A leading Bollywood producer has offered Pakistan's top cricket star Shoaib Akhtar a lead role in his next film, Gangster.

The producer, Mahesh Bhatt, who has worked with Pakistani actors before, is meeting Akhtar in Karachi next week to persuade him to accept the role.

According to him, Akhtar is amused and surprised by the offer, but is willing to read the script.

Former Pakistani cricketer Mohsin Khan acted in a Bhatt film in 1987.

Mr Bhatt is confident Shoaib Akhtar, arguably the world's fastest bowler, will accept the offer.
"Once he hears the story he cannot refuse it," he says.
The proposed film is about an underworld mafia boss who is betrayed by the girl he loves.


'The right qualities'
Mr Bhatt and his director, Anurag Bose, believe the flamboyant cricketer has a lot of raw emotion, animal magnetism and "the vulnerability of a child" - qualities which they believe are needed to essay the gangster's role.
Shoaib Akhtar, who has been recently left out of the Pakistani national team on a tour of West Indies, has appeared in a commercial currently being shown on Indian television.
But many believe cricketers do not necessarily make good actors.
Mohsin Khan, who starred in one of Bhatt's films in 1987, did not get any further film offers after his maiden venture flopped.
Former Indian Test batsman Ajay Jadeja appeared in two movies after he was banned from the game following a match-fixing inquiry.
Since then he has got back to active cricket following the lifting of his ban.
But Mr Bhatt says Shoaib Akhtar is star material.
The producer has a reputation for using actors from Pakistan in his films.
His latest film, Nazar, which was released on Friday, has a Pakistani actor in it.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4546945.stm

Let’s make a list of all the cricketers who have appeared in a movie as the main lead or a special appearance.


The ones I can think of now are..

Sandeep Patil (Kabhi Ajnabi Thay)… who was the male singer in this movie for songs…Dil ke iss dehleez tak and Ek haseena diwaana kar gayi mujhko, I think the title song was by Suresh Wadekar.

Sunil Gavaskar (Maalamaal)

Kapil Dev (?)

Wasn't Salim Durrani the first cricketer to act in films? In Parveen Babi's debut film, B.R. Ishara’s "CHARITRA"?

According to a report from Islamabad, Shoaib Akhtar has rejected the offer, prefering to concentrate on cricket. It quotes him as saying that Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik had also been offered film roles.

Kapil Dev - in Mujhse Shaadi Karogi (very recently.......)
MSK also 'introduced' some other Current Indian Cricketers in the film - Mohd.Kaif, Parthiv Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar etc. Have to think hard on whether Kapil has featured in any film before.

Syed Kirmani has also acted in a single film......that too as the villian.....seems Sandeep Patil (or someone else) requested....and somehow got Kirmani to oblige on this......and he also felt....Kirmani's bald head....and that beard/moustache will suit the Villian's look.....

Salil Ankola has been into modelling and acting for quite a few years now, ever since the bad injury stopped his decent cricketing career very early.....Not sure whether he's acted in Films....but has done many Ads, videos and TV Serials for sure.....

Indian Keeper Farokh Engineer was the first to endorse a product in media. (Guess it was Brylcream or something....) Later the thousands of others followed.......Don't need much introduction......

Its good Shoaib didn't take the offer to act in films, the people in the film industry would have ruined his cricketing career. It is better that he sticks to terrorizing batsmen on the cricket field than act on screen

As it is he's a showman on the cricket field anyway!



Anil

Shoaib is too fat to be a fast bowler:




With his current physique, I doubt he would get a film role.

A Urdu sentence fitted set on Condition of Shoaib Akhtar "Geedar Ki Jab Maut Aati To Woh Shahar Ka Rukh Karta Hai"

When Shoaib Akhtar Fails to Be selected as Cricket Team Member Then He Decided 2 go for bollywood Film. Same case happened with Mohsin Hasan Khan 20 years back when dropped from Team He married with Reena Roy a indian actress then he did Few films also............