India is a place where people from all religions are allowed to live happily. People are free to follow their religion. People all over the world have discovered and adopted faith in something other than their own religions over the years. They always make headlines and receive a huge appreciation for inculcating respect and modern values towards different religions.
When it comes to the film industry, we’ve mostly seen examples in Hollywood and Bollywood. Celebrities often alter their religious status for their inclination towards a particular belief. They always make headlines and receive a huge appreciation for inculcating respect and modern values towards different religions.
Hinduism is the third largest and the oldest surviving religion globally with over 1 billion people sticking to their beliefs. For them, Hinduism is considered more like a way of life than a religion.
In fact, the teachings of Hinduism have always attracted people worldwide. Even Apple’s Steve Jobs and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg visited India in a bid to seek spirituality. Also, many Hollywood stars have converted to Hinduism after getting fascinated by the faith.
Religion conveys the principles of ‘faith’ and sometimes, the faith may change based on the circumstances. We’ve seen quite a lot of people renouncing their religious teachings only to convert to some other religions, a change that has been happening since the olden days. Only you can change what you believe in and others shouldn’t inspire you to do so.
On the contrary, there are people who neither believe in God nor in religion. They are referred to as “atheists”. There are several atheists in the film industry. Be it actors, producers, directors and other talented artists, they have never believed in any God or religion. As per the reports, 13% of the total population is atheist.
In this listicle, we present to you a list of 10 artists who do not follow any religion and are strict atheists.
Javed Akhtar
Javed Akhtar was born in a Muslim family and initially followed Islam. However, later on, the recipient of both Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan turned into an atheist.
Veteran lyricist and writer had earlier opened up a new controversy by expressing his views on the use of loudspeakers. He said that the Islamic call to prayer on loudspeakers should be stopped as it causes “discomfort” to others.
Akhtar has urged people to not use loudspeakers in mosques as it causes noise pollution which disturbs others. He also called for an end to the practice of Azaan on loudspeakers.
Ram Gopal Varma
Ram Gopal Varma is a popular Indian film director, screenwriter and producer. He is well-known for his work in Telugu and Hindi films alongside television dramas. Earlier, while addressing the reporters in the press conference, he told that he never believed in God.
Rajeev Khandelwal
Rajeev Khandelwal is a film and television entertainer, composer, and host from India. He started his acting career with the TV show Kya Hadsaa Kya Haqeeqat, in which he played the antagonist. He played the male lead in his first serial, Kahiin To Hogan which was extremely successful and his fan base grew with each role he played.
His fans were excited when he switched to films yet none of them made an impact on the box office. Following that, he appeared in a number of shows, including Time Bomb 9/11, Sun Leyna, Left Right Left, and Reporters (2015).
However, as far as believing in the almighty is concerned, Rajeev is an atheist. He reckons that believing in a god to some extent is good but thinking that he will come down to save and solve your issue is stupidity.
Kamal Haasan
Popularly referred to as ‘Ulaganayagan’, our very own Kamal Haasan is one the brightest stars in the history of Tamil cinema; an actor, dancer, director, producer, screenwriter, playback singer and lyricist who has contributed not only to Tamil movies but also worked in Telugu, Malayalam, Kanada Hindi and Bengali industry.
Kamal Haasan has been a recipient of four national awards and nineteen Filmfare Awards. He was also awarded Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan in his lifetime. The legendary actor was born in a typical brahmin family.
Nonetheless, he later gave up his belief in God and became an atheist. It is to be noted that Kamal Haasan neither believes in the existence of God nor does he follow any superstition.
Farhan Akhtar
Farhan Akhtar is a popular Indian actor, director, screenwriter, playback singer, producer, and TV host who works predominantly in Hindi films. Following the footprints of his father, Farhan Akhtar is a strict atheist as well.
Rajat Kapoor
Rajat Kapoor is a famous Indian actor, writer, screenwriter and film director. The Delhi-born actor was born in a religious Hindu family. Needless to say, he gave up his belief in Hinduism and became an atheist. He is of the opinion that the concept of religion and God is all man-made thing and he doesn’t believe in God or religion.
Amol Palekar
For the unversed, Amol Palekar has carved out a reputation for himself in the Marathi Film industry. Referring to his spirituality, he once told the media, “I am an atheist also. But I think, to begin with, I am an agnostic.”
Rahul Bose
Rahul Bose is an atheist as well. He believes that God rests within ourselves. He once said in an interview, “I am an atheist, but being so doesn’t stop me from respecting those who believe in religion. I don’t try to influence anyone or force my opinion on them. Also, my beliefs cannot be influenced by anyone.”
Anurag Kashyap
Anurag Kashyap is one of Bollywood’s most important realist filmmakers. Anurag Kashyap was born in the Uttar Pradesh town of Gorakhpur. His imagination is a place of pure perfection, and his films have never attempted to overshadow fact or facts.
Mr. Kashyap is one of a kind when it comes to keeping facts straight and providing as many details to his audience as possible. He is a self-acclaimed atheist as he openly talked about it in an interview. He sarcastically remarked that the only religion that he believes in is the religion of cinema.
Zoya Akhtar
Zoya is well-known for directing good films like ‘Luck by Chance’, ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ and ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’ and this year, wishes and praises poured in for her film ‘Gully Boy’. She also tried her hand at the digital medium with the web show ‘Made in Heaven’. Just like her brother, she became an atheist.