'No Actress Wife': The Condition That Ended Ravi Shastri-Amrita Singh's Romance In 1980s

In a city where cricketing legends and film stars often cross paths, few relationships have stirred as much curiosity as the one between former all-rounder Ravi Shastri and Bollywood actress Amrita Singh.

Long before social media amplified celebrity romances, their brief but intense bond in the mid-1980s dominated gossip columns and fuelled the imagination of fans across the country.

At the time, Shastri was Indian cricket’s golden boy; a charismatic, sharply dressed all-rounder who had a massive female following. Singh, meanwhile, was carving her own space in cinema with a blend of glamour, confidence and screen presence that made her one of the most recognisable young stars of the decade.

According to accounts from that period, the two first met at a restaurant in Bombay (now Mumbai), where Shastri later admitted he was too shy to speak for nearly 10 minutes, leaving Singh to carry the conversation. What began as a chance interaction quickly grew into a whirlwind romance, placing the couple squarely at the intersection of two great passions.

Their relationship went public in November 1986, when the pair appeared on the cover of Cine Blitz. The photograph, which captured their unmistakable chemistry, instantly became one of the most talked-about magazine covers of its time. Speculation about an impending wedding only grew louder.

But behind the glossy images, a fundamental disagreement was beginning to take shape.

In an interview from that era, Shastri made his expectations clear that he did not want an actress as his wife, insisting that his partner’s “first priority should be her home”. Singh, at the peak of her career, pushed back, saying she could not simply walk away from her profession, though she believed she might embrace domestic life “after a few years”.

It was a divide neither was willing to bridge. The romance, once considered a certainty to culminate in marriage, ended soon after.

Shastri went on to marry his childhood friend Ritu in 1990, and the couple had a daughter, Aleka. Their marriage later ended after more than two decades. Singh, meanwhile, married actor Saif Ali Khan in 1991. The marriage lasted until 2004, during which they became parents to Sara and Ibrahim. Saif later married actor Kareena Kapoor.