Indian cricketer Hardik Pandya’s engagement to actor Natasa Stankovic did not come as a surprise to many. In the recent past the two have been spotted at a number of dos.
Their engagement is yet another association of cricketers and the celebrities of the Mumbai film industry.
Bollywood and Cricket go hand in glove as the glamour of both worlds seem to bring the stars together. Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi (wife Sharmila Tagore), Mohammed Azharuddin (Sangeeta Bijlani), Harbhajan Singh (Hazel Keech) and lastly Virat Kohli (Anushka Sharma) are all prime examples of cricketers marrying actresses. Not to forget though that Neena Gupta’s daughter Masaba was born out of the actor’s out of wedlock relationship with West Indian cricket legend Vivian Richards.
But then this not about the past marriages, it is all about the Natasa Stankovic who has got the spotlight firmly on her the moment Hardik announced his engagement to his lady love.
Natasa was born March 4, 1989 in the Serbian town of Pozarevac. She shifted to the Serbian capital Belgrade when she was six only to pursue her passion of ballet and singing.
Natasa shifted to Mumbai in 2012. Initially she forayed into modelling and was the face of many famous brands like Phillips, Cadbury, Johnson & Johnson.
Her first break in Hindi films came in 2013 when Natasa was offered a small role in the Prakash Jha film Satyagraha which had Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor and many more stars. Natasa even matched steps with Ajay Devgn in the song ‘Aiyo Ji’.
Natasa however, had the spotlights firmly on her when she was participant in the popular reality TV show ‘Bigg Boss’ in 2015. Since then there has been no looking back for her.
Roles started coming her way and she featured in films like Action Jackson and Seven Hours to Go. She also played a cameo in the last Shah Rukh Khan movie Zero in 2018. The other movies that she has acted in are Fukrey Returns, Daddy and Jhuta Kahi Ka.
However, now all that is in the past. Now the limelight is on her because she is engaged to a man who is considered hot property in Indian cricket. Hardik’s all-round abilities and hitting power have made him a very popular face with gen-next. His style statement including colouring of his hair and donning the latest fashionable wears have got him million of followers. No doubt, the engagement to Natasa will attract more and more fans to him.
If Virat Kohli-Anushka Sharma are Indian cricket’s first couple now, then certainly Hardik-Natasa are close behind.
No doubt about that.
PNN
