New Delhi, Oct 29 (PTI) Tom Alter perhaps would havenever imagined that his passion for acting would one day leadto his dream of becoming a cricketer, even if it was for ashort while.
The veteran actor, who passed away last month at the ageof 67, was an avid cricket lover and a sports writer.
Alter's son Jamie recalled how his father got the chanceto play with one of the world's best cricketers, SunilGavaskar in the 1980s while he was shooting for a film withMithun Chakraborty.
Alter had also written about the experience in an articlefor Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, which is still viewed as theBible of the game.
"There was a match in New Jersey between India World XIand West Indies World XI. The same team that went to lift the1983 World Cup, except the winning captain Kapil Dev and onemore player.
"It so happened that my father was shooting for a filmwith Mithun Chakraborty in New York's Long Island, which is atwo-hour ride away from where the match was to be played. Heread about it in the papers and wanted to see the match,"Jamie recalled.
Somehow, Alter got the permission from the director andproducer for two days to go and watch the game. Mithun, whowas his batchmate from the Film and Television Institute ofIndia (FTII), also tagged along.
"My father was thrilled. When they reached the venue theymet Sunil Gavaskar, who ended up inviting the duo to join theteam as the Indian side was short of two players. Father said,'I think I have died and gone to heaven!'"He wrote in the article, 'To be told by your childhoodhero, what field do you want as a bowler?' That's probably theone time Tom Alter the actor met Tom Alter the sportsman.
Probably, it was the best day of his life," Jamie said.
The actor's son was in conversation with playwright-director M Sayeed Alam and writer Atia Zaidi in a tributesession, 'Ba-Andaz-E-Tom Alter' (The Style of Tom Alter) atthe Jashn-e-Adab poetry festival today.
Zaidi remembered Alter as magnanimous person who alwaysmade people around him feel comfortable. The "Shatranj KeKhilari" actor was the first person to interview SachinTendulkar for television before he became a cricket icon.
"For someone of such stature, both in terms of heightand fame, the most beautiful thing about the interview was howTom made newbie Sachin feel comfortable. That trait of makingpeople feel comfortable around was so Tom Alter. It was not aregular interview," she said.
Jamie added even in his last days, Alter used toconstantly write on sports, issuing carefree opinions on whatM S Dhoni and Virat Kohli should and should not do.
"Sports was a part of him. He never shied away frommaking his opinions clear," he said.
Alter had been battling stage four skin cancer and diedon September 29 at his Mumbai residence. PTI RDSSHD.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.