12 Telugu Stars Who Rechristened Themselves To Suit The Silver Screen

So, Chiranjeevi is not the real name of our favorite hero Megastar. He was born as Konidala Siva Shankar Vara Prasad. That's quite a long name, isn't it?. When he joined Madras Film Institute upon the suggestion of his mother he took the screen name ‘Chiranjeevi’ which means to ‘live forever’. As his family worships Hanuman, Chiru took that name which is usually referred to Lord Hanuman.

Power Star Pawan Kalyan also had a different name. His original name was Kalyan Babu but later he adopted the screen name Pawan. He started using this name when he demonstrated his martial arts skills for the first time. He is a Black Belt holder in Karate. Since then his name became Pawan Kalyan.

Bakthavatsalam Naidu sounds so new to everyone and probably not many people would be able to guess who the person is. It is Collection King's birth name. Interestingly he did not change his name when he entered movies but after his breakthrough in the industry. In 1975 he got introduced to eminent writer and director Dasari Narayana Rao who cast him in the film ‘Swargam Narakam’. This movie gave a breakthrough for him in the industry since then he adopted the screen name, Mohan Babu.

Mass Maharaja took a rough road to stardom. He is one among the heroes who worked hard to the top in Telugu Film Industry. His original name was Ravi Shankar Raju Bhupatiraju but he chose to simplify it and changed it to Ravi Teja.

Jaggu Bhai surprised everyone with his comeback as a villain. From a family hero Jagapathi Babu became Jaggu Bhai with his villainous reinvention. That’s not it, he too had another big name which he changed later. He was named as Veeramachaneni Jagapati Rao Chowdary. As you can observe it is quite big so he took Jagapati Babu as his screen name.

Natural Star Nani got consecutive 4 hits and he is doing well in Tollywood at present. He is packed with so many offers. The interesting thing is Nani is the nickname of this star. Naveen Babu Ghanta is the real name of clapper boy who became the most sought after hero in Tollywood.

Prakash Raj is a multi-faceted personality who is an actor, director, producer and a Television presenter. This versatile actor has Prakash Rai as his name but changed it to Prakash Raj as his screen name upon the advice of the Tamil film director K. Balachander. But even now he is addressed with both the names. In his home state Karnataka he is addressed as Prakash Rai.

Eminent actor Chandra Mohan is a yesteryear hero and today’s supporting artist. He is one of the senior most actors in Telugu Industry. He was born as Mallampalli Chandrasekhara Rao but later he took up Chandra Mohan as his screen name.

Bapu is one of the legendary cartoonist, director, and a screenwriter. He is one of the foremost Indian cartoonists who redefined the realistic beauty. When we see a beautiful Telugu girl she is naturally complimented as ‘Bapu Bomma’. His paintings are synonymous for beautiful lady’s figures. Later he converted his art into visuals and delivered some epic family dramas in Tollywood. But the interesting fact is Bapu is not his real name. It is more of pen or stage name. His real name was Sattiraju Lakshmi Narayana. He used a pen name for all his cartoons and paintings which later became his name.

Natabhushana Shoban Babu was the heartthrob of young ladies between 1960’- 90’s. He was famous for introducing the forelock hairstyle. His style and acting brilliance are unmatchable. His original name was Uppu Shobana Chalapathy Rao but when he entered the film industry he adopted the stage name, Shoban Babu.

Mano is one of the most popular playback singers in South India. He is the official dubbing artist for all the movies of Rajinikanth in Telugu. When he was about to start his singing career with Ilayaraja he changed his name to avoid the name clash with the already existing singer Nagore E. M. Hanifa. The interesting fact is that the name Mano was selected and named by Ilaiyaraaja himself.

Sarath Babu is one of the eminent actors in South Indian film industry. He had a career span over 3 decades in the industry and acted in over 200 films in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi. He holds 8 Nandi Awards. His real name was Sathyam Babu Dixithulu but he adopted Sarath Babu as his screen name later.