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This is a well-composed article. Ground 19:49, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)


Confusion over religion of Ben's father

There seems to be a confusion here. While Krishna Bhanji sounds a Hindu name, his fathers name Rahimatulla sounds Muslim. Its best to describe him of Gujarathi descent rather than communalising this issue. AMbroodEY 15:29, 29 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

His father was Ismaili Muslim. As far as I know, he's not Hindu at all.

No Muslim would name their child Krishna! Softlavender 02:06, 26 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

[1] : Ben Kingsley's father was an Hindu native of India.
[2] : Father: Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji (physician, Kenyan-Indian, b. Hindu, now a Sikh)
[3] : His father, Harji Bhanji, was a Kenya-born medical doctor of Indian (Gujarati Hindu) descent
[4] : ... he was Krishna Bhanji until he changed his name to Ben Kingsley. Born and raised in Yorkshire, England; Kingsley changed his name when he decided to act in films. "Interestingly it was my father who advised me to change my name as he believed that a British name would help me become more successful in films" says Kingsley (...). "It's a rather amusing name. While Krishna is the name of a Hindu God, Bhanji is typically a Muslim surname" he elucidates. Suddenly he laughs out and says, "The irony is that I changed my name from Krishna Bhanji to Ben Kingsley in order to play Mohandas Gandhi!" - Giving no proper indication on the religion of his father !
Searching for him being a Muslim found no evidence on the web.
MHM-en 09:29, 12 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ben's father was an Ismaili Khoja guys. Bhanji is khoja name.

Title "Sir Ben"

The section about him insisting on being called "Sir Ben" is very confusing. For starters, there is nothing wrong or controversial or notable with a person wanting to be known by his full name and title. It's apparently only an issue because Sir Jonathan Miller prefers to be known as Mr and thinks other knights should do the same. That's his prerogative, but what does Miller's opinion of this have to do with the Wikipedia article on Sir Ben Kingsley? We give a quote about Kingsley denying he insists on this anyway. It's just a mess. I'd like to make a constructive suggestion but it's too confused at the moment. I'd actually prefer the whole thing was removed, but maybe others have a viewpoint. JackofOz 00:26, 25 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

He wants to be called Sir Ben, he has even handed out memos on movie sets. Its basicly saying he is better then everyone else like someone wanting to be called Doctor Richards always by his friends. Plus what did he do???? He acts.

Ok, if you say he's famous for insisting on the Sir, where's the evidence (apart from your say so, that is)? We have plenty of evidence that he denies this claim, but no evidence that it is true. This is on my short list of things to remove. JackofOz 16:46, 19 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
He's certainly better than you, but that, like your personal opinion of Kingsley, isn't relevant. -- 71.102.194.130 09:36, 1 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Note: there is a Sopranos-episode (Luxury Lounge, S6E7) that spoofs this whole debate about the title. Mr. Kingsley plays himself and when Christopher Moltisanti calls him "sir Kingsley", he replies: "Sir Ben." I don't know if this is worth mentioning in the article. I'm a new user to this so I'm not gonna mess up the entire article yet. If someone else would like to insert this information in the article, please do.

This suggests to me the whole rumour about him insisting on the "Sir Ben" has to do with ignoramuses who don't know the proper way of addressing British knights. Sir Joe Bloggs is properly addressed not as "Sir Bloggs " but as "Sir Joe". A lot of non-Brits don't know this, and it's perfectly acceptable to correct them if they get it wrong. That's all. Other than that, I have no reason to doubt Sir Ben Kingsley has any problem with people calling him "Mr Kingsley" or just plain "Ben". JackofOz 06:27, 10 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Hardly it only takes a quick google to find the same story and comments from other theatrical knights about his use of his knighthood in the UK press. [5] or [6] If you feel the article needs them as a ref by all means add Alci12 19:26, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

OK, so it seems well documented that there was an issue about his name appearing on credits as "Sir Ben Kingsley". That at least is a fact. However there are still 2 things I want to change in the "Knighthood" section:

  • Sir is not an "honorary title". It is a title.
  • "a mistake by a studio executive, who was unfamiliar with the British honours system" makes no sense to me. The reason that titles such as Sir are not generally part of movie credits (although I can think of a few exceptions) has nothing to do with the British honours system. After all, that is the very system that provided the title in the first place. The reason has more to do with actors not wanting to be seen as big-noting themselves by using their titles, preferring to be shown by first name and surname only, the same as their acting peers. It would be much better to refer to the claimed mistake by a studio executive, and leave it at that. I've made the necessary changes. JackofOz 06:58, 8 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I see 2 cites about the use of the title and nothing cited in the article to support a mistake by the studio. What's your source to override the cites.
If Ben Kingsley is not his legal name, and just a stage name, (has he legally changed it?) he can't be "Sir Ben Anything" - he would be "Sir Krishna Banji" Vera, Chuck & Dave 22:26, 27 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Another section about his knighthood

Isn't it incorrect for him to be called "Sir" when he's just a Commander of the British Empire, as opposed to a Knight Commander or Knight Grand Cross, one of which he has to be to a knight and be called "Sir"? VolatileChemical 04:01, 2 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Nope. He was awarded a CBE in 2000. Then in 2001 he was made a knight bachelor (see the last para, about Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Anthony Hopkins). Knight bachelor carries no postnominal letters of its own, but the person is entitled to "Sir". Thus, Sir Ben Kingsley CBE. JackofOz 06:42, 8 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]



Filmography: In the late seventies/ early eighties Ben Kingsley appeared in a Mike Leigh Play called "Hard Labour". He played a heavily accented Asian Taxi driver who was a romantic interest to the daughter of the main couple featured in the play.This performance was quite remarkable and should be mentioned in his filmography, especially as "Hard Labour" (which starred the indomitable Liz Smith)is now considered to be an early masterpiece of Leigh's.