Bollywood's focus on Pak cricketers 
By Goher Iqbal Punn, May 23, 2005 - 03:53 IST
Mahesh Bhatt looks very keen to cast Pakistani cricketers in his films. Last days, he made an offer for a leading role in his forthcoming project 'Gangster (to be directed by Anurag Basu)' to the current heartthrob of cricketing world Shoaib Akhtar, very well known as Rawalpindi Express across the globe for his bullet-like speed in bowling action. For which, the debonair cricketer simply refused saying “he is not an acting material nor can I feel myself fit for this world of entertainment. I am happy with cricket, that's my passion”.
Mahesh Bhatt, who's been on the look to star the famous-voguish Pakistani cricketers in his movies for a while now, earlier approached to the dashing batsman Shahid Afridi for a pivotal role years back when Afridi was in India with his team on an official tour (This good-looking guy, who is a hard hitter of the ball, is always approached by the fraternity of film and small industry in Pakistan). This suave cricketer said no to Bhatt's offer since he thought he could do only one job and that is cricket.
The fact is not known to many people that the central character of a Police inspector in Pooja Bhatt's 'Rog' was initially offered to the world-renowned modish left arm fast bowler Wasim Akram (who is a friend of Bhatts' family also) but he did not consider this offer beneficial for him. “I am a born cricketer and honestly speaking cannot adopt the business of acting. Dancing around the trees in this age looks ridiculous to me as well. Pooja and Mahesh Ji approached me for this role and convinced me that this character did not demand any dancing or the stuff like that but I am always honest to my work. So I refused to Pooja since I know I cannot manage to do it”, said the legendary bowler Akram in an exclusive interview on a well-watched Dubai based satellite channel on a popular TV show hosted by the famous Pakistani actress turned filmmaker Samina Peerzada. Irfan Khan, the luminous actor, finally played this lead role with aplomb.
Going back to the days when the blue-blooded gorgeous maestro Imran khan (the chairman of Tehrek-e-Insaf who has now joined politics and is a member of National Assembly in Pakistan) was the icon and ideal for world cricketers, Bollywood and Lollywood (Pakistani film industry) wanted to sign him in the title roles since he was amongst the top beautiful-charming personalities of the world who had huge fan following in his epoch and ofcourse his name was considered to be the success mantra for the projects he was associated with. The fervent cricket buff and the graduate of Oxford University, Khan who belongs to a noble Pathan (Niazi) family of the country never ever showed any interest in showbiz world.
The celebrated cricketer of past Mohsin Hassan Khan (Ex-husband of yesteryear's well-known heroine Reena Roy), who was entitled to Lord's hero for scoring centuries in the ground, said good bye to the cricketing field when he was soaring skyhigh in his career due to his clashes with the cricket board, arrived in Bombay and tried his luck in the world of Hindi cinema doing the films like Batwara and Saathi amongst many others but the fate could not help him at all and soon he had to return Pakistan. Again he continued the career with the entertainment industry but unluckily the efforts went waste in Lollywood too. Eventually he joined an executive post in cricket board and started doing commentary on international platforms.
The Indian cricketers, who went to seek their careers in the sparkling filed of show business, they too could not lure their fans on celluloid. Sandeep Patil (who was the main protagonist opposite Poonam Dhilon in 'Kabhi Ajnabi Thay'), the legendary cricketer turned famous commentator Sunil Gawaskar, Sayed Kirmani, Ajay Jadeja (who tried hard to infuse the magic in his fans in 'Khel' along with Sunny Deol and Celina Jaitely) to the virtuoso Kapil Dev (who did a brief role in Sajid Nandiadwala's blockbuster 'Mujhse Shaadi Karogi' and is going to make his full-fledged cinematic debut with a major character in showman Subash Ghai's forthcoming enterprise 'Iqbal'), they all did not succeed to register any impacts on the Hindi audience.
Why the cricketers from Pakistan to India failed to make their marks in films? The answer is as simple as 123 because they are the players of the grounds of cricket only!
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