The Bollywood star who swapped it all for a shop in Sunderland

World Bollywood Day is almost here but did you know about the Sunderland shop owner with big links to the showbiz industry.

Chain Singh Gill, from Farringdon, was pictured in the Sunderland Echo in 1999.

Back then, we told how he had starred in more than 200 film and TV roles before settling down to run his shop.

But he isn’t the only Sunderland link that Wearside has to the hugely popular film genre.

In 2010, a Bollywood dancer had an appreciative audience with this routine on Cultural Diversity Day at St Josephs Primary School.

In 2011, visitor Prajyoti Madhusudan led a Bollywood-style workshop with reception pupils from Hetton Lyons Primary school. Tell us if you are in the picture.

Maybe you were among the thousands of people who turned up for the Bollywood Diwali Mela Festival which was held at the Museum and Winter Gardens.

The 2016 event included dance performance workshops and story telling henna stations held while traditional cuisine was served in the building’s cafe.

And perhaps you were one of the people who had fun at the Bollywood Spectacular which was held at the Town Moor Stage when the Tall Ships Races came to Sunderland in 2018.

Whatever your Bollywood memories are, we hope you celebrate in style on September 24.