Leading up to the annual Embracing India Round, Essendon Football Club hosted four upcoming Bollywood stars who were shooting for a film in Victoria for a month.

Manasi Moghe, Mrinal Dutt, Asha Negi, Tushar Sharma and who happened to be in Melbourne for shooting of a film were taken through a tour of Essendon Football Club facilities along with the Melbourne based producer of the film Mr. Manjit Singh.

Manasi Moghe is an Indian actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Diva 2013 and represented India at Miss Universe 2013 in Moscow, Russia and is also the winner of MegaModel Hunt 2013. She has also shot for FTV Calendar and has been the face for numerous brands in India.

Asha Negi is an Indian television actress who has won the popular Indian dance reality show Nach Baliye 6 along with her partner Rithvik Dhanjani. She played the role of Purvi Kirloskar in popular television show Pavitra Rishta along with being a semi-finalist on famous reality television show in India – Khatron Ke Khiladi. 

Mrinal Dutt is a recognized face on the Indian television space and is best know for Private Investigator, Roomies, Gumrah, Katputliwala and a Telugu Film (Tunega Tunega) along with many commercials that he has starred in.

Tushar Sharma is an upcoming actor from Dlehi and has done more than 30 commercials for brands like Volkswagen, Amazon and Renault.

The quartet were taken through a special presentation about the game, the rules involved and also the development of the game in India till date by the Essendon Community Officer Sudip Chakraborty, who is also the founder and Secretary of Australian Rules Football Association of India (AFL India), apart from being the Captain of the Indian team of Footy since 2011. They were then taken to the MCG oval at the club where the players train and they enthusiastically tried their hand at the new sport.

The actors shared some great feedback about the sport after the sweating it out on the field. Mrinal thought “These players are like warriors” while Asha mentioned, “The craziest thing was the players jumping on top of each other and it is something that will never get out of my mind whenever I think of Essendon Football club”. “The history of Essendon club is fascinating and I am glad to be here” Tushar added.

The best one came from the diva Manasi who said “I wish this game becomes more popular in India soon so that we can see India playing and we can go cheer for them.”

The day wrapped up with a quick lunch and a special tour of the EFC facilities provided by the club staff especially for the actors and were handed over some special merchandise from the club as well.

The actors were later hosted at the Essendon game in MCG following weekend with a special pre-match access to the change rooms as well.