Being Indians most of us are obsessed with two things Sports and Bollywood. We get even more excited when it gets combined.
It would still be interesting to formulate a list of such Indian sportspersons. It was essential that the person had been a professional athlete. Their work in both the sports and acting fields, with more emphasis being on their performance in the sporting arena was the main criteria. The overall success as an actor was also duly considered. The list goes like this-
1. Vijay Amritraj is the most well-known name in the history of Indian Tennis. He was a very talented international tennis personality. Many sports lovers may know that Vijay Amritraj was a part of the famous “ABC (Amritraj – Borg – Connors) of World Tennis”, and when the phrase was coined in the early 70s; their talent and potential were in that order as well.
Since Vijay Amritraj had shifted base to California, he made the most of the opportunities of being associated with the Hollywood movie industry. Not only has been involved with film production, but he has acted in very well-known movies like Octopussy Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and Nine Deaths of the Ninja, apart from many Television series too.
2. Even though Ajay Jadeja’s cricketing achievements were overshadowed by a 5-year ban for match-fixing (quashed by Delhi High Court in 2003), he was a popular cricketer, well known for scoring quick runs through big hits in the finishing overs. He played 15 Tests and 196 One Day Internationals for India between 1992 and 2000 and was a regular member of the Indian squad. He was also the best fielder in the Indian cricket team during his time.
Jadeja has been associated as a cricketing anchor and analyst with various television channels, apart from stints on live/reality shows on TV. Ajay Jadeja was the top-billed actor in the movie Pal Pal Dil Ke Ssaat, in the year 2009. He also had an important role in the movie Khel (2003) alongside stars like Sunny Deol and Sunil Shetty.
3. Dara Singh. He has been a top Indian sportsperson, and also the list of movies he has acted in would be too long to enumerate here. Dara Singh has been very well respected in both the circles, Sports and Bollywood.
Dara Singh was an international wrestler and has been included in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in the very year (1996) this list was first published.
4. Widely regarded as the greatest opening batsman in Test history in cricket, Sunil Gavaskar has set world cricketing records in his playing career for the highest number of Test runs, and highest number of Test centuries.
Even though Sunil Gavaskar has not been too successful in his movie career, his claim to fame in the movie industry is attributed to a lead role in the Marathi film “Savli Premachi”. He also did a guest role in the Hindi movie “Maalamal”.
5. Vinod Kambli, s probably best known for his unbeaten 664 run partnership with Sachin Tendulkar in school cricket in Mumbai, he scored two double centuries and two centuries in the seven Tests that he played for India. He was one of the best over-the-top hitters of spin bowling.
Vinod Kambli has also appeared as an actor in two films. He has (not insignificant) roles in the film Annarth (2002) alongside Sanjay Dutt and Sunil Shetty, and Pal Pall Dil Ke Saath alongside fellow cricketer Ajay Jadeja and Satish Shah.
The fans will still love to see the sports and Bollywood merging.
