Conversions: Famous personalities who converted, and some who almost did

As the Indian political cauldron gets hotter with debates on religion, ghar wapsi, conversion and reconversion, here’s a list of some famous personalities who converted, and some almost, to a different religion for reasons apolitical:

Winston Churchill

The British PM who led his country to victory in World War II was so fascinated by Islam and Muslim culture that his family feared he would embrace the religion, reveals a newly discovered letter




Michael Jackson

The pop star was in the process of converting to Islam before his death in 2009, his family said.




Nargis

Noted Bollywood actress and politician converted to Hinduism and took the name of Nirmala Dutt from Fatima Rashid on her marriage to actor Sunil Dutt.




Dharmendra

The ‘paa ji’ of Indian cinema was born a Sikh but converted to Islam in 1979 to legitimise his second marriage with actress Hema Malini.




AR Rehman

Born a Hindu and named AS Dileep Kumar, the music composer converted to Islam.




Javed Akhtar

Noted Indian lyricist said ‘Khuda Hafiz’ to God and became an atheist. In his own words: “Don’t get carried away by my name.”




Salman Rushdie

British-Indian novelist, who famously said: “I don’t think there is a need for an entity like God in my life.”