies in Tamil Nadu. Rampal, Arjun love initially was for the modeling industry where he was one of the top models. Success seemed to fall at his feet as Rohit Bal, one of the best Designers in India, picked him up at a disco and hired him as a model. As his successful career as a model was on a high ,Arjun decided to enter a new industry and Rampal, Arjun love for more popularity brought him to Bollywood.

Arjun Rampal started his movie career with his debut movie Moksha in 2001 and has been pretty selective about his movies. With his debut movie releasing after Pyaar Ishq aur Mohabbat, Rampal, Arjun love for the industry grew entitling him to more offers. Though most of his movies never did well at the box office his performance was appreciated by both the public and the critics. With the success of his movie Aankhen in 2002 he was someone the producers looked out for.

Movies were not the only interest he had. People slowly discovered that Rampal, Arjun love for charity work was something that should be applauded about. He works a lot for charity and is currently sponsoring 11 orphans in an orphanage. He has taken part in many social service campaigns and worked for the improvement of the community.

Work didn’t keep him away for his personal life. Ex-Miss India Meher Jesia soon became part of Rampal, Arjun love life and they got married. They are now proud parents of 2 daughters, Mahikaa and Myra. He always takes time off to spend time with his family and thus making him a good husband and a good father too.

Arjun wanted to take his acting interest one step higher. Rampal, Arjun love for setting up his own dream production unit was achieved when he started Chasing Ganesha Films. He then worked on his first project as producer where he acted in his own production I See You, where his wife Meher was the co-producer. This movie didn’t do too well at the box office and was considered a failure. But that doesn’t let Arjun Rampal down who is determined to dream on.

Apart from his acting the actor has found a new source of entertainment. Rampal, Arjun love for stage shows found him performing at Temptations 2004, a concert where he shared the stage with other Top Bollywood actors.

Taking a break from acting and work you’ll find Arjun only in one place and that is the streets of Mumbai. It is known that Rampal, Arjun love for fast cars and bikes is something he always had from a long time. He is quite often seen behind the wheel of his favorite cars enjoying a nice speedy ride down a highway. Talent should not be hidden and Ritupana Ghosh too agrees as he discovered a hidden talent in Arjun Rampal. Passionate not only about acting but Rampal, Arjun love for photography was what Ritupana Ghosh found hidden in the actor. Arjun Rampal has done it all. Very rarely we find people who can excel in modeling, acting, enjoying drives on fast lane, Stage shows, charity, photography, producing movies and also spend quality time with wife and children. Hope, Ramal will continue to be a great individual he is!

Saif Ali Khan

Royal as his family was, Saif Ali Khan was born into the family of the nawabs of pataudi on August 16, 1970.Chote Nawab, as he is generally known, is the only son of Mansoor Ali Khan and Sharmila tagore. Born into a family where Khan, Saif Ali love for fame and popularity was destined as his father was the captain of the Indian cricket team and his mother a popular actress. Not only was his family that made him a proud man but also Khan, Saif Ali love for quality education came with him attending an independent school in Winchester, England and after that he pursued his degree at Winchester college, England.

For some people, Bollywood would have been inscribed in their destiny as Khan, Saif Ali love for the stage found him start his acting career in his debut movie Parampara in 1993.He was meant to debut in 1992 itself opposite Kajol in Bekhui but couldn’t do so. Failure is a stepping stone to success and in Saif Ali Khan’s case it was pretty much correct. He did not shoot to fame instantly and had a few flops before he actually came up strong. The young actor initially struggled to make his way into the industry with a roller coaster of big hits and flops.

However his wave-like career took off and Khan, Saif Ali love for acting made him bag some few early awards. He won his first Filmfare Best debut award for Aashiq awara in 1994 .His acting career had a major downfall after that and his next hit coming only in 2001 in Dil Chahta Hai which got him his next film fare Best comedian Award and from then on he has been scaling the peak with a lot of hits and awards. His acting in some movies even had the critics appreciate him and tag him as the one of the industry’s most bankable artists.

He then went on to experiment in all genres .He signed up for an off beat movie, Being Cyrus and a remake of Shakespeare’s Othello in Omkara. His performance in both the movies was commendable with him winning yet another filmfare award in 2007 for the latter in the category of best villain. This showed that Khan, Saif Ali love for versatility not only took him places but also won him many awards.

With movies his next move was like most popular actors and Khan, Saif Ali love for onstage live performances saw him go many places. He was a part of the Temptations 2004 world tour. He shared the stage with other actors like Shah Rukh Khan , Priety Zinta , Priyanka Chopra, Arjun Rampal, etc. The tour was a huge success. His next performance was at the Closing Ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, as part of a performance showcasing Indian culture along with Rani Mukherjee.

Just like his movie career Khan, Saif Ali love life in reality took major ups and downs. He married Amrita Singh in October 1991 but his married life hit the rocks in 2004 where he divorced her. They have two children, a daughter named Sara and a son named Ibrahim, both of whom live with Amrita now. With his new list of movies and Khan, Saif Ali love life at the end of a pit rumors started to spread. He was seen with his new Italian girlfriend Rosa at various hangouts in Mumbai. He soon admitted to his rumors and Saif and Rosa were seeing each other. But as people thought this too didn’t last long. He ultimately broke up with Rosa too. Health too started to deteriorate when he was hospitalized at Leelawati Hospital, Mumbai, in February 2007.He had experienced chest pains during rehearsals for the Grand Finale performance at Stardust awards, to be held that night .Many film personalities came to see the actor in hospital. Valuable lessons were learnt as the actor quit smoking after he was hospitalized.

Imran Hashmi

Popularly known as the “kissing sensation” or “serial kisser” in India, Imran shot to fame with his sensuous yet provocative onscreen kisses with popular co-star Mallika Sherawat in the movie murder. Born to a Muslim father a catholic mother on 23 March 1979, Imran started his acting career with his debut movie footpath .Imran Hashmi love for movies seemed to have been genetic as he is the nephew of Mahesh Bhatt and is a cousin of actress and director Pooja Bhatt. Imran Hashmi love for numerology was proved when he changed his name by adding an extra ‘a’ to it making it Imraan.

Imran Hashmi real life was very different than his reel life image. He married his three year girl friend, Parveen Shahani at a grand ceremony in Mumbai. Imraan considers her the woman of his dreams. Imran Hashmi love life had been kept secret for three years as he didn’t like mixing up his private and personal life.

His fondness for music was seen in all his films which so happened to produce some of Bollywood’s greatest hits through the ages. Himesh Reshammiya and Kunal Ganjawala were some of the talented singers who rendered their versatile voices to most of his chart busting songs. Most his songs have even been remixed owing to their popularity.

Imraan Hashmi’s passion for acting got him some the best blockbusters like Kalyug , Zeher , Jawani diwani,etc. Imran Hashmi love scenes in murder have sure stirred a lot of controversies in India but that doesn’t stop the actor from doing so in his future films.

Love scenes and kisses have not been a bed of roses for him. In fact some tabloids even quoted him saying he was very uncomfortable during them. Imran Hashmi love scenes with Mallika Sherawat have sure got many fans watching the movie over and over again. His love making scenes seem to be getting bolder with every movie leaving the sensor board with work to do without having to disappoint his huge fan following.

Love is blind and so was Imran who is in love with his wife and is even trying to disclaim the serial kisser tag in the movie Awarapan. Recently the actor was heard in an interview saying he was to be seen in a different image in the movie .Imran Hashmi lover boy image has given a great fan following. Leaving apart his controversies he is also popular among girls because of is dressing sense as quoted in many communities in a social networking site. Imran Hashmi love for acting has got him many fans than he would have thought with the growing number of “I love Emran” communities on orkut.

His controversial love scenes in murder caused sensational news in the beginning and this set a new level for film makers who included kissing scenes in their movies which was considered a taboo earlier. Imran Hashmi love scenes in the movie helped him gain popularity even though his acting skills weren’t up to expectations.

Popularity for the young actor came with rumors which included his recent link up with Celina Jaitley but soon they were put to rest with the engagement of Imran and Parveen. Imraan was quoted saying the rumours of his fling with Celina acted as a catalyst for him to pop the question to Parveen. Imran Hashmi love for starting rumours has been an undisclosed secret. He is said to get a kick out of starting rumours .Friends played a very vital role in his life Imran Hashmi love for them is pretty evident as he still maintains close friendship with his childhood pals who are from a non filmy background.