Akshay Kumar, the superstar of Bollywood who is also affectionately called Khiladi Kumar, was originally Rajiv Bhatia belonging to a Punjabi family, this much is known to many but not that Akshay Kumar was the name of a character in a Mahesh Bhatt film called ‘Aaj’. In fact, this Mahesh Bhatt’s film was also Akshay Kumar’s debut film in Bollywood. However, his character of a Karate instructor was very small, ten seconds to be exact.

Obviously, no one took notice of the handsome hunk in the film. However, Akshay Kumar loved the role played in film by Kumar Gaurav and it was known as Akshay. Our Bollywood Khiladi Kumar was so impressed with the screen name of Kumar Gaurav that he decided to change his name from Rajiv Bhatia to Akshay Kumar for his films.

And see where Rajiv Bhatia is today as Akshay Kumar.He will next be seen in his 125th film, Tinu Suresh Desai’s next. In his upcoming flick Rustom, Akshay Kumar plays the part of a naval officer and the movie is due for a worldwide release on August 12.