With Harbhajan Singh all set to make his acting debut as the lead in Tamil, we take a look at the cricketers, who have donned the greasepaint over the years.

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The cricket-cinema love story: 20 popular cricketers who took to acting

Team CE

Updated:6th Feb, 2020 at 12:31 PM

Sunil Gavaskar had been a star in many matches, and he took that over to big screen as well. He first starred in a Marathi movie titled Savli Premachi (1980), while he was still playing for India.

Gavaskar also had a guest role in the 1988 movie Malaamaal, a film featuring Naseeruddin Shah. He played himself in a cricket match in the film.

Sunil Gavaskar also sang a Marathi song, “Ya Duniyemadhye Thambayaala Vel Konala”, which became quite popular and which depicted the similarities between a cricket match and life.

Ajay Jadeja was one of the mainstays in the Indian team in the 90s. The all-rounder even captained the ODI team a number of times. However, the match-fixing scandal put an end to his career.

AJay then tried his hand in Bollywood and landed the lead role in the 2003 movie, Khel. But it bombed so badly at the box office that he decided to stay away from acting completely.

Sachin Tendulkar's childhood friend, Vinod Kambli was one of the best cricketing talents in the 90s. However, he lacked the discipline Sachin had, and, as a result, had a different career path.

After his career effectively ended in 2000, he tried his hand in movies, starring in the movie, Aanarth, alongside Sunil Shetty. But it didn’t do well at the box office, forcing him to quit Bollywood.

Another great Indian superstar from the 80s, Kapil Dev, has played roles in quite a few Bollywood movies, though in every one of them he played himself rather than any other fictional character.

Kapil Dev has appeared in movies like Iqbal, Mujhse Shadi Karogii, Dillagi... Yeh Dillagi, Stumped, Chain Khuli ki Main Khuli, etc.

Director Kabir Khan is making a biopic on the event of India's first world cup win at Lords. The film features Ranveer Singh as Dev and Produced by Anurag Kashyap.

Navjot Singh Sidhu played a pivotal role alongside singer Harbhajan Mann in the 2008 Punjabi film Mera Pind. He was seen as a successful NRI, who returns to his motherland, in the film.

Sidhu's most recent film appearance came in 2015 in ABCD 2, a cameo that saw him play the permanent guest in the sketch comedy The Kapil Sharma Show.

Before there was MS Dhoni, there was Syed Kirmani. He was one of India’s most accomplished wicket-keepers, setting quite a few records.

Syed Kirmani acted in one movie in a full-fledged role, Kabhi Ajnabi Thaa (1985), where he played the villain.

Kirmani appeared in another movie as himself in a cameo role. It was in the 2012 Malyalam film, Mazhavillinattam Vare, which starred London-based Pakistani singer, Abbas Hasan, in his debut.

All-rounder Sandip Patel played the lead role in Kabhi Ajnabi Thaa (1985), the same film which had Kirmani playing the villain.

Kabhi Ajnabi The was actually an experiment director-producer Vijay Singh to see if two cricketers could make a hit movie. Unfortunately it did not work, and the movie was a disaster at the box office

Reportedly, Sandeep Patil got so occupied with his Bollywood debut that he refused to participate in the West Indies tour in 1983. He later reasoned that he had been nursing an injury at that time.

Kabhi Ajnabi The was widely publicised on the fight sequence between Patil and Kirmani, as well as his chemistry with Debashree Roy especially in the song sequence Geet Mere Hothon Ko Dey Gaya Koi.

The filming began in 1983 and Kabhi Ajnabi The was released in 1985. It opened with 80% seat occupancy but ultimately became a major debacle at the box-office.

Mohsin Khan was one of Pakistan’s big finds. He was touted to become a great opening batsman. However, he did not realise his full playing potential as player or coach, and rather took to the showbiz.

Mohsin Khan has acted in multiple Bollywood films, such as Ghunghat, Saathi, Batwaara, etc

Salil Ankola, who made his Test debut in the same match that Sachin Tendulkar did, had a better career in tinsel town, having acted in TV serials like Chahat aur Nafrat and Sssh..koi hai.

Salil Ankola acted in Bollywood movies like Churaliya hai Tumne and Kurukshetra.

Salim Durani, best known for hitting sixes on the request of the crowd, was good with the ball too. He has Durani acted in one film, Charitra, opposite Parveen Babi.

Yograj Singh’s claim to fame would be more for being Yuvraj Singh’s father rather than the short career he had playing for India. He played in 1 Test and 6 ODIs.

Yograj has had a successful career in movies though, starring in as many as 30 Punjabi films and 10 Hindi movies. His latest movie was playing coach to Milkha Singh in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.

Yograj Singh is currently shooting for the upcoming Rajinikanth-starrer, Darbar, directed by AR Murugadoss. He's expected to play a negative role in the cop-drama.

Yuvraj Singh, before becoming a cricketing star, had appeared in several Punjabi movies, alongside his dad, Yograj. This particular still, which recently went viral, is from Mehndi Shagna Di ( 1992).

Sachin: A Billion Dreams (2017), a documentary on Sachin Tendulkar's life, was directed by James Erskine . In addition to staring in the film, Sachin also got narration credits.

Pace bowler Aashish Nehra was seen in a small role in the 2004 Bollywood film, Mujhse Shaadi Karoge, where he shared screen space with Kapil Dev.

Australian fast bowler Bret Lee made his debut with the 2017 film, UnIndian. Directed by Anupam Sharma, the film also stars Tannishtha Chatterjee and Supriya Pathak

UnIndian was shot entirely in Sydney with the director even incorporating a Holi scene in the film.

Bret Lee plays a young Australian man who falls in love with a single Indian mother in Sydney, in the film.

The music of the movie has been given by the hit duo of Salim-Suleiman.

Bret Lee had incidentally made his acting debut 20 years back with an Australian film called Babe.

West Indies cricketer Dwayne Bravo played a cameo role, appearing for a dance for a dance sequence in this year's Tamil film, Chitthiram Pesuthadi 2 aka Ula.

Sadagoppan Ramesh, the left-handed batsman from Chennia, made his acting debut in Mohan Raja's Santosh Subramanium (2008), where he played Jayam Ravi's elder brother.

Ramesh then played a lead role in the cricket-based comedy, Potta Potti (2010).

Fast bowler Sreesanth is all set to make his acting debut, alongside Hansika Motwani, in a yet-to-be-titled Tamil horror-comedy. He had earlier been part of reality shows like Bigg Boss & Fear Factor.

All-rounder Irfan Pathan will soon be debuting as an actor in Ajay Gnanamuthu’s upcoming Tamil film, starring Chiyaan Vikram, tentatively called Vikram 58.

Harbhajan SIngh, who is known for his Tamil tweets that flood social media, is set to make his Tamil cinema debut with the Santhanam-starrer Dikkiloona, directed by Karthik Yogi.