Olympic medalist Vijender Singh to be seen in Salman Khan's 'Kisi ka Bhai Kisi ki Jaan'

Vijender Singh, the first Indian Olympic medalist in boxing and the country’s most successful professional fighter, will be seen on screen after a break of nine years as Salman Khan’s brother in Kisi ka Bhai Kisi ki Jaan, which releases on April 21, 2023.

Speaking of taking up this role, Singh says, "I was surprised when I picked up my phone one day, as it was Salman-bhai on [the] line… He just asked me to come to Mumbai and be part of this film. When Bhai calls, you do not even ask questions. So I was down in Mumbai within two days, shooting for this film."

Singh made his acting debut in Bollywood in 2014, with the film Fugly. He received a very warm welcome into the industry, but had to pursue his boxing commitments and could not do any more films after his debut—until now.

During the release of Fugly in 2014, Singh had said in an interview to this author, “I am doing a film. That’s a big thing. And my boxing fans would be happy to see me on screen. If Bollywood was not a desirable place would there be so many hopefuls every year? I am going to try my best. My fans are happy to see me try something new. They have that trust in me. They know I won’t let them down. Boxing toh hai hi. It would remain my first love."

"I am also a police officer, he had added, "So it’s three careers now." He said that since not too many people knew he was on the police force, nobody raised questions on that career detracting from boxing.

"But now when I’ve taken up acting, everyone wants to know why I am doing something other than boxing," said Singh, feeling the pressure to justify his foray into acting. "I hope I’ll get as much recognition for acting as I’ve done for boxing. In my very first film I have Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar dancing with me. What more could I want?" he said.

He spoke of his debut film Fugly as an 'entertainer'. "There is a dialogue in the film, ‘Movie bade pyar se banti hai, araam se baithen, pyar se dekhen. [The movie is distributed with a lot of love, so relax and sit and watch it with love]’ I hope my film gets that kind of a treatment,” Singh said