‘Sandokan’ reaches yet another milestone

Ankita Shukla A lot of people reinforce the fact that one cannot know the true sheen and worth of a diamond until the world picks it up, cuts it and presents the whole new polished stone as a jewel, dazzling the entire world. It is only then that the humankind recognises the real value of what it had rebuffed once. The same goes for Kabir Bedi known as India’s first true international actor celebrating his 62nd birthday today. The recognition for Kabir’s work came much later in his own motherland, as he had to initially settle down with the title of being an underdog in the Indian film industry. The period of struggle after a point transformed into international success forcing people back home to take notice of him. Known as an amalgamation of Italian persona, western bohemia, Indian veracity, British accent and striking Greek God looks, Kabir could not be ignored for long. The Foundation Kabir was born on January 16 1946 into a Sikh family. His father Baba Pyare Lal Bedi, was an internationally acknowledged guru, philosopher and founder of ‘Centro di Filosofia Acquariana’ in Milan. Mother Freda Bedi, was a British woman who later converted to Buddhism and became an ascetic under the Tibetan Buddhism faith and came to be known as Sister Khechog Palmo. She was also the founder of Tilokpur, a Buddhist monastery in Himachal Pradesh. His was a very liberated and forward thinking family, which was exceptionally open regarding personal religion and morality. After completion of his schooling from Sherwood College, Nainital he moved to Delhi for his graduation where he enrolled for Bachelor of History programme at St Stephens College, DU. Commencement of Career While pursuing graduation, Kabir thought of working part time to finance his studies at DU and consequently started working as a radio announcer for ‘All India Radio’. He also worked as an interviewer and a quizmaster. Simultaneously he began doing theatre. In the late 60s he began his TV career as a co-presenter of ‘Mirror of India’ in Delhi. It was the first youth based programme in the history of Indian television. The liberal attitude of his family had rightly passed on to him too, allowing him to make a lot of bold choices even at that time. While a normal Indian graduate was on a lookout for a 9-5 cliché job, Kabir was seeking an approach to fulfill the wants of his creative impulses. Hence, he dabbled at numerous new-fangled things, picking up the most novel of jobs around. He also had a stint as a disc jockey playing channel music at Hotel Oberoi. It was this distinction that made him stand out amongst the countless crowd. Soon after he moved to Bombay, the heart of the Indian film industry, to pursue his dreams. After shifting base he got a few modeling assignments and in no time attained popularity after becoming the face of Will’s Cigarette commercial. After doing a couple of modelling assignments he was offered the job of a Radio Chief at ‘Lintas Advertising Agency’, which he readily accepted. He later worked for another advertising firm called ‘S H Bensons’. In early 70s, Kabir came up with his own advertising and documentary film production company called ‘Dimension 70’ which produced many commercials. While Kabir was still active and successful in the theatre circle, famous director-producer, O P Ralhan, lured him to the Hindi film industry. And from then there was no looking back for Kabir. The Journey of Bollywood The actor’s Bollywood debut vehicle was OP Ralhan’s ‘Hulchul’ with Zeenat Aman which did average business. He went on to films like ‘Seema’, ‘Sazaa’, ‘Anokha Daan’, ‘Kachche Dhaage’ in 1974 which featured Kabir as a baddie. He did exceedingly well and got himself a stronghold in the industry. Thereafter, films like ‘Naagin’, ‘Aakhri Kasam’, ‘Yuvraj’, ‘Asambhav’ and ‘Mera Shikhar’ followed. In 1988, came his biggest hit ‘Khoon Bhari Maang’ opposite Rekha, which proclaimed him as a polished actor, his famous portrayal of a conniving man is remember till date. It was this Rakesh Roshan production that forced people to take notice of him. Kabir kept on appearing in supporting roles in various movies and remained a popular choice for character roles all throughout. Few of his other films that cannot go unmentioned are ‘Har Jeet’, ‘Kurban’, ‘Yalgaar’, ‘Dil Aashna Hai’, ‘Salaami’. Most of his movies did average business at the box office so he was never out of touch from the Indian film industry inspite of doing major work abroad. Bedi has acted in over 60 Hindi movies in the last three decades. Some of his films released in the recent past have been ‘The Hero’, ‘Main Hoon Na’, ‘Socha Na Tha’ and the much acclaimed epic ‘Taj Mahal’ where he played Emperor Shah Jahan, the builder of the world’s greatest monument of love, the Taj Mahal. Universal Acclaim Kabir Bedi will always be called India’s first factual crossover actor. His international tryst started with international projects like Black Pirate, Thief of Baghdad, Spirit Archer, The Fugitive from the Empire, Satan’s Mistress and First Lady of the World. By early 80s, Kabir had become a recognisable face in the international arena. The biggest credit for it would go to his portrayal of ‘Sandokan’ in the Italian television series by the same name. He had got this break when an Italian crew shooting in India discovered him and offered him the lead role of a series that they were making for the Italian television. Soon he burst onto the international scene with the title role in Sandokan, a Malaysian Robin-Hood-like pirate created by Italian author Emilio Salgari. If this was not all, he also played a baddie in the 1983, James Bond flick ‘Octopussy’. His depiction of Gobinda, the villain who battled Roger ‘Bond’ Moore was well acknowledged all throughout the world. Some of his other works include ‘Forty Days of Musa Dagh’, ‘The Beast’, ‘Beyond Justice’, ‘Zakaria, The Lost Empire’, ‘Ashanti’ etc. He is best remembered for playing Prince Omar in the most popular American television series ‘The Bold And The Beautiful’ for over a year (1994-1995). He also made a comeback for the same in the year 2005 for a guest appearance. ‘The Return of Sandokan’ and the ‘Son of Sandokan’ were filmed in 1996 and 1998 respectively. Last year he featured in ‘Un Medico in Famiglia’ an Italian television series. Stirrer of Passions His chiseled looks, handsomely captivating personality, fascinating eyes and a killer smile have stirred quite a lot of passions since decades. He is known to have had various girl friends through his life. Most of the actresses that he worked in India with could not resist his charm and a lot of them ended up falling for him. The beauties that Kabir was linked with were - Parveen Babi, Zeenat Aman, Persis Khambatta and Sonu Walia. He was voted the most eligible bachelor of the year by Cosmopolitan in 1978. After taking India by storm, Kabir became quite an item in Europe. All thanks to his highly acclaimed portrayal of ‘Sandokan’. Reportedly, he is so popular amongst his European fans that those ladies still bare their thighs for his autograph when he reaches Milan even now! Talking about popularity one cannot get away without mentioning an episode where once Kabir who was shooting in Spain, was summoned to a police station to pay for the damage he had caused to the parked cars as he had run over the cars` roofs in a desperate attempt to escape his female admirers who were stalking him. Turbulent Phases of Life Unfortunately, Kabir could not meet the success of his professional life in his personal life. While still married to Protima Gauri, a danseuse, Kabir had a much-publicised relationship with Parveen Babi. The first blow came when Parveen was diagnosed with Schizophrenia. Consequently his ties with the starlet got severed because of her mental illness. His marriage with Protima with whom he had two children – Pooja and Siddharth ended in a divorce due to irreversible differences between the two. He moved on with his life and in 1979 got married to a British fashion designer, Susan Humphreys but this marriage also ended in a divorce. He and Susan have a son together called Adam. In the year 1993, Kabir married TV and Radio presenter Nikki Vijaykar. Their marriage that lasted till 2004 saw them traveling alone extensively and not getting to see each that often. In 2004, both Kabir and Nikki decided that it wasn`t working out for them and they parted ways amicably. Kabir is currently dating a London-based beauty, Parveen Dusanj. Besides being unlucky in love, Kabir also had to weather a major personal tragedy in his life. Siddarth, his 26 year old US based son who had a long history of Schizophrenia tragically committed suicide in 1997 at the young age of 26. This was a huge blow for a father who was hoping for a bright future for his son, but he soon picked himself together and got immersed into his work to contain his grief. Future Projects Bedi will be seen filmmaker Deepa Mehta`s next film, ‘Kamagata Maru’ with Amitabh Bachchan and John Abraham. He will soon don the new avatars that of a TV show Host for an upcoming TV show “Director’s Cut’ starting on January 20. In the show, Bedi will grill 13 top ranking directors including Aamir Khan, Farhan Akhtar, Nagesh Kukunoor about their craft. Kabir Bedi is one of those few actors who have been essentially successful in all different mediums of the world of entertainment. So here’s wishing Mr Bedi all the luck for his new endeavor!