Kabir Bedi: A star at Locarno film festival

Locarno: He is popular and has fans in the West -- Indian actor Kabir is more acclaimed for his work in the global arena than back home and it was evident at the ongoing 64th Locarno International Film Festival, where he is invited as a special guest.

The actor feels all this is because of his popular Italian TV series `Sandokan`. "I am thrilled to get this attention in Locarno. `Sandokan` is certainly one of the biggest successes on European television ever. For me, the real miracle is not the success of `Sandokan`, but the fact that people still remember it, still see it and still love me for it," Bedi told reporters while attending `Lessons from Bollywood`, a forum organised Saturday as a part of Open Doors Round Table at the festival. The 1976 series, a love saga about an Asian pirate Sandokan during British colonial times, reportedly broke viewership records across Europe. "It is wonderful when actors are successes, because it enables many things to happen," added the actor, who had fans waiting for his autograph while he was giving bites to international media. Bedi also did 1983 James Bond film "Octopussy". "Of course, I may have done 20 other things in America, 20 other things in Europe but if this is what they remember me for, I still take it as a greatest compliment. "I did the play `The Far Pavilions` in London, I did a series in Italy called `Doctor and the Family`. It is the story of an Indian immigrant who goes to Italy and the problems he faces and the problems he creates there for the local communities," said the actor who is still active in the international arena. "I just finished a play for the Luminato theatre festival in Toronto. I am going to do another film in Naples starting in September for an Italian producer," he added. Asked about his presence in Deepa Mehta`s "Komagata Maru, he said: "There has been talk about it, but Deepa hasn`t talked to me about it." IANS