Taare Tennis Court Par

Aamir Khan raises money to bail out his former tennis coach, now 90-plus and living in a hut

Not many know that actor Aamir Khan played on the Maharashtra tennis circuit in his youth. In the late 1970s, he was a ranked player with sound ground strokes, says Tahir Ali, his instructor at the Bandra Gymkhana back then. Govind Kamble, an elderly man with a white beard and thick glasses, used to be Ali’s assistant. “Kamble was a no-nonsense instructor, a Bandra Gym stalwart,” says Mark Ferreira, Aamir’s contemporary and a promising young tennis player in his time.

Recently, after a long gap, Aamir met Tahir Ali and some of his old tennis mates, including Ferreira, who is the son of billiards champion
Michael Ferreira. “How is Kamble doing?” the actor asked. Ali told him he was in bad shape. “Kamble is 90-plus and lives in a hutment near Cuffe Parade,” Ali says. “It took me ten days just to locate where he lived.”

Aamir and his tennis acquaintances then collected money and handed it to Kamble at the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association in Bombay recently. Since he can barely see, Kamble only vaguely absorbed what was happening around him, but it was not exactly a wasted evening for him. The amount collected was significant (a couple of lakh, according to sources) and would help him over some hurdles at least.

During the meet, Aamir could not resist smacking a few balls, and seemed reluctant to stop playing. A few decades ago, Aamir’s enthusiasm would have earned an appreciative nod from coach Kamble.

“When Aamir got to know Kamble had fallen upon rough times, he took the initiative to help him,” says Ferreira. “We have decided to undertake such missions more often. Stardom has not gone to Aamir’s head.”

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Akshay Sawai