The news is out! Salman Khan is all set to launch his brother in-law Aayush Sharma in Bollywood and guess who he is collaborating with? It is none other than Karan Johar who is renowned as the launch daddy of Bollywood.

Well if you’ve heard this term for the first time, let us explain. Salman Khan, Karan Johar, and the like have time and again introduced new faces into the industry who have ultimately proved their mettle and gone on to become superstars.

Let’s see how this collaboration shapes up because this surely seems like a dream debut for Aayush Sharma with two of Bollywood’s biggest names launching him. But these two aren’t the only launch daddies of Bollywood. There are many others who are known to have trusted newcomers for their films and have helped accelerate their careers. Here’s taking a look at a few.

Salman Khan

Salman Khan definitely has a penchant for launching new faces. Although he isn’t a director, he has a lot of goodwill in Bollywood and has been able to influence the biggest directors in the industry. Sooraj Pancholi, Athiya Shetty, Zareen Khan, Katrina Kaif, Sneha Ullal, Sonakshi Sinha, Bhoomike Chawla, Pulkit Samrat, and others are some of the few stars who have made a name in the industry, all thanks to Salman and his contacts.

Karan Johar

There are rumours that Karan Johar will launch SRK’s son Aryan Khan and Saif Ali Khan’s daughter Sara Khan when they’re ready to begin their careers in Bollywood. He has, in the past, also launched Sidharth Malhotra, Mahesh Bhatt’s daughter Alia Bhatt, and David Dhawan’s son Varun Dhawan, all of whom are now big names in the industry.

Ram Gopal Varma

His penchant for Big B is equalized by his penchant for launching newcomers. He’s behind some of the biggest stars in the industry such as Urmila Matondkar, Manoj Bajpayee, Vivek Oberoi, among others. Although Urmila already had a few films in her kitty, RGV is always credited for giving her the stardom she deserves with Rangeela. RGV has also mentored some ace directors such as Anurag Kashyap and Madhur Bhadarkar who are ruling the film industry.

Mahesh Bhatt

We’d always be thankful to Mahesh Bhatt for introducing Bollywood and us to Kangana Ranaut. He has launched other big faces such as Emraan Hashmi, among others and these actors are now an indispensable part of the industry.

Aditya Chopra

Whether it was an array of newcomers in Mohabbatein, or outsiders such as Vaani Kapoor and Anushka Sharma, Yash Raj films has always been experimental when it comes to casting newcomers.

Image courtesy: Film stills and Wikimedia Commons