Did you know Tiger Shroff – who made his Bollywood Debut with Heropanti (2014) alongside Kriti Sanon – was supposed to play for the Indian football team? The actor has now spoken about his love for sports in a new interview with ETimes; he opened up about his academic life and how he was always more into sports than studies. 

'I play football with Kartik Aaryan'

He said, "I’m an action hero, so sport is quite important for me. Sport is the best thing that can happen in one’s life. Whenever I’m not shooting, I’m playing football. I was not that great academically, but I always gave my 100 percent in sports.”

Tiger spoke about how he continues to play football with Bollywood celebs. “I play with Kartik (Aaryan), Shoojit (Sircar) Dada, Abhishek Bachchan sir. They are all very passionate about football. We all play quite often," he said.

More about Tiger's love for fitness

Tiger, who is the son of the actor Jackie Shroff, has always been passionate about staying fit and loves to hit the gym and work out whenever he can. Tiger began training in martial arts at the age of four and has a fifth-degree black belt in Taekwondo. He knows a number of fighting styles including kalaripayattu, kung fu, Krav Maga, and pencak silat.

He’s also trained in gymnastics and can do a full split. In 2019, he founded Matrix Fight Night (MFN), which has become India's largest mixed martial arts (MMA) event.

The actor was last seen in the 2024 Hindi film Bade Miyan Chote Miyan alongside Akshay Kumar. Directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, the action film failed to perform well at the box office.