Kabir Bedi

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Kabir Bedi

Kabir Bedi at the launch of a film in 2009.
Born January 16, 1946 (1946-01-16) (age 64)
Punjab, India
Occupation Actor, Television presenter
Years active 1971–present
Spouse(s) Protima Bedi (divorced)
Susan Humphreys (divorced)
Nikki Bedi (divorced)

Kabir Bedi (born 16 January 1946) is an internationally acclaimed Indian television and film actor. His film and television career has spanned across India, the United States and many European countries. He is noted for his role as Emperor Shah Jahan in Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story. He is best known in Europe for playing the pirate Sandokan in mini TV series and for his role as Gobinda in the 1983 James Bond film, Octopussy. He is very popular in Italy in particular, and is fluent in Italian.

Kabir Bedi is still based in India and lives in Mumbai.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Kabir Bedi was one of three children born into a Punjabi Sikh family in India that had devoted itself to India's fight for independence from British colonial rule. His mother, Freda Bedi, later converted to Tibetan Buddhism.[1] His father, Baba Pyare Lal Bedi, was an author and philosopher from the Sikh faith, his clan found its roots with the first Sikh Guru.[2]

Kabir Bedi did his schooling at Sherwood College, Nainital.

[edit] Personal life

Bedi married three times and has three children, Pooja, Siddharth and Adam. He was married to Protima Bedi, an Odissi dancer, and their daughter Pooja Bedi grew up to be an actress in Hindi films. She is now a magazine/newspaper columnist[dated info]. Their son, Siddharth, who went to University in the USA, had a long history of schizophrenia and committed suicide in 1997 at the age of 26.

As his marriage with Protima began to break down he famously started a relationship with Parveen Babi. They never married. He later married British born fashion designer Susan Humphreys, and their son Adam Bedi is an international model who recently made his Bollywood debut with the thriller, Hello? Kaun Hai!.[3] This marriage ended in divorce.

In the late 1990s, Bedi married TV and radio presenter Nikki Bedi. They had no children and divorced in 2005. Most recently, Bedi has been linked to a London-based woman, Parveen Dusanj.[4]

Kabir Bedi is a firm supporter of the freedom struggle in Burma, and has become an official Ambassador of the Burma Campaign UK.[5]

[edit] Career

Kabir Bedi began his career in Indian theatre and then moved on to Hindi films. He also worked in a couple of Hollywood films and some television programmes in Europe, where he is especially popular.

[edit] Stage acting

As a stage actor, Kabir has performed Shakespeare’s Othello as well as portrayed a mad historical Indian king, Tughlaq; and a self-destructive alcoholic in The Vultures. In London he also starred in The Far Pavilions, the West End musical adaptation of M. M. Kaye’s novel, at the Shaftesbury Theatre.

[edit] Film career

In the James Bond film Octopussy, he played the villain's aide Gobinda who battled Roger Moore from start to finish.

Kabir has acted in over 60 Indian Bollywood films. In the historical epic Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story, Kabir starred as the Emperor Shah Jahan. Other starring Bollywood roles include Raj Khosla’s Kacche Dhaage, Rakesh Roshan's Khoon Bhari Maang and Farah Khan's Main Hoon Na. He recently had his own cinematic talk show on Indian TV, Director's Cut, a 13-part special series interviewing the country's leading directors.

Currently, Kabir is shooting with Hrithik Roshan (Kites), Govinda (Showman), and Akshay Kumar (Blue).[6] He is also starring in Deepa Mehta's next film, Kamagata Maru with Amitabh Bachchan and John Abraham.

Kabir played pivotal roles in Columbia Pictures' The Beast of War, a film on the Russian war in Afghanistan, directed by Kevin Reynolds, as well as the acclaimed Italian film Andata Ritorno, by Marco Ponti, winner of the prestigious David di Donatello Award.

[edit] Television career

Kabir’s extensive roles on American television - primetime and daytime, series and miniseries include Hallmark’s African epic Forbidden Territory, and Ken Follett’s On Wings of Eagles and also Red Eagle. He played Friar Sands in The Lost Empire, for NBC. Kabir also played roles on Dynasty, Murder, She Wrote, Magnum, P.I., Hunter, Knight Rider and Highlander: The Series amongst others.

In Europe, his greatest success was Sandokan, the saga of a romantic Asian pirate during British colonial times; an Italian-German-French TV series which broke viewership records across Europe.[citation needed]. Kabir also recently starred in a prime-time Italian television series, Un Medico In Famiglia, on RAI TV, the country's biggest broadcaster.

In an impressive performance that brought out a very different and hitherto unrevealed aspect of his acting he starred as the ancient Patriarch Abraham, both in his young as well as old age, in the 1995 TV series Bible Ki Kahaniyan an epic series in Doordarshan India. The series was later discontinued as a result of troubles between the producers and the sponsors.

For over a year, Kabir starred in The Bold and the Beautiful, the second most-watched television show in the world, seen by over a billion people in 149 countries.

[edit] Awards and achievements

Kabir is a voting member of the prestigious Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who are responsible for presenting the Oscar awards. He is also a voting member of the Screen Actors Guild.

He has also won numerous film, advertising and popularity awards across Europe and India.[7]

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Films

[edit] Television

[edit] Voting memberships

[edit] References

  1. ^ Freda Bedi
  2. ^ Kabir Bedi Biography (1946-)
  3. ^ Adam Bedi baptised
  4. ^ "Another Parveen is Kabir Bedi's love". The Times of India. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/City_Supplements/Pune_Times/Another_Parveen_is_Kabir_Bedis_love/articleshow/2008184.cms. 
  5. ^ "Kabir Bedi’s voice for Burma’s Mandela". Daily News & Analysis. http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1103940. 
  6. ^ Collection of articles on Kabir Bedi
  7. ^ Kabir Bedi: Awards page

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabir_Bedi"
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