Amitabh Bachchan

Born in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, Amitabh Bachchan hails from a Hindu Kayastha family His father, Dr. Harivansh Rai Bachchan was a well-known Hindi poet, while his mother, Teji Bachchan was a Sikh-Punjabi from Faisalabad (now in Pakistan) Bachchan was initially named Inquilaab, inspired from the famous phrase Inquilab Zindabad, during the Indian independence struggle. However, at the suggestion of fellow poet Sumitranandan Pant, Harivansh Rai changed the name to Amitabh which means, "the light that would never go off." Though his surname was Shrivastava, his father had adopted the pen-name Bachchan (meaning child-like in colloquial Hindi), under which he published all his works. It is with this last name that Amitabh debuted in films, and, for all public purposes, it has become the surname of all members of his family. Bachchan's father died in 2003, and his mother in 2007.

Nana Patekar

 

Born Vishwanath Patekar in Murud-Janjira, Maharashtra, to Dinkar Patekar (a painter) and his wife Sanjanabai Patekar. He is an alumnus of the Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Art, Mumbai
He acted in movies such as Gaman (1978), Mohre (1987) and Salaam Bombay! (1988) and was noticed by the mainstream Bollywood industry for his portrayal of the villain in the 1989 film, Parinda, for which he won his first National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was also awarded the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for the role. He won the Filmfare Best Villain Award in 1992 for Angaar.

Om Puri

Puri was born in Ambala, Haryana in a Punjabi Khatri family and spent the early part of his life living with his maternal uncle in Sanaur (Patiala), Punjab, India. He graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India. He is also an alumnus of the 1973 class of National School of Drama where Naseeruddin Shah was a co-student

Shammi Kapoor

 
He was given the name Shamsher Raj Kapoor at his birth in Mumbai to film and theatre actor Prithviraj Kapoor, Shammi was the second of the three sons born to Prithviraj (the other two being Raj Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor), both of whom were, like their father, successful Bollywood actors. Though born in Mumbai, he spent a major portion of his childhood in Kolkata, where his father was involved with New Theatres Studios, acting in films. It was in Kolkata that he did his Montessory and Kindergarten. After coming back to Mumbai, he first went to St. Joseph's Convent (Wadala) and then, to Don Bosco School. Shammi Kapoor finished his schooling from New Era School, at Hughes Road.

Dev Anand

 
Dev was born Dharam Dev Anand in Shakargarh Tehsil of Gurdaspur district (now in Narowal District, Pakistan) in undivided Punjab, British India to advocate Kishorimal Anand. He graduated in English literature from the Government College, Lahore
Dev Anand left his hometown for Mumbai. He began his career in the military censor office at Churchgate, Mumbai, for a salary of Rs.200.
He was soon offered a debut as an actor by Prabhat Talkies to star in their film Hum Ek Hain(1946). While shooting for the film in Pune, Dev struck a friendship with another fellow legendary actor Guru Dutt.

Feroz Khan

 
Feroz Khan was born in Bangalore on September 25, 1939. His father was Sadiq Ali Khan Tanoli, an Afghan hailing from the Ghazni province of Afghanistan, and his mother was of Persian ancestry. He was educated in Bishop Cotton Boys' School, Bangalore and St. Germain's Boys High School, Bangalore. His brothers are Sanjay Khan (Abbas Khan), Shahrukh Shah Ali Khan,Sameer Khan and Akbar Khan (director). He has a sister Dilshad Bibi. After his schooling in Bangalore, he arrived in Mumbai where he made his debut as second lead in Didi in 1960.

Rajesh Khanna

 
Khanna was born to in Amritsar on 29 December 1942. He was adopted and raised by foster parents who were relatives of his biological parents. Khanna lived in Thakurdwar near Girgaon. Khanna attended St. Sebastian’s Goan High School in Girgaum, along with his friend Ravi Kapoor, who later took the stage name Jeetendra. Their mothers were friends. Khanna gradually started taking interest in theatre and did a lot of plays in his school and college days and won many prizes in the inter college drama competitions. Khanna became a rare newcomer who struggled in his own MG sports car to get work in theatre and films in the early sixties Both friends later studied in Kishinchand Chellaram College(KC). When Jeetendra went for his first film audition, it was Khanna who tutored him. Khanna's uncle changed Khanna's first name to Rajesh when Khanna decided to join films. His friends and his wife call him Kaka

Amrish Puri........The Bad Man

 
Amrish Puri was born in Nawanshahr (former Tehsil of District Jalandhar), Punjab to Sri Nihal Puri and Ved Kaur as the third of four children. His siblings include elder brothers Chaman Puri and Madan Puri (both actors) and elder sister Chandrakanta and younger Harish Puri. He later moved to Shimla and graduated from B.M. College, Himachal Pradesh.
Amrish Puri came to Mumbai in the footsteps of his elder brothers Chaman Puri and Madan Puri (both actors), who was already an established actor known for playing negative roles. He failed his first screen test, and found a job with the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC). At the same time, he started performing at the Prithvi Theatre, in plays written by Satyadev Dubey. He eventually became well-known as stage actor and won the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1979. This theatre recognition soon led to work in television ads and eventually to films at the late age of 40.

Dilip Kumar

 
Dilip Kumar was born Muhammad Yusuf Khan at Mohallah Khudadad, in Qissa Khwani Bazaar in Peshawar, British India (now Pakistan). He was born to a Hindko-speaking Peshawari family with twelve children. His father, Lala Ghulam Sarwar, was a fruit merchant who owned large orchards in Peshawar and Deolali in Maharashtra near Nashik. The family relocated to Bombay (now Mumbai) in the 1930s and in the early 1940s Yusuf Khan moved to Pune and started a canteen business and supplying dried fruits.
In 1943, actress Devika Rani, who was also the wife of the founder of the Bombay Talkies film studio, Himanshu Rai, helped Khan's entry into the Bollywood film industry. Hindi Author Bhagwati Charan Varma gave him the screen name Dilip Kumar and gave him the leading role in his film Jwar Bhata (1944). Devika Rani and her husband Svetoslav Roerich spotted Khan in one of Pune's Aundh military canteens.

Sanjeev Kumar

 
Sanjeev Kumar was born as Harihar (Haribhai ?) Jariwala in Gujarat to a Gujarati family. His first home was in Surat and family based in Mumbai. A stint in the film school took him to Bollywood, where he eventually became a movie star. He remained a bachelor all his life and died of a massive heart attack in 1985.^] He has two younger brothers and a sister.

Dharmendra Singh Deol

 
He was born into a Punjabi Jat Sikh family in Punjab state to Kewal Kishan Singh Deol and Satwant Kaur. He spent his early life at village Sahnewal, Ludhiana. His father was a school headmaster in the village of Lalton Ludhiana where the family later moved. At the peak of his film career he was considered the most handsome actor in Bollywood and a matinée idol. He was a member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India representing Bikaner constituency in Rajasthan from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was awarded the Lifetime achievement award for his contribution to Hindi cinema at the 2007 IIFA Awards.

Legendary Kishore Kumar

 
Kishore Kumar was born into the Bengali Brahmin Ganguly family in Khandwa, Central Provinces and Berar (now in Madhya Pradesh) as Abhas Kumar Ganguly.^[1] His father Kunjalal Ganguly (Gangopadhya) was a lawyer. His mother Gouri Devi came from a wealthy Bengali family. Kishore was the youngest of four siblings, the other three being Ashok Kumar (the eldest), Sati Devi, and Anoop Kumar.
While Kishore was still a child, Ashok Kumar became a Bollywood actor. (Later, Anoop Kumar also ventured into cinema with the help of Ashok Kumar). Spending time with his brothers, Kishore also started to take a keen interest in movies and music. He became a fan of singer-actor Kundan Lal Saigal, whom he considered his guru, and tried to follow Saigal's singing style.

Premnath

 
Born in Peshawar in a hindkowan Punjabi family, his family moved to Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh after partition, he then had moved to Bombay.
He married the actress Bina Rai with whom he fathered actor Prem Krishen and Kailash Nath (Monty). They are also the grandparents of actress Akanksha Malhotra and director Siddharth Malhotra. His sister Krishna married Raj Kapoor and his brothers Rajindernath and Narendranath were also actors mostly in comic and supporting roles. He was also a family friend of the actress Asha Parekh. He died of a heart attack in 1992 at the age of sixty six

Mehmood Ali

 
Mehmood was one of eight children born to actor and dancer Mumtaz Ali in Bombay. Mehmood had an elder sister and six younger siblings. His sister, Minoo Mumtaz, was also a successful dancer and character actress in Bollywood movies. He started acting reluctantly as a child in Bombay talkie films like Kismet. Some of his early jobs before he concentrated only on acting were driving, doing odd jobs, and selling poultry. He worked as director P. L. Santoshi's driver. Later, Santoshi's son Rajkumar Santoshi cast Mehmood in his venture Andaz Apna Apna. He was hired to teach table tennis to Meena Kumari in those days. He later married her sister Madhu. After getting married and becoming a father, he decided to act to earn a better living. He got a small break as a murder victim in the film C.I.D.. He started off by doing small unnoticed roles in films like Do Bigha Zameen and Pyaasa. He later went on to act in lead roles, but he was appreciated for his comedy, some of which was in the Hyderabad region Urdu accent.

Raaj Kumar......

He was born as Kulbhushan Pandit in Loralai, Balochistan now in Pakistan, into Kashmiri Brahmin family specifically from the Kashmiri Saraswat Brahmin community. In the late 1940s he moved to Mumbai, India where he became Sub-inspector of the Mumbai police. He married Gayatri (a fellow Kashmiri Pandit) in the 1960s with whom he had three children, two sons named Puru Raajkumar (a Bollywood actor), Panini Raajkumar and a daughter named Vastavikta Raajkumar, who made her screen debut in 2006 film Eight Shani.

Raj Kapoor.....The Showman

Son of Prithviraj Kapoor, brother of Shammi Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor.
Hindi megastar.
Father of Randhir Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor and Rajiv Kapoor. Also daughters: Reetu Nanda and Reema.
Grandfather of Karisma Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor. His daughter's son, Nikhil Nanda, is married to Shweta Bachchan, daughter of fellow Indian film legend Amitabh Bachchan.
Most important Indian film star of the 20th century together with Amitabh Bachchan
Formed one of the most popular Hindi screen couples of the 50s with Nargis.