This Article is From Oct 24, 2014

10 Same-to-Same Names Bollywood Characters Share

10 Same-to-Same Names Bollywood Characters Share

Deepika Padukone in a still from Happy new Year and Sonam Kapoor in a still from Khoobsurat.

New Delhi:

Sometimes, you get in on your name alone. Certain sections of Bollywood have turned this into a fine art - Shah Rukh Khan with Rahul, Salman with Prem and Amitabh Bachchan with an endless succession of Vijays and Amits. And then, there's the other kind of name that sticks - the kind that is used and re-used by multiple actors, assumed and then discarded role by role, film by film.

Thus it is that the celluloid world crafted by Bollywood is inhabited by characters who might have nothing in common but their name.

Mohini
Madhuri Dixit danced her way into India's collective movie-going conscience in an Ek Do Teen jiffy, playing dancer Mohini in 1988's Tezaab. In this year's Happy New Year, Deepika Padukone also plays a dancer named Mohini, intent on a diamond heist.
 


Bhairon
Aamir Khan has a friend named Bhairon Singh, otherwise known as Sanjay Dutt, in PK. In Namak Halaal (1982), Amitabh Bachchan also had a friend called Bhairon who city-fied his name into Byron.




Mili
Jaya Bachchan's bubbly exterior hid the fact that she was terminally ill in 1975 film Mili. Sonam Kapoor's bubbly exterior in this year's Khubsoorat hid nothing more intense than a crush on a prince. In 1995, Urmila Matondkar's Mili had two men panting after her in Rangeela.




Albert Pinto
One of Naseeruddin Shah's earliest screen successes was the angsty Goan mechanic who was the titular hero of Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyoon Aata Hai. In Jalwa, Pankaj Kapoor played Albert Pinto, Naseeruddin's Goan friend who ends up dead.




Ramprasad and Lakshmanprasad/Lucky Sharma
For the want of a moustache, Amol Palekar ended up playing both Ramprasad Sharma and his fictional twin Lakshmanprasad a.k.a Lucky in 1979's Gol Maal. In 2004, Lakshman Prasad Sharma or Lucky existed for real - as real as a film character can be - in the form of Zayed Khan. Ram Prasad Sharma was played by Shah Rukh Khan.




Chandni
Rekha in Silsila, Sridevi in Chandni, Sushmita Sen in Main Hoon Na - all lovely, all different.




Amar
In 1977, Vinod Khanna played the eldest of three separated-when-young brothers in Amar Akbar Anthony. In 1994, Aamir Khan inherited the name but swapped Akbar and Anthony for Salman's Prem (no relation to Aamir's Amar).




Teja
Paresh Rawal was hilarious (though unsuccessful in villainy) as evil twin Teja in Andaz Apna Apna. Ajit Vachani was slightly more menacing as Mogambo's henchman Teja in 1987 hit Mr India. Legendary baddie Ajit, otherwise known as 'Loin,' was the most fearsome Teja of all, in 1973's Zanjeer. Prakash Raj updated the role in last year's remake of Zanjeer.




Mona
Dimple Kapadia played the Saagar Jaise Aankhonwali Mona D'Silva in her second film, 1985's Saagar. Bindu redefined the role of the vamp as gangster's moll Mona Darling in 1973's Zanjeer. In 2013, actress Mahie Gill played Mona Darling in the updated Zanjeer.




Bobby
Dimple again! In one of Bollywood's most sensational debuts, Bobby Braganza stole Rishi Kapoor's susceptible heart, and the audience's collective one, in 1973's Bobby. In 2004's Hum Tum, Kirron Kher played one of the earliest of her 'Punjabi aunty' roles, swinging her parandhi as Rani Mukerji's mother Bobby. This year, Vidya Balan was a woman of many guises as Bobby Jasoos.



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