DEBASHREE ROY & SANDEEP PATIL
1983: The broody batsman Sandeep Patil could well claim that Bollywood was, in reality, his undoing. Post the 1983 World Cup win by the Indian Cricket team, Patil was offered the lead role in a Bollywood film titled Kabhie Ajnabi The (it released in 1985). Incidentally, the film also had his colleague Syed Kirmani playing the villain. The story goes that Sandeep was so enamoured of Bollywood, that he even refused to be a part of the West Indies tour in 1983, due to shooting for the film. Needless to say, he was in the news for all the wrong reasons. Primary amongst them being his attraction for and chemistry with his leading lady, Bengali actress Debashree Roy. Patil’s already rocky marriage bit the dust, his standing in the cricketing community came to near naught, the film fared miserably, and their affair was left in the cold. That was Sandeep Patil’s first and last brush with Hindi films. It must be mentioned though, that the role of Sandeep Patil in Kabir Khan’s upcoming film 83, is essayed by his son Chirag Patil.
