They Came to Be Actors...

Some made it. Some didn't. A few misses later, many of them went on the make lasting impressions in other areas.

Shekhar Kapur: The London-returned chartered accountant wowed Mumbai high society with his dashing looks, but cut no ice with the audience. His three films as leading man flopped. However, Masoom, his first film as director, was a resounding success. So were Mr India and Bandit Queen. He is working on another ambitious project called Elizabeth I.

Inder Kumar: Aruna Irani's brother, he acted in several Gujarati films before turning director. One of the few filmmakers to deliver hat-trick hits -- Dil, Beta, Raja -- Kumar is today a brand name director.

Salim Khan: Remember Rocky the drummer in Teesri Manzil? That was Salim Khan, who later found a place in the history books as the half of the Salim-Javed duo which created, among the classics, Sholay, Deewar and Zanjeer. However, Salim's aspirations to become an actor have been more than met by his star sons Salman and Arbaaz Khan.

Ayesha Shroff: Jackie Shroff's better half, she did a disastrous Brooke Shields copy in the Hindi remake of The Blue Lagoon.And then decided that home and kids were preferable to an indifferent audience.

Subhash Ghai: The Film and Television Institute acting graduate did six films as a hero -- all flops -- before N.N. Sippy entrusted Kalicharan to him. Even today, the director makes a Hitchcock-like appearance in all his movies. Known for Hero, Karma, Khalnayak and Saudagar, among others, he took the showman's mantle from Raj Kapoor.

Kunal, Karan and Sanjana Kapoor: Their anglicised looks and stiff screen presence killed ambitions of adding to Bollywood's roster of star Kapoors. Today, Kunal is an in-demand ad filmmaker; Karan a hotshot photographer based in London; and Sanjana a TV and theatre personality who also runs Prithvi Theatre and an art gallery.  

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