William Shakespeare said…."What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

These words certainly are not considered good enough by members of the film community. The mantra in the film industry is "change your name….become a star".

Everybody knows Sivaji Rao Gaekwad is not a superstar. But Rajinikanth is. Similarly, a young actor named Mohammed Kutty alias Sajin was introduced by Malayalam director Asad decades ago. He changed his name to Mammootty and became the big star that he is today.

The trend had started working. John Kennedy became Vikram, Saravanan became Suriya and Prabhu became Dhanush. The trend is very evident in the Malayalam industry too. Bahadur, Jayan and Narain are all changed names.

The latest to join this band is Saiju Kurup and Shamna, who have already changed their names to Aniruddh and Poorna respectively. And with this single change, fortune seems to be favoring them with calls from pretty good banners even from Kollywood. Anirrudh is now busy playing important roles in films like 'Puthiya Varppukal' and 'Aarumugam'.

Poorna's first film in Kollywood 'Muniyandi Villangiyal Moondramaandu' has already reached theatres, while her next 'Kodaikanal' as heroine is getting ready to grace theatres.

Aspiring actors out there….think of a name change….you might end up a big star.

Disclaimer: Name change does not work all the time. An astrologer once told Shahrukh Khan….'change your name if you want to be a star because there cannot be a star with the name Shahrukh Khan'.

Wow….what a hopelessly wrong prediction that was!!!!