Tom Alter perhaps would have never imagined that his passion for acting would one day lead to his dream of becoming a cricketer, even if it was for a short while.
The veteran actor, who passed away last month at the age of 67, was an avid cricket lover and a sports writer.
Alter's son Jamie recalled how his father got the chance to play with one of the world's best cricketers, Sunil Gavaskar in the 1980s while he was shooting for a film with Mithun Chakraborty.
Alter had also written about the experience in an article for Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, which is still viewed as the Bible of the game.
"There was a match in New Jersey between India World XI and West Indies World XI. The same team that went to lift the 1983 World Cup, except the winning captain Kapil Dev and one more player. It so happened that my father was shooting for a film with Mithun Chakraborty in New York's Long Island, which is a two-hour ride away from where the match was to be played. He read about it in the papers and wanted to see the match," Jamie recalled.
Somehow, Alter got the permission from the director and producer for two days to go and watch the game. Mithun, who was his batchmate from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), also tagged along.
"My father was thrilled. When they reached the venue they met Sunil Gavaskar, who ended up inviting the duo to join the team 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 childhood hero, what field do you want as a bowler?' That's probably the one 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 tribute session, Ba-Andaz-E-Tom Alter (The Style of Tom Alter) at the Jashn-e-Adab poetry festival on Sunday.
Zaidi remembered Alter as magnanimous person who always made people around him feel comfortable. The Shatranj Ke Khilari actor was the first person to interview Sachin Tendulkar for television before he became a cricket icon.
"For someone of such stature, both in terms of height and fame, the most beautiful thing about the interview was how Tom made newbie Sachin feel comfortable. That trait of making people feel comfortable around was so Tom Alter. It was not a regular interview," she said.
Jamie added even in his last days, Alter used to constantly write on sports, issuing carefree opinions on what M.S. Dhoni and Virat Kohli should and should not do.
"Sports was a part of him. He never shied away from making his opinions clear," he said.
Alter had been battling stage four skin cancer and died on September 29 at his Mumbai residence.
