Bollywood & Cricketers

Recently media created too much hungama which was linked with the marriage of cricketer Virat Kohli and bollywood actress Anushka Sharma. The moment Virat  opted out of ODI and T20 series against Sri Lanka, the media went gaga over with anticipation of their marriage as their affair was going on for almost 4 years. Finally marriage did take place in Italy in mid December and they had two receptions, first in Delhi as Virat belongs to Delhi and 2nd at Mumbai because it is head quarters of bollywood. Before Virat’s marriage to Anushka, there have been many instances when cricketers have married bollywood actresses,as there is glamour attached to cricketers’ life and bollywood is a glamour industry, so they are bound to attract each other.

1. Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and Sharmila Tagore- Their affair started in early 1966.Then Pataudi was captain of Indian cricket team and Sharmila was top notch bollywood diva. I remember that time it was a big news and it is rumoured that Pataudi followed Sharmila in Europe, while she was shooting for hindi film” An Evening in Paris”. They got married in 1967 and their marriage created a lot of controversy because  it was Hindu Muslim marriage, as Sharmila belongs to the family of Gurudev Ravindranath Tagore, there were big protests in Calcutta/Bengal.
2. Reena Roy and Mohsin Khan- In mid 80s bollywood actress Reena Roy got married to Pakistani cricketer Mohsin Khan. Initially Mohsin stayed in Mumbai  and he also acted in couple of Hindi films , Reena tried her level best , so that Mohsin could establish himself as actor but it never happened. afterward couple shifted to Pakistan. Reena could not get herself adjusted to Pakistani way of life and  they got divorced . She returned to Mumbai . She acted in few TV serial afterwards, now she is leading a retired life in Mumbai..
3. Sangeeta Bijlani and Mohd Azharuddin- Like Pataudi Azhar was also captain of Indian cricket team when he met Sangeeta, but in this case Azhar was already married with 2 sons. Afterwards Azhar divorced his first wife and married Sangeeta. It was reported in media few years back that Azhar’s this marriage  also ended in divorce.
4. Geeta Basra and Harbhajan Singh- Geeta belongs to London , she has acted in few Hindi films. Their romance went on few years and it was common knowledge to every player in Indian team that time, they are going steady and every media person started putting a question to Harbhajan regarding his marriage. Finally they got married in 2015 and now have one daughter.
5. Hazel Keech and Yuvraj Singh- Yuvraj’s name was linked with few actresses earlier also. Hazel is an actress who has acted in few films and most noted is Bodyguard with Salman Khan & Kareena Kapoor. In an interview Yuvraj had mentioned that it took almost 3 years for Hazel to say yes for the marriage.. In the end they got married in Nov 2016.
6. Sagarika Ghatge and Zaheer Khan- Sagarika is bollywood actress, who has acted in few Hindi films and the most famous being “Chak De India”. Their romance blossomed after Zaheer retired from Indian cricket, and they were first spotted together in Yuvraj Singh’s marriage. Earlier Zaheer was dating some other actress/dancer.

Above are the few instances, where romance between cricketer  and actress  did  culminate in marriage.

I am giving below few other cases where the romance never reached the marriage stage ;

1.  Before Yuvraj married Hazel Keech, he was going steady with actress Kim Sharma, but the relationship ended after few years.
2. Zaherr Khan before getting married to Sagarika, was in relationship with dancer/actress Isha Sharvani for 8 years. But their busy and conflicting schedules and distance drove them apart.
3. Ravi Shashtri, who is presently coaching Indian team, was once the poster boy of Indian cricket. At that time  he caught the eye of rising star of bollywood Amrita singh, but this story also did not have happy ending and they went their separate ways. Amrita finally marrying actor  Saif Ali Khan, son of Pataudi and Sharmila Tagore. after 13 years of marriage they separated and got divorce. Now Saif is married to actress Kareena Kapoor.
4. Neena Gupta and Vivian Richards- The couple had a very short and controversial relationship. Richards was already married , when they had relationship. Masaba Gupta, known fashion designer, is a love child of this famous couple.
5. Anju Mahendru and Gary Sobers- Anju was a budding actress/model when she met Sobers during West Indies tour of India in 1966 . They got officially engaged but had to split because Anju’s parents were completely against this match, and in the end she could not go against her parents.

So you see friend for more than 5 decades romance between cricketers and bollywood actresses is happening and it will be there in future also.

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