Why did Akshay Kumar change his name? Akki answers the million-dollar question

A question that must have bothered every layman who knows who Akshay Kumar is, is why the star changed his original name. Unless you've been living under an Everest-sized rock, you'd know that Akshay Kumar is not Akshay Kumar's real name. Khiladi Kumar was born Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia, and then changed his name to Akshay Kumar, the name that made him one to reckon with.

While many people know Akshay Kumar's real name, most don't know why the actor changed his name in the first place.

At a recent interation with Hindustan Times, the Baby star spilled the beans. He said that yesteryear actor Kumar Gaurav was responsible for Akshay changing his name.

Kumar said, "No one has ever asked me this question. My first film was Aaj (1987) 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."

Akshay went on to say, "I don't know why I changed my name... I just went to the Bandra East court and got it done. Main kuchh bhi nahi tha us time pe, phir bhi maine visiting card banwaye. Then I went out to get work, time was in my favour, and I got films after that."

Well, the cat's finally out of the bag!

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