It is not a secret anymore that the celebrities all around the world especially in Bollywood rely a lot on numerology in order to reach a certain level of success that they dream of. This practice is not only confined to their names but they also consult the numerologists to spell their movies and choose their release dates for them because they are superstitious enough to believe that this is going to make their movies do well at the box office. Over the time we have seen so many celebrities who tweaked with the spellings because after a certain point in their careers they gave in to the temptation of numerology.
Sadly, in recent times this trend has crept into Pakistani industry as well. While going through morning shows, you’d often see different numerologists promoting the study of numerology and citing very childish reasons to add weight to their argument. What makes our belief firm on the fact that our celebrities have also changed their names for fame is the fact that they not only agree but they also endorse everything that these numerologists say.
There was a time when only the film and theater actors used to change their names completely because they thought their real names were not very filmy or catchy. Many of the present actresses who started their career from modelling and acting in dramas also did so. Saba Qamar, Maya Ali, Kubra Khan and others changed their screen names not because they thought it will turn their luck around but because they wanted a name which was shorter and more appealing.
People (read fans of these celebrities) might come up with different justifications like may be they wanted to make their names look more appealing, or may be because they wanted their names to stand out or ‘luk kewl’, but the fact is, no one, one fine day wakes up and starts seeing an issue with how their names were spelled originally. Also, this can’t be denied that our celebrities are past that ‘age’ where they’d want to be remembered as someone with a uniquely spelled name because this is something that girls and boys do when they are in high school. The fact that recently quite a lot of celebrities have changed the way they spell their names does show that they are doing it all for fame because apart from numerology, our celebrities on different platforms have endorsed astrology, gemology and all such logies which hold no truth and no reality. Yes, being superstitious is one thing but being so immature to fall for such traps is another because one way or the other, you end up promoting these things which is most certainly not needed.
So, let’s check out the graph of all those celebrities who tweaked with their names for fame and find out brought anything good to them or not:
From Humaima Malik to Humaima Malick
When she was Humaima Malik, she got the opportunity to work in Bol, which is obviously one such movie which was watched by the masses and she did gain a lot of popularity through it, but ever since she has become Humaima Malick, not only she is nowhere to be seen but she landed herself a movie like Raja Natwarlal, hmmm enough said.
From Mawra Hussain to Mawra Hocane
Yes, Mawra has time and again given childish reasons that in class 6th, just because she wanted to stand out she changed her name but we ain’t buying that. It is a done deal that Mawra can go to any lengths to achieve the fame, be it her dependence on PR Team to stay in the limelight, her Instagram following which she takes pride in or be it her flop movie Sanam Teri Kasam which she would defend left, right and center while believing that she carried it in its entirety on her shoulders. So, this unique surname does suggest that it was deliberately changed with an ulterior motive.
From Urwa Hussain to Urwa Hocane
The only good work to Urwa’s credit is her inclusion in the drama serial Udaari, that too which she got after being associated with the industry for a long time. Just because Mawra told her sister to change her name, Urwa said she did it which again is something that we are not buying. The fact that both the Hocane Sisters have invested so much effort in PR activities goes to show that they really take attaining fame through external help quite seriously, so in this case numerology is no different.
From Saboor Ali to Saboor Alee
Ali/Alee/Aly, for Saboor it just doesn’t change anything because when she joined the industry as Saboor Ali, Sajal Ali’s sister, she was nowhere to be seen and now when she has gone through the pain of changing her name to attain the fame, she is still pretty invisible and the nature of her work is not the kind that would give her the success every other actor or even she dreams of. So, we feel saddened to burst the bubble but Saboor, the only thing that might have changed is your name but your graph has pretty much remained the same!
From Ali Khan to Aly Khan
Ali Khan who is now Aly Khan for many years now is probably the one who set the precedent of replacing an I with Y and hoping to hit a jackpot in the industry by changing one alphabet in his name but guess what just like all the other celebrities in this list, he hasn’t really achieved the kind of success which many other actors in the same age group have managed to achieve without changing anything about their names! This basically just proves our point that Adnan Siddiqui and Noman Ijaz managed to get this far without changing their Is to Ys therefore playing with the alphabet does not really determine how famous you get or how well you do in the industry!
From Sajal Ali to Sajal Aly
There is no arguing the fact that Sajal Ali has always been a phenomenal actress right from the get-go therefore we don’t understand why someone like her will follow a trend which is obviously more of a moral support for all those celebrities who haven’t been able to make it big in the industry. Sajal’s career did not take off in any way after changing the I to Y because at the end of the day, an actor’s performance and hard work pays off and Sajal has really proved her mettle time and again solely through her phenomenal performances. Sajal has a fan following and it is even more annoying to see her fans also redesigning their phonics and alphabets by following her lead!
From Arij Fatima to Arij Fatyma
Arij Fatima is another actress whose career did not undergo any kind of massive shift when she changed the spellings of her name. Perhaps she thought Fatima wasn’t cool enough but even then replacing the I with Y is so common now that even that is not very cool or different any more. We definitely expected better from an actress who has enough talent to go places without attempting to ‘stand out’ in this manner or in other words depending on numerology to help herself.
From Sonia Hussain to Sonya Hussyn
Sonia Hussain has been around for a really long time and she is a great actress as well but the fact is that she still hasn’t acquired the kind of position in the industry which many other actresses who joined showbiz after her, managed to acquire in a few years. Sonia Hussain did not only replace one I in her name with Y but she went “the extra mile” and changed both of them hoping that just like her recent cosmetic surgeries they will “re-brand” her but her career hasn’t taken off after these changes.
If we take a look at the successful careers and the fame that the veteran actors to the recent time stars like Bushra Ansari, Waheed Murad, Samina Peerzada, Javed Sheikh, Shaan Shahid, Humayun Saeed, Saba Qamar, Imran Abbas, Fawad Khan and Mahira Khan have enjoyed and are enjoying, we can most certainly say that the tactics like changing names because of numerology don’t really do anything for anyone because what actually matters is the talent, the consistency and the star power that one naturally has and should have.
Yes, we do have some actors who based on genuine reasons have made the changes in their spellings like Faysal Qureshi, because there are other Faisal Qureshis in the industry too, so it does make sense that he wanted his fans to be able to differentiate between him and others but to see these young actors now going to such extremes to earn fame is not only questionable but objectionable too. We most certainly believe that all these numerologists who frequent on different morning shows to promote such stuff should be strictly banned and should not be allowed to preach any such thing which might deviate people’s faith from the right path.
So, with this we conclude our article and encourage you guys to share your thoughts on the subject as well. Also, just for the sake of an experiment and to see if the tweakage in our spellings will bring any difference in our readership, for this article we are:
Xahra Mirxa & Fatyma Avan. ;)