The eighth season of Indian Premier League (IPL), most widely followed cricket extravaganza just started a couple of days back. For years now, Bollywood and Cricket have been the only two constant forms of entertainment for Indian people. It would not be an overstatement if we say that IPL is the most powerful amalgamation of these two passions in India. With Bollywood stars owning half of the IPL teams, dance performances in opening ceremonies, top stars from Bollywood attending matches, numerous relationships between actresses and cricketers & these stars being the face of most of the IPL teams – definitely the two industries have a very tight coupling. But today I do not wish to get into any of these topics.
Rather I thought it would be a cool idea to revisit some of the cricketers who tried their luck in the showbiz world, when – Cricket met Bollywood and the list of movies made on the subject of cricket, when – Bollywood met Cricket. Without any further ado, lets dive into the list
When Cricket Met Bollywood
1. Yuvraj Singh – Not many know that the stylish left hander worked as a child artist in few Punjabi films before entering the cricketing world with a storm, .
2. Kapil Dev – He is the only cricketer to have appeared as himself in all of his Bollywood cameos. Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, Iqbal, Stumped and Aryan are the list of the Bollywood movies he appeared in.
3. Sunil Gavaskar – While he was still playing in Indian cricket team, in 1980 Gavaskar acted in a Marathi movie ‘Salvi Premachi’, starring in a lead role. After retirement, he appeared in a guest role in a Bollywood movie ‘Maalamal’ starring Naseeruddin Shah in 1988.
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4. Sandeep Patil – He played a full fledged romantic hero in the 1985 movie ‘Kabhie Ajnabi The’ opposite Poonam Dhillon. The movie tanked at the box office without a clue. Look at Mr. Patil showcasing some of his dancing and acting skills.
5. Syed Kirmani – The former Indian wicket keeper played a villian and also acted in the same movie ‘Kabhi Ajnabi the’, along with Sandeep Patil
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6. Yograj Singh (Father of Yuvraj Singh) – Perhaps he is the only actor who has had success in acting career after cricket. After his cricketing career was ended by injury, he entered the Punjabi film industry. He also played the important role of a coach in the highly successful 2013 sports Bollywood movie ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’.
7. Ajay Jadeja – The good looking all-rounder was one of the most prominent players from the 1990’s to have played for Indian cricket team,before he was banned because of the match-fixing scandal. However, he made a switch to Bollywood in 2003 and played one of the leading characters in a movie ‘Khel’ with Sunny Deol, Sunil Shetty & Celina Jaitley. ‘Pal Pal Dil Ke Ssaat’ was another movie he acted in ,along with Vinod Kambli in 2009.Lately he did a cameo in Abhishek Kapoor’s 2013 film ‘Kai Po Che’ acting as himself in a cricket commentator’s role.
8. Vinod Kambli – His inconsistent form and indiscipline resulted in an early end to a promising cricketing career.Later he made his Bollywood debut in 2002 in a highly forgettable movie Annarth, alongside Sunil Shetty. He also acted with his former team mate Ajay Jadeja in another disaster ‘Pal Pal Dil Ke Ssaat’ in 2009
9. Mohsin Khan – The Pakistani cricketer who was once married to Reena Roy had a small stint in Bollywood. He debuted in JP Dutta’s film Batwara in 1989 alongside a stellar cast of Dharmendra, Vinod Khanna, Dimple Kapadia, Amrita Singh, Poonam Dhillon, Shammi Kapoor and others. He acted in about a dozen of flop movies thereafter before he vanished from the scene.
10. Salil Ankola – He made his cricket debut alongside Sachin Tendulkar in 1989, however could not match the latter’s success. Other than music videos and handful of shows on television with a decent run, he acted in a few movies between 2000 & 2003 like Kurukshetra, Chura Liya Hai Tumne and Pitaah
11. Salim Durrani – This left handed all rounder was known to hit sixes at the request of the fans. He was the first cricketer to play a lead role in a Hindi movie. He acted opposite Parveen Babi in a movie called Charitra in 1973
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Below is a list of few movies where bunch of cricketers appeared together in a scene
1. Mujhse Shaadi Karogi (2004) – Who can forget the 2004 comedy movie starring Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar & Priyanka Chopra. The movie had plethora of cricketers namely Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Parthiv Patel, Mohd. Kaif, Javagal Srinath, Ashish Nehra, Navjot Singh Siddhu, Kapil Dev appearing in the climax scene.
2. Victory (2009) – Harman Baweja’s only moment of glory in an otherwise unsuccessful career was getting to share screen space with many Indian and international cricketers from South Africa, Sri Lanka & Australia. R.P.Singh, Praveen Kumar, Dinesh Karthik, Andrew Symonds, Brad Hogg, Graeme Smith, Simon Katich, Muttiah Muralitharan to name a few.
3. Patiala House (2011) – Andrew Symonds, Graham Gooch, Nasser Hussain, David Gower, Ian Botham appeared in Akshay Kumar`s 2011 Patiala House. Anuksha Sharma was in the movie too, her cricketing connections started much earlier than we actually think
Other than the list above, Australian fast bowler Brett Lee, is set to soon make his debut with the Indo-Australian film ‘UnIndian’
Few days ago Sachin Tendulkar announced on twitter of a documentary to be made based on his life. He has also asked his fans to suggest a movie title. Shane Warne is also rumored to have received a few Bollywood offers
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When Bollywood Met Cricket
Very briefly lets go through the list of movies based on cricket made in Bollywood categorized by their box office success
SuperHit
Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001)
Hit
Jannat (2008), Iqbaal (2005)
Average
Ferrai ki Sawari (2012), Patiala House (2011)
Disaster/Flop
World Cupp 2011 (2009), Dil Bole Haddipa (2009), Victory (2009), Meerabai Not Out (2008), Chain Kulii Ki Main Kulii (2007), Hattrick (2007), Say Salaam India (2007), Stumped (2003), Awwal Number (1990), All Rounder (1984), Love Marriage (1959)
Tamil Movie
Chennai 600028 (2007)
Pakistani Movie
Main Hoon Shahid Afridi (2013)
Check out this hilarious scene with amazing moves from the first film made on cricket in 1959, Love Marriage starring our legend Dev Anand
Do you know that Neeraj Pandey who has directed thrillers like A Wednesday, Special 26 & Baby is now making a biopic on our captain cool called M.S Dhoni – Story Untold. It is as of now slated to release this year on Oct 22. Sushant Singh Rajput will play the role of Indian skipper
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Do you what to know other movies releasing this year of major stars – Click here to see the list:
https://itsallthere4u.wordpress.com/2015/02/27/upcoming-bollywood-movies-of-top-actors-2015/
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