The story of how Delhi-born Rajiv Bhatia transformed into the widely recognized Akshay Kumar traces back to his debut film. The Hindi film star revealed why he changed his name to Akshay Kumar during an interview with Galatta Plus.
Akshay Kumar on his name change
When asked about his first day on the sets of "Aaj," his debut film directed by Mahesh Bhatt and featuring Raj Babbar, Smita Patil, and Kumar Gaurav, Akshay Kumar shared an interesting anecdote. Although "Aaj" only had him in a special appearance, Akshay mentioned, “Do you know what Kumar Gaurav’s name in the film was? Akshay! That’s how I got my name. Not many people know this,” he laughed. “My real name is Rajeev. During the shoot, I casually asked for the hero's name in the film. When they said Akshay, I decided I wanted that name too!”
When questioned if he changed his name to avoid confusion with Rajiv Kapoor, Akshay clarified that wasn’t the reason. He explained, “Rajiv is a good name, and I think Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister back then. It was a great name, but I changed it just aise hi (just because). It wasn’t like some pandit advised me to change my name! Even my father asked, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ but I told him the same thing—that the hero’s name in my first film was Akshay, so I decided to keep it.”
About Akshay Kumar
Akshay became a prominent actor in the 90s, gaining fame through his action films, which stood alongside the big-scale movies of the three Khans—Shah Rukh, Aamir, and Salman. Recently, however, he has faced a series of box office flops post-pandemic, with only "Sooryavanshi" and "OMG 2" performing well. His latest film, "Sarfira," had the lowest opening of his career in recent times. Akshay Kumar is set to appear next in the comedy "Khel Khel Mein."