Salman Khan, Tiger Shroff, Kiara Advani: Bollywood celebs whose real names will surprise you | The Times of India
Akshay Kumar is popularly known as the Khiladi of Bollywood and lovingly known by his friends and fans as ‘Akki’. However, not many know that his original birth name happens to be Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia.
Spilling the beans on why he changed his name, Akshay once said in a promotional event, “No one has ever asked me this question. My first film was ‘Aaj’ which was directed by Mahesh Bhatt and starred Kumar Gaurav. The name of Gaurav’s character was Akshay. I had a 4.5-second role in it and I would only observe Gaurav and his acting. I don’t know what happened but one day I just went to the court and got my name changed.”
