Two of the greatest passions of an average Indian at least for the last three decades have been cricket and cinema whether it’s watching, following, discussing and debating the cricket matches or films with strong opinions about the stars of both fields. I am also certain that no two topics in India can make people in various walks of life can unite or divide with very strong agreement or disagreement among the fans of the celluloid screen and cricket field.

Cricket and Cinema have been two of my great passions too. Like majority of Indians I have been enjoying both forms of entertainment as long as I could trace back my memory. Very rarely a cricket match can bore me or a film can fail to entertain me. That doesn’t mean that I do not have opinions or take positions. Of course, I do analyze why a cricket match is lost or won with my own opinions and also debate why a movie became a blockbuster or disaster at box-office. Like any member of ‘Bhaarath ka Aam Juntha’, I do criticize and some times participate in heated discussions.

But I do realize and sincerely believe that Sachin can not hit a century every time he goes to the crease and Chiranjeevi can not give a blockbuster with every movie he acts in. I enjoy their centuries and blockbusters with equal passion and will wait for their next ones with tremendous anticipation.

That being said, I thank IDLEBRAIN for giving me a platform to express my views on Cinema and Cricket on a weekly basis in this series on one of the most widely read websites on cyberspace. In fact, I myself don’t remember when was the last time that I have gone through a day without browsing this site like millions of other idlebrainers. Through this series with some regular frequency, I intend to share the cricket and film records along with some interesting trivia with all the visitors of the site. I would also encourage readers to send me any questions related to cricket records which I will be answering through this article from time to time.

In the first article of this series, I try to touch base with the cricket and cinema connections.

Cricket and Cinema Connections

With the Bollywood icons Shah Rukh Khan & Preity Zinta taking the center stage along with their IPL teams Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab squad and the star players of their franchises to rouse the passions of the crazy followers of two of the most powerful entertainment platforms, I believe the country as a whole is stand to gain immensely. Though, it’s natural that the confluence of the game and glamour will not be liked by some conservative minds and traditionalists who would prefer things in an old fashioned way, I feel it should be construed as resistance to the change before it is accepted. I don’t blame them as there has been a vehement opposition to any significant change that occurred or proposed throughout the history of mankind.

Recently held BharathStudent.com bash for ICL at Grand Kakatiya celebrating their progress to the semi-finals of the ICL 20-20s brought many International Players of the Hyderabad Heroes team and some noted Telugu film personalities together. And the unveiling of Wallposter designs of JD Chakri’s directorial debut 'Homam' was organized in a grand style during the innings break at LBS Stadium during the 2nd ICL final between Lahore Badshahs and Hyderabad Heroes thus beginning a new trend of combining Cricket matches and Cinema functions. The Hyderabad Heroes Clinched the trophy in a thrilling bowl-out amidst overflowing crowds with some of them was occupying the rooftop of the stadium.

As the noted economist Lord Meghnad Desai said in his address at the 4th international Conference of Federalism held at New Delhi last November – “We should be grateful to cinema and cricket for they are giving a new face to India, They not only have made a major contribution to the economy but they also bind India and in the last 20 yrs they have become the pride and joy of India” – I totally agree with his assessment and have absolutely no doubts on the resounding success of IPL which will be writing a whole new chapter in less than two weeks as Rahul Dravid lead and Vijay Mallya owned Bangalore Royal Challengers clash with Sourav Ganguly lead and Shah Rukh Khan owned Kolkata Knight Riders at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore.

I just can’t wait to be entertained in this new form of entertainment which doesn’t interfere with my day job and gives me loads of content to discuss upon.

Here is some Trivia for the week:

I strongly feel Saif Ali Khan and Sohail Ali Khan should consider themselves as the luckiest Indian children for having the parents in the form of one of the greatest Indian Cricketers, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and one of the most beautiful and versatile actresses that India has ever Produced, Sharmila Tagore. I am pretty positive we will soon more and more such children as the game of cricket and world of cinema gets closer and closer. Mohd Azharuddin’s marriage with Bollywood actress Sangeeta Bijlani is another such example.

Coming to the Trivia, though it was hard for film stars to get involved in the game in a serious way till the advent of IPL except in appearing in some charity matches, Cricket stars did try their hands at the glamour world by appearing in films though not with success. Here is a compilation of most of the instances where our beloved cricketers appeared on the big screen.

Starting from the flamboyant Salim Durani who appeared along with debutante Parveen Babi in 1973 release Charitra many cricketers tried acting in main roles in Bollywood.

Indian Cricket's Living Legend, Sunil Gavaskar acted in couple of Marathi movies Svali Premachi (Shadow of Love) and Zakol. The stylish Player Sandeep Patil who hit Bob Willis for six boundaries in a over , played the main lead along opposite Poonam Dhillon in the 1985 film “ Kabhi Ajnabee The” , which also featured India’s former wicket keeper in the villain’s role and a gust appearance by West Indian Cricket Legend Clive Lloyd .

Pakistani cricketer Mohsin Khan, who married and divorced the former Hollywood heartthrob Reena Roy, acted in J P Dutta's "Batwara" and Mahesh Bhatt's "Saathi".

Ajay Jadeja played a second lead along with Sunil Shetty in ‘Khel’ opposite to Celina Jaitley and his ex-teammate Salil Ankola made his mark in the movie "Chura Liya Hai Tumne" (2003); He was also nominated for the best actor in a negative role for a film magazine award. Later he also made brief appearances in "Pith" and "Kurukshetra" before moving over to small screen and making a name for himself with the serials Chahat aur Nafrat, Kora Kagaz etc.

Sachin Tendulkar’s closest pal Vinod Kambli tried his luck in the movie 'Annarth' without much success where as Tendulkar appeared as himself along with Rahul Dravid, Zaheer Khan, Ravi Shastri and Yuvraj Singh in Raveena Tandon’s film ‘Stumped’. They collectively send a message across in the film that they are not heroes but the soldiers fighting the war are the real heroes

Sunil Gavaskar appeared as himself in the movie "Malamaal" and so did India’s World Cup winning Captain, Kapil Dev in the movie 'Iqbal'. India's current Test Captain, Anil Kumble too made a brief appearance in the movie “Mirabai – Not Out”

The climax of the film 'Mujhse Shaadi Karogi' takes place on a cricket pitch which features Kapil Dev, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Mohammed Kaif, Ashish Nehra, Parthiv Patel and Javagal Srinath along with the cricketer and maverick commentator Navjot Singh Sidhu,

Our very own VVS Laxman appeared in a one minute role as a cricket coach for Venkatesh in the Telugu movie Vasantham and dubbed his voice too whereas other native of Hyderabad, Venkatapathi Raju gave a special appearance in Rohit starrer 'Anaganaga O Kurradu' as Selection Committee member.

The guest appearances saga seems to be continuing as fast bowling sensation Sreesanth is all set to appear as himself alongside the Malayalam superstar Mammootty very soon.

Pakistani Cricketer Shoaib Akthar is about to take a leaf out of his fellow countryman Mohsin Khan' book as Mahesh Bhat is trying to pull in the most controversial cricketer of all-time. The Rawalpindi Express who is banned by PCB for 5 years and his future with Kolkata Knight Riders is also not certain as IPL extending the ban to its tournament too may very well consider the villain role in the movie “Gangster” which will be love story that runs in the backdrop of cricket mafia and will feature Bob Woolmer’s tragic death during the WC2007.

And finally, nothing can illustrate better than Aamir Khan’s LAGAAN about the connection between cricket and cinema which made that movie as one of the biggest hits. Whoever watched the movie watched it from the edge of the seats as a bunch of village peasants chase the score of a team of British Raj during the Victorian era.

Please mail your comments, suggestions and feedback to [email protected] . Also if you have any questions about cricket records please do send me those queries and I will try to answer them in my next article of this series.

About Vijay Jeedigunta: Vijay Saradhi Jeedigunta is a great fan of Cinema and Cricket and follows them as passoinately as any other Indian in spite of living in US for last 14 years. He Lived in Hyderabad,Graduated from Osmania in Electrical Engg and worked for Allwyn and Dr. Reddy's Labs before moving to USA in 1994. Before going to US he worked on some Doordarshan Documentaries and won the best TV Reviewer award for his Eenadu column called 'Cinnithera Chidvilasam'. He also had small stints as All India Radio's Official Statistician for Reliance Cup and some ODIs and Test matches. He was also a frequent contributor to Deccan Chronicle in their weekly sports page. He lives in Bridgewater, NJ with his wife and children. Currenlty employed by IBM as Managing consultant, he spends his spare time writing for dreamcricket.com. He also participates in a weekly radio show on cricket for EBCRADIO (1170 AM) in New Jersey. To know more about him you can visit my profile on orkut at http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=15920368379975419443 and his cricket blog http://cricketestats.blogspot.com You can send all your inquiries and suggestions to [email protected]