India, June 25 -- American series Off Campus became a runaway hit in India, with fans appreciating the college setting and young love portrayal. Interestingly, a section of Indian fans drew parallels to another film set against ice hockey, Speedy Singhs, which released globally as Breakaway in 2011. The Indo-Candadian sports comedy was produced by Akshay Kumar and starred Vinay Virmani. Reacting to the online comparisons, Virmani tells us, "India did it first." The actor-producer feels that their film came ahead of its time. "When one looks at the current obsession with sports romances, especially with hockey-based stories like Off Campus, Heated Rivalry, it's hard not to think that maybe we were a little early to the party," says the 41-year-old. While Virmani has watched a few episodes of Off Campus and found it "fun", what he is enjoying more is the new audience Speedy Singhs has found due to its success. "I was heartbroken when our film didn't connect with the Indian audience the way we hoped, but it was a major success in Canada and went on to achieve cult status. Seeing people rediscover and love the film all these years later has been incredibly emotional. It would have found a much larger audience if released today," he says. After Speedy Singhs, Virmani was also seen in the 2014 romcom Dr. Cabbie alongside actor Kunal Nayyar. However, then he pivoted from acting to production in Canada and backed projects like Little Italy (2018) and Black Ice (2022). Ask him if he'd be interested to return to acting and work in Bollywood, and pat comes the reply, "Of course, as this is what I grew up on."...