When Shabana Raza Was Forced To Change Her Name To Neha For Bobby Deol's Kareeb

Former Bollywood actress Shabana Raza who is professionally known as Neha, made a promising debut in Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s romance film Kareeb (1998) alongside Bobby Deol. However, her career failed to reach significant heights thereafter. Appearing in a total of nine films until 2006 and another film three years later, she bid farewell to the movies in 2009.

What was Shabana Raza’s name change fiasco?

In 2006, Raza married her Fiza co-star Manoj Bajpayee and reverted her name back to Shabana Raza. She was initially given the screen name Neha for her debut film Kareeb. While her last film before marriage, Aatma (2006), credited her as Neha, Suparn Verma’s Acid Factory reintroduced her as Shabana Raza.

During an interview in 2008, she discussed why she kept switching between her names. “I was never Neha. I was always Shabana. I was forced to change my name too. I was not okay with it at all. My parents proudly named me Shabana. There was no need to change it, but nobody listened to me,” she told Rediff.com adding, “I have matured a lot since I entered the industry. I was very apprehensive about everything before, but I understand better now.”

Asked why she didn’t revert to her original name sooner, Shabana replied, “That is the sad part. Nobody would listen to me when I wanted to go back to my first name.”

When Shabana said she never wanted to act in movies

In the same interview, Raza said, “I did not want to act in films. I was studying in Delhi and was happy there. But they saw me on television and coaxed me to do the film. They chased me. I was not interested and refused. They spoke to my parents and got their approval.”

Since 2009, Shabana has not appeared in any movies, marking the end of her acting career. She is now happily married for 18 years and is a proud mother to Ava Nayla.