Child Artistes Who Made A MARK In Bollywood After Growing Up!

They seem to have been born for Bollywood. As child artistes they endeared themselves and on growing up managed to leave an imprint in Bollywood. We bring to you some actors who were child artists earlier and on growing up made a place for themselves in Bollywood.
1) Aamir Khan
The Mr.Perfectionist of Bollywood made his debut as a child artist with the film Yaadon Ki Baarat, released in the year 1973. As an adult actor Aamir became quite the craze with Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988) and has given Bollywood some of it’s most memorable and iconic films. Today he is right amongst the top and considered as one of the most bankable stars of Bollywood.

2) Urmila Matondkar
Urmila is quite the Bollywood diva but she started off her illustrious career as a child actor in Kalyug and then had her breakthrough role in Shekhar Kapur’s  Masoom.
3) Jugal Hansraj
Jugal endeared himself as a child artist with ‘Masoom‘ and appeared as a leading man in the 1994 film, Aa Gale Lag Ja. He also was one of the main leads in Aditya Chopra‘s Mohabbatein.
4) Aftab Shivdasani
Aftab Shivdasani has made a mark for himself in Bollywood. His film Grand Masti, an adult comedy did very well at the box-office. Aftab made his Bollywood debut as a child actor in ‘Mr. India‘ (1987), then appeared in films such as ‘Awwal Number‘, ‘Shahenshah‘, ‘Chaalbaaz‘ and ‘Insaniyat‘.
5) Neetu Singh
The evergreen Neetu Singh started out acting at the age of 8 under the name Baby Sonia. Her first role as child artist was with the film Suraj in 1966. She played “Roopa” in the 1966 movie ‘Dus Lakh‘ and a dual role in the film ‘Do Kaliyaan‘. Her other notable films as a child actress were ‘Waris’ and ‘Pavitra Paapi’. She made her adult debut as a leading actress with the film ‘Rickshawala‘ in 1973 and went on to appear in around 55 films as the lead heroine from 1973 to 1983.
6) Rishi Kapoor
The super talented Rishi Kapoor impressed one and all in his debut role as a child artist in his father Raj Kapoor‘s 1970 film Mera Naam Joker for which he received the National Film Award. Rishi then had his first lead role as an adult opposite Dimple Kapadia in 1973 with the film Bobby which was a smash success and received the Filmfare Best Actor Award for it.
7) Sridevi
One of the very few female superstars of Bollywood – Sridevi started her career as a child actor at the age of four in Tamil movie ‘Thunaivan’ playing the role of young Muruga. Sridevi debuted in Bollywood with Julie, where she played younger sister to the protagonist Lakshmi.
8) Sanjay Dutt
Sanju Baba or the Munnabhai of Bollywood who has given us several memorable films appeared as a child artist in the film Reshma Aur Shera that released in the year 1971.
9) Bobby Deol
Bobby Deol appeared briefly as a child actor in the film Dharam Veer in 1977. He made his adult debut with Twinkle Khanna in ‘Barsaat‘ in 1995 and went on to do many films. Some of his successful films are ‘Barsaat’ (1995), ‘Gupt‘ (1997), ‘Soldier‘ (1998), ‘Ajnabee‘ (2001), ‘Humraaz‘ (2002), Apne (2007) and ‘Yamla Pagla Deewana‘ (2011).
10) Rekha
Evergreen diva Rekha started out in 1966 as a child actress in the Telugu film ‘Rangula Ratnam‘, though her film debut as a lead happened four years later with ‘Sawan Bhadon’. Rekha has acted in over 180 films in her career spanning over 50 years. Throughout her career, she has often played strong female characters and, apart from mainstream cinema, also appeared in parallel cinema. In 2010, she was honoured with the Padma Shri by the Government of India.
11) Alia Bhatt
Alia Bhatt is one of the most promising and talented actresses we have in the industry today and she is often complimented for being an ace performer at such a young age but guess what, she also started out as a child artist and featured as the young Preity Zinta in the Akshay Kumar-Preity Zinta starrer ‘Sangharsh‘ in the year 1999.
12) Kamal Haasan
One of the finest actors in the industry, Kamal Haasan first acted in a movie at the started as a child artist in the 1960 Tamil language film ‘Kalathur Kannamma’, for which he won the President’s Gold Medal. Kamal made his debut in Hindi cinema with ‘Ek Duuje Ke Liye‘, the remake of his own Telugu-language film ‘Maro Charithra’ directed by K. Balachander. The film was a humongous hit and Kamal made his own place in Bollywood and went on to do quite a few Hindi films.
13) Shashi Kapoor
Shashi Kapoor is famous for his one line from the film ‘Deewar‘ – “Mere Paas Maa Hai” and was a hugely popular actor in the 70s and 80s. Kapoor started acting in films as a child in the late 1940s under the name of Shashiraj as there was another actor by the same name who used to act in mythological films as a child artiste. His best-known performances as a child actor were in ‘Aag‘ (1948) and ‘Awaara‘ (1951), where he played the younger version of the characters played by his older brother Raj Kapoor and in ‘Sangram‘ (1950), where he played the younger version of Ashok Kumar and ‘Dana Paani‘ (1953) where he acted with Bharat Bhushan.

14) Kunal Kemmu
Kunal made his debut as a child actor appearing in the Doordarshan TV series ‘Gul Gulshan Gulfaam‘. He appeared as a child artist in Mahesh Bhatt‘s movie ‘Sir‘, starring Naseeruddin Shah and Pooja Bhatt. He went on to star as a child artist in many movies such as ‘Raja Hindustani‘, ‘Zakhm‘, ‘Bhai‘ and ‘Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke‘. Kunal seems to have a special talent for comedy and has consistently impressed in the ‘Golmaal‘ series of films as an adult actor.
15) Hrithik Roshan
Handsome Hrithik aka Duggu started his career as a child artist with films like ‘Aap Ke Deewaane‘ and ‘Bhagwaan Dada’. Later, in 2000 he debuted as the main lead in ‘Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai‘ opposite Ameesha Patel. The rest as they say is history!
16) Imran Khan
Chocolate boy Imran Khan made quite a splash with his film as a leading man with ‘Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na‘ but did you know that the actor portrayed the role of a young Aamir Khan in ‘Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak’ and ‘Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander’!
17) Fatima Sana Shaikh
Cutie pie Fatima Sana Shaikh majorly impressed in her debut role as an adult in the Aamir Khan starrer Dangal. Fatima commenced her film career as a child artist with the 1997 film ‘Chachi 420‘ where she played Kamal Haasan and Tabu’s daughter.