When Shabana Raza said she was ‘forced’ to change her name to Neha for Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Kareeb: ‘I wasn’t okay with it’

Prior to leaving the film industry, the actor's life saw two major events: she married her Fiza co-star Manoj Bajpayee in 2006 and she reverted her name from Neha back to Shabana Raza.

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Shabana Raza with her husband Manoj Bajpayee and their daughter Ava Nayla. (Image: Manoj Bajpayee/Instagram)

Shabana Raza, professionally known as Neha, had a promising debut in Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s romance film Kareeb (1998) alongside Bobby Deol. However, her career didn’t reach significant heights thereafter. She appeared in a total of nine films after that until 2006 and another film three years later before bidding farewell to the movies in 2009.

She married her Fiza co-star Manoj Bajpayee in 2006 and reverted her name from Neha back to Shabana Raza. Shabana was 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.

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During an interview in 2008, she had discussed why she kept switching back and forth 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. “I have matured a lot since I entered the industry. I was very apprehensive about everything before, but I understand better now,” she added.

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

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Shabana said that she never wanted to act in films and even refused when she got an offer for her debut film. “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. I worked for a few days and loved being in front of the camera. I felt as though acting was my dream,” the actor shared.

Shabana has not appeared in the movies since 2009.

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