20 Things You Didn’t Know About Octopussy (1983)
10. “Game, Set, And Match!”
Davis Cup star, Vijay Amritraj first met Cubby Broccoli at The Championships in Wimbledon. He was the first to be cast in the film - even before Roger Moore - and assisted with James Brolin's screen tests as a potential new Double-0 Seven.
Because he portrayed James Bond's primary contact in Udaipur - also named Vijay - the film wasted no time in paying homage to his day job, even having him fend off Gobinda’s (Kabir Bedi’s) murderous thugs with a tennis racket during the auto rickshaw chase.
However, his role in Octopussy was challenged when it transpired that he was not a member of British Equity or the Screen Actors Guild. Cubby asked his friend, Leonard Goldberg to arrange a guest appearance for the tennis star on Fantasy Island (1977-1984), but that was no guarantee that he could still join Octopussy, so Albert Moses was cast as Head of Station I, India, Sadruddin to fill Vijay's role if necessary.
When Amritraj was given the green light to proceed, Vijay's lines were split between him and Moses, despite Amritraj's far greater screen time.