In India, fans keep Bollywood actors and cricketers in their hearts. There is immense money and glamor in both the places. The interesting thing is that there has always been a tremendous relationship between Bollywood and cricket. Many cricketers have had affairs with famous Bollywood heroines and some have even married them. Apart from this, many veteran cricketers have also worked on the big screen. However, most of the cricketers could not leave their mark in the world of acting and they became mega flop actors of Bollywood. Let us know what those cricketers told about their journey from the field to the big screen…
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Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar has been featured in his biographical documentary ‘Sachin: A Billion Dreams’ directed by James Erskine.
Kapil Dev: The great all-rounder Kapil Dev, who led the Indian team to its first World Cup title, has played special roles in many films including Gaurav Pandey’s ‘Stumped’ and David Dhawan’s ‘Mujhse Shaadi Karogi’. But his most prominent cameo was in Nagesh Kukunoor’s Iqbal. Shreyas Talpade was in the lead role in this film. In the climax of the film, Kapil Dev says to a surprised Iqbal, ‘The Indian team needs bowlers like you.’
Team India’s former star fast bowler Irfan Pathan made his big screen debut with last year’s Tamil film Cobra. South superstar Vikram was also in this film. However, this movie, made with a budget of Rs 100 crore, could earn only Rs 40 crore at the box office and flopped. Irfan is currently playing the role of commentator in the World Cup 2023.
Well-known spinner Bhajji i.e. Harbhajan Singh has played for Chennai Super Kings in IPL. Despite being a Punjabi, he had a deep connection with Tamil culture. He has worked in the South film Friendship released in the year 2021. This film flopped badly. Harbhajan is married to Bollywood actress Geeta Basra.
Sreesanth, who was a member of the 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup winning team, is away from cricket. After match fixing allegations he turned to cinema. His first film was released in 2017, whose name was ‘Team-5.’ It was released in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. Apart from this, Sreesanth has worked in TV shows.
Sadagopan Ramesh: This Chennai-born player has played the role of opening batsman in the Indian team. He started his acting career with Mohan Raja’s hit comedy ‘Santosh Subramaniam’. Jayam Ravi and Genelia Deshmukh were in the lead roles in this film. Ramesh appeared in the film as Ravi’s elder brother. He also played the lead role in the Tamil drama ‘Potta Potti’.
-Salil Ankola: After retiring from Indian cricket, Salil acted in many Hindi films including ‘Chura Liya Hai Tumne’. Khiladi started his acting career in 2000 with the role of a police inspector in the Sanjay Dutt starrer film ‘Kurukshetra’.
Apart from this, Ajay Jadeja has worked in ‘Khel’, ‘Pal Pal Dil Ke Saath’, Vinod Kambli in ‘Anarth’, Yuvraj Singh has worked in a Punjabi film in his childhood. Foreign cricketers are also not lagging behind. Former Pakistan player Mohsin Khan played the role of an honest policeman in JP Dutta’s film ‘Bantwara’. He worked in Mahesh Bhatt’s superhit film ‘Saathi’. Talking about cricketers outside Asia, former Australian fast bowler Brett Lee worked in the 2015 film ‘UnIndian’. At the same time, former West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo set the floor on fire with his dance in the Tamil film ‘Chithiram Pesudhadi 2’.