5 Indian sportspersons who you did not know married Bollywood stars

Modified Dec 12, 2017 17:14 IST

Mahesh and Lara during a red carpet event — Mahesh and Lara have proved to be couple goals for a long time now

In a country of over a billion people, sports play a major role in bringing people together. Similar is the case of the film industry, which has produced many movies that have brought out a wonderful message for the public to dwell upon.

Having said that, the combination of films and sports has also come across very strongly, with many movies spreading the message of learning important values through sports. So what's better than the two worlds coming together?

As Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma's wedding grabs headlines across the country, we take a look at five such couples where the world of sports and films came together!

#1 Jyoti Randhawa and Chitrangada Singh

Jyoti and Chitraganda during happier times

Professional golfer Jyoti Randhawa, who was ranked in the Top 100 of the Official World Golf Rankings, married actress Chitrangada Singh in 2001 but divorced in 2014 after 13 years of marriage.

Having been promoted to the professional level in 1994 after performing exceptionally well at the amateur level, Jyoti has gone on to win on the Asian Tour on eight occasions and also emerged as the champion of the 2007 DLF Masters.

Chitrangada, who was born in Rajasthan, has starred in Hindi movies such as Desi Boyz, Joker, Gabbar is Back and her latest movie, Munna Michael. In addition to this, she also lent her presence for a song called 'Sirippu En' in the 2014 Tamil movie, Anjaan.

#2 Sangram Singh and Payal Rohatgi

Sangram and Priya have been married for five years now — Sangram and Payal

Starting off his career as a sportsperson in the Delhi police force, Sangram grew up the ranks and was named as the "World's Best Professional Wrestler" in 2012. Named as the brand ambassador for the Wrestling Federation of India in 2015, Sangram went on to Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship in 2015 and also defended his title in 2016.

Also a popular figure on Indian television, Sangram has featured in reality shows such as Khatron Ke Khiladi, Big Boss and Survivor India in 2011 where he met his future wife, Payal Rohatgi. The duo, who got engaged in 2014, also participated in the Dance show Nach Baliye.

Payal herself is an acclaimed television star and has featured in many advertisements after from acting in movies such as Dhol (2007), Heyy Babyy (2007) as well as featuring in a past edition of the Hindi reality show Big Boss.

#3 Mahesh Bhupathi and Lara Dutta

India's first tennis player to win a Grand Slam tournament, Mahesh Bhupathi is one of the icons of the sport in the country and has a host of achievements to his name.

With 52 title wins in the doubles category in a career spanning over slightly less than two decades, Mahesh won the French Open on two occasions and the Wimbledon (1999) and US Open (2002) on one occasion each in men's doubles. He has also eight Slam crowns in mixed doubles and been ranked No.1 in the doubles rankings with fellow countryman Leander Paes.

In 2011, Bhupathi married Bollywood actress Lara Dutta, who won the title of Miss Universe 2000, which saw her entering into the movie industry as she went on to act in hits such as No Entry (2005), Bhagam Bhaag (2006), Don 2 (2011) and Singh is Bliing (2015).

The couple has a daughter, Saira, who was born to them in January 2012.

#4 Leander Paes

Another tennis star who is had a romantic connection with Bollywood is Leander Paes. He is one of the most celebrated doubles players in the sport, Paes has eight men's doubles and ten mixed doubles Grand Slam titles. The 1996 bronze-medallist from the Atlanta Olympic Games is also the first Indian to compete across six Olympic Games.

On the personal side, Paes was committed to 'Pardes' star Mahima Chowdhury for a while until their bad breakup in 2005 following which the Tennis star dated model and reality TV show star Rhea Pillai from 2005 with whom he had a daughter until the couple split in 2014.

#5 Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and Sharmila Tagore

Nicknamed as 'Tiger Pataudi', Pataudi's prowess with the bat rewarded him with captaincy duties at a very young age as he went on to captain the Indian team in 40 test matches. From 1961-1975, Pataudi featured in 46 test matches and finished with 2,793 runs at an average of 34.91 which included six centuries.

An occasional right-arm medium pacer, Pataudi also captained Sussex in 1966 after being named as the 'Indian Cricketer of the Year' in 1962. Pataudi met his wife Bollywood actress Sharmila Tagore in 1968, the same year in which he was named as the 'Wisden Cricketer of the Year'.

Sharmila, a famed actress who featured in Bengali and Hindi movies such as Kashmir Ki Kali (1964), An Evening in Paris (1967) and Aradhana (1969) apart from others won two National Film Awards and two Filmfare awards.

The couple has three children Saif Ali Khan, Saba Ali Khan and Soha Ali Khan.

Edited by Shraishth Jain