Cricketers we want to see on the silver screen

Post the cricket World Cup triumph, the nation and the players are busy in an extended revelry of sorts. Not that it means that the cricketers were worshipped any less earlier, but with the recent victory, their stardom seems to have grown manifold.

And it has almost become an acceptable trend to see cricket stars, their abilities on the field regardless, take on the television territory or the Bollywood domain.

Ex-cricketers Salil Ankola took to movies following a not-so-bright run on the cricket field; Angad Bedi (who played domestic cricket but couldn’t get into the national team) is a well known name on television and recently made his Bollywood debut; Navjot Singh Siddhu has become more popular for his roaring laughter and jokes on television now — so much so that it has overpowered his cricketing background and has got him branded him as a comedian instead.

Even a cricketer like Sunil Gavaskar, with an enviable career graph did a Marathi film, just after he resigned from the then-Indian cricket team. Cricketer Sreesanth too was rumoured to be interested in doing a South Indian film.

So who is capable of making the big cut from the present brigade? Trade analyst Taran Adarsh roots for young cricketer Virat Kohli as the next big star! “When I look at him, I think he’s a star. He’s a very good looking guy, perhaps better-looking than most of our Bollywood stars put together. The way he walks, the way he walks — he’s a star,” he says.

Filmmaker Vikram Bhatt, on the other hand, is of a different opinion. “Cricketers would make for bad actors! Picking a cricketer merely because of his looks is equivalent to having an actor of Aamir Khan’s acting talent play the opening set in a game of cricket.”

“I’m not a cricket fan but I think Yuvraj Singh would make for a good Bollywood star,” asserts trade analyst Komal Nahta. “He has a great fan following, good looks and he’s in his top form,” he adds.