Muslim Actors Who Adopted Hindu Names

Recently the Hindi film industry mourned the loss of a legendary actor Dilip Kumar. The 98-year-old actor draws the curtain on the Golden Age of Bollywood. He acted in 60 films in his sixty years of career and won the hearts of the folks with his incredible acting skills.

The world knows this legend as Dilip Kumar but also the fact that his real name was Mohammad Yusuf Khan. He was born to Ayesha Begum and Mohammed Sarwar Khan on December 11, 1922, in Peshawar in undivided India. He made his acting debut with Jwar Bhata (1944). In a career spanning over five decades, Kumar worked in over 65 films.

Just like Dilip Kumar, many Bollywood actors were born into a Muslim family but adopted a Hindu name. In the list, we also have Kumar’s Mughal-e-Azam co-star Madhubala. Similarly we Meena Kumari was born Mahjabeen Bano but she later changed her name.

Take a look at this list of Bollywood actors who were born as Muslims but later adopted a Hindu name.

1. Dilip Kumar was born Mohammad Yusuf Khan

2. For a long time it was only ‘Sanjay’. But later Shah Abbas Khan became Sanjay Khan

3. Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed Jaffery aka Jagdeep

4. Actor Arjun of BR Chopra’s Mahabharata was born Firoz Khan

5. Zakaria Khan born in Peshawar later became Jayant