| DECEMBER
2007 |
| |
Director's Cut: Kabir Bedi will
present directors' stories on Zoom TV December
22, 2007
Kabir will moderate a TV show with a new concept; instead of stars, it will
take a look at directors' careers and private life, according to news agency
TNN today, The Times of India:
Kabir will present directors' stories
Kabir Bedi, we hear, is set to be a host in a show on Zoom Television.
The show is titled Director's Cut. It's a one hour long show and in episode
Kabir will invite a successful director and talk about his career growth.
Of course there will be a lot of the guest's personal life too. It's an interesting
concept because till now shows have only concentrated on actors. But it'll
be interesting to know the struggles and trials that our directors have faced
before making it big. |
| |
Kabir Bedi at successful Taj
Mahal re-release in Dubai December 13, 2007
Here's a review of the successful re-release of Akbar Khan's Taj Mahal.An
Eternal Love Story, starring Kabir as the older Shah Jahan, published today
by the Khaleej Times.
Kabir's daughter Pooja Bedi and his friend Parveen Dusanj were at the special
screening, too:
A rich tapestry of Indian and Muslim culture
- by Meraj Rizvi, UAE Editor (DIFF SPECIAL)
By any standards, Indian film Taj Mahal, that was premiered in Dubai on Tuesday
evening, is impressive and takes you by surprise.
The rare care with which producer-director Akbar Khan mounts his tale of
Mughal intrigue, the volume of 'epic' quality that he succeeds in investing
in the plot’s palpable periodicity and the attention he gives to bringing
the characters to life makes this the most surprising film of the year.
A befitting tribute to his work, Akbar Khan and his team of actors received
a standing ovation from a packed audience at the Mall of the Emirates cinema,
who remained engrossed through the two hour-odd film. A mix of Asian and
Western movie buffs remained mesmerised, fully involved in the film till
the end, undoubtedly shattering the myth that only Hollywood can make good
films!
The most expensive Bollywood film made to date from a colossal budget of
US $10 million, Taj Mahal is among the eight Indian films selected for the
Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) this year. It is clear that Akbar
Khan is one of the top directors in the world if one views this film without
any prejudice. The background music by Naushad is his best ever.
Spanning two generations of the Mughal period, covering the youthful passion
and autumnal memories of Shah Jahan (Zulfikar Syed/Kabir Bedi), Taj Mahal
has that quality which is of paramount importance to the success of a costume
drama - the director believes in his vision and has the wherewithal to translate
that vision into credible visuals.
- "The 60-minute film, a crisper version of the original released in
India in 2005", as Akbar Khan put it, will be relaunched in India and
the international market soon. "I am grateful to DIFF for giving me
this platform to relaunch my film," said the filmmaker, confident the
film will be appreciated by both international and Indian audiences if viewed
without any prejudice.
- "My decision to release the film in India in 2005 was a wrong move,
perhaps wrong timing," he recalls. - "But, the response and reviews
that the film is receiving now from international media and audience is encouraging
and I am hopeful that the audience will give my film a second chance."
Introducing his actors, Kabir Bedi, who plays the role of older Shah Jahan,
Pooja Batra (Noorjehan) and others to the audience on Tuesday, the talented
Akbar Khan said, "I was inspired to make the film on the mausoleum -
a symbol of love and one of the wonders of the world, only because I, myself,
was mesmerised by the monument on a recent visit to the Taj Mahal in Agra.
The serene and mystical beauty of Taj Mahal and a host of tourists hearing
patiently the real love story of an Indian Mughal Emperor for his love, influenced
me to put this eternal love story on the film canvas for people around the
world to know."
-
- "While Shah Jahan spent over 22 years to build the monument, I have
tried my best in two years to put the film together. It is not just a story
of a man’s love, but a rich tapestry of Indian and the Muslim culture," he
said.
Already having bagged two National awards for Best Art direction and Costumes,
the film is a must-see for film lovers. The actors, except for veterans like
Kabir Bedi, Pooja Batra and Manisha Koirala, the new comers in their own
ways, the young Zulfi Syed who plays the role of young Shahjahan, Sonya Jehan
(Arjumand, Mumtaz mahal) and Arbaaz Khan (Aurangzeb) have excelled. The heavy
Urdu dialogues were delivered with ease.
The language is pure but accessible Urdu. The costumes (Anna Singh) are eclectically
authentic, though at least one character (played by Pooja Batra) seems to
be too contemporary in dress and manner.
All in all, a must-see for everyone! |
| |
Kabir
Bedi: "Two fried eggs every morning..." December 12, 2007
In a DIFF interview with Jyoti Kalsi of Gulfnews, published today,
Kabir Bedi talks in Dubai about fried eggs, his starring role in
Taj
Mahal.An Eternal Love Story, Bollywood and his forthcoming projects:
- "Never change song and dance format" |
| |
Kabir introduces daughter Pooja
Bedi to George Clooney December 10, 2007
Kabir's daughter Pooja Bedi and Hollywood star George Clooney were introduced
in Dubai by her father Kabir at the gala for the DIFF (Dubai International
Film Festival, December 9-16, 2007) opening night premiere of Clooney's film
Michael Clayton yesterday (December 9, 2007) evening, according to website
Zoomtv:
Pooja Bedi meets George Clooney in Dubai
What happens when a hot Bollywood babe meets Hollywood’s sexiest man? Sparks
fly! And they did when Pooja Bedi was introduced to George Clooney at the
premiere night gala of his latest film Michael Clayton in Dubai recently. "George
Clooney is somebody I’ve always liked, not just because of his looks, but
for his intelligence as well. I am not his fan, but an ardent admirer. I
have seen almost all his films. He is irresistible, a wholesome package who
can sweep any woman off her feet," gushed Pooja.
The two hotties were introduced by Kabir Bedi who also attended the premiere
with his girlfriend Parveen. "Clooney looked at me and said, ‘Wow, your
gown looks beautiful. I think I can get into it, but I don’t think I will
look as pretty as you," recalled an excited Pooja describing the Hollywood
actor’s charm. Pooja wanted a photo with Clooney. "I couldn’t get one
because the crowd just went crazy and we were pushed out," she said
ruefully. How would she describe their brief meeting? "As a beautiful
affair in my life," she replied. |
| |
Emperor Akbar gives Kabir Bedi's
Taj Mahal its due December 9, 2007
- "Like old wine in a new bottle - as charming" - Kabir is described
in an article published today by Radio Sargam Bollywood online on the forthcoming
re-release of Akbar Khan's Taj Mahal.An Eternal Love Story in Dubai:
- Emperor Akbar gives Taj its due
- by Hanumant Bhansali
Akbar Khan’s magnum opus, Taj Mahal - An Eternal Love Story, following
two National Awards for Best Costume and Best Art Direction, is now creating
history again. This time as the first and the only film to get a world premiere,
a year post its Indian release. Director Akbar Khan will present the Director’s
Cut of Taj Mahal, a revised, shortened version of the film at the 2007 Dubai
International Film Festival, to be held at Dubai from December 9 - 16, under
the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE
Vice President, PM and Ruler of Dubai and under the Honorary Chairman of
His Highness Shaikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of The Emirates
Group.
At the same time, a year after its release, the Indonesian government has
expressed a desire to release the magnum opus there. To mark the happy occasion,
Khan held a party at his Sona Villa Bungalow, Juhu on Dec 7, 8.30pm onwards.
The party was to honour the visit of the Indonesian dignitary Mr Chairul
Tangung, Chairman, Para Group, Indonesia.
Explains Khan, "The Para Group is a diversified conglomerate of Indonesia,
and are global players in various fields. They own the country’s biggest
bank, The Maga Bank. In aspects of natural resources, they are into mining
and also insurance, owning TV productions."
It is tipped that the premiere of Khan’s film in Indonesia will be
attended by the Vice President of the country. There is also a joint venture
proposed tie-up with the Para Group.
Akbar Khan’s party was attended by Chairul Tanjung, Chairul Tanjung
with wife Anita, Tito Dos Santos Baptista, Consul General of Indonesia in
India with his wife, Kabir Bedi, Pooja Batra, brother Sanjay Khan and wife
Zarine, Tejaswini Kolhapure with husband Pankaj Saraswat, Padmini
Kolhapure, Bunty Grewal, Shawar Ali, Zulfi Syed, Deepannita Sharma, Anjala
Zaveri, Shaina Nath, Yukta Mookhey, Bhagyashree with husband Himalaya, models
Rashmi, Tanvi, and a host of others.
Black seemed to be the colour of the day at the party - Anjala Zaveri, Zarine
Khan, Pooja Batra, Simone Arora all wore black. Akbar Khan’s wife Mariam
nursing a hurt leg preferred simple Indian attire and despite her injury
played perfect host with Akbar Khan. There was fun and frolic as everyone
danced and sang through the night. Bhagyashree and Himalaya came in late
and Bhagyashree seemed to have lost a few years of her age - she was as pretty
as ever. Bunty Grewal, Shawar Ali and Zulfi Syed were flanked by women all
night. Not that they were complaining. Kabir Bedi was like old wine in a
new bottle - as charming. And had guests clicking pictures with him to save
the moments of time in frozen frames.
As the festivities were on and Taj Mahal hit the news, here is some interesting
information. Our PM Manmohan Singh had termed Taj Mahal as "a brilliant
effort portraying one of the salient periods of our history through the medium
of cinema," adding that "it showcases our composite culture and
rich heritage and is both educative and entertaining", while Montek
Singh Ahluwalia, Chairman, Planning Commission of India, recommended it "strongly".
Mukesh Ambani had said that the book on Taj Mahal titled Taj Mahal - Making
of a Motion Picture "is just as wonderful as a movie...", a testimonial
to Khan’s stature "as a great entertainer."
Taj Mahal is also the first film to have had an exclusive screening hosted
by the Ambassador of Turkey, Hasan Gogus for over 60 ambassadors. Gogus avers
that Akbar Khan’s magnum opus "brought out the splendour of an
era bygone, both in terms of compassion and technical excellence... a rich
tribute to the historic monument which speaks of the proud passions of an
Emperor’s love wrought in living stones." |
| |
Ardent
Goa-fan Kabir Bedi to host IFFI closing ceremony December
4, 2007
In an interview with the Navhind Times, Goa, India, published
today, Kabir Bedi talks about his long-lasting love for Goa, has some advice
for builders, and looks forward to his role as host at the IFFI closing ceremony:
- "There
is No Better Venue than Goa for the IFFI" |
| |
| NOVEMBER
2007 |
| |
Fried
onions: Sandokan's secret weapon of seduction? November
23, 2007
Kabir's Italian radio show Ch@t - weekly wrap -
This week, Verdeluna's Fiat 131 reincarnates as a dinosaur, Verdeluna
reincarnates as a moonfish, Patrizia grows up, and we learn about the seductive
power of fried onions. And uh-oh, there's a bit of a row brewing between
our two chatters...
#51 -
Oh Lord, won't you buy me... Verdeluna is in dire need of a new car, even a used
one is fine, thank you. Connecting, connecting...
But Sandokan is quite out of his depth when it comes to automobiles. Well, she
could perhaps borrow his gallion for a couple of days? Her old Fiat 131 has finally
gone to meet its makers, if that's what cars do when their time comes. She was
on her way to work when the old girl finally packed it in, while Verdeluna was
waiting for the lights to change, and she was showered with a torrent of abuse
from the waiting cars behind.
But there was a happy moment with the 131 too... Behind her, a gorgeous mechanic
pulled up... Hang on, wasn't The Twit a mechanic too? But what's that got to
do with it! The handsome young man loaded the 131 onto his trailer and took car
and driver to his workshop.
Ha! Sandokan is not about to be outdone. He too, once broke a mast on his gallion,
and was towed to safety by a pearl-fishing boat called "Silence," with,
yep, an exquisite all-female crew.
Be quiet, Sandokan, and let me finish. The handsome mechanic got out of his car,
and they were in, well not really a workshop. It was more of a tropical garden
(Ah! A workshop-garden! Lots of those on Mompracem!) Well, the car was beyond
repair even by the tropical demigod, but lo! there were palm trees in the garden,
bananas, even monkeys and... dinosaurs!!! Made of old car parts!!! A T. Rex,
a Bronto, and even a flyosaurus! And so the good old 131 will become a piece
of modern art - or was that a piece of prehistoric art?
Sandokan urges Verdeluna to bring out her inner child, full of wonder and excitement
but burdened by the weight of adulthood and responsibility. There's no such thing
as making the wrong choice. What matters is that you follow your heart... There's
one choice that Verdeluna is really proud of, and that she wouldn't ever go back
on: that of chatting every night with Sandokan! And what if she chose to come
to Mompracem right now, what would await her?
A Pink Floyd concert!
Yanez persuaded Roger Waters and David Gilmour to play at the opening of his
sushi bar, built in memory of Syd Barrett. Syd lived on Mompracem ever since
leaving the band, and found his guru in Yanez. Unfortunately, he succumbed to
diabetes, brought on by his love of sweets... Nick Mason and Richard Wright will
also be at the gig, a huge thing set up by Yanez!
Hold me tight, Sandokan, hold me tight, as David strums his guitar...
#52 -
Today's excuse for being late: Sandokan has followed a shoal of stingrays, from
the comfort of his deck chair, sipping an exquisite Yanez coffee. The magic of
their electric discharges is like the magic of a kiss.. like Gustav Klimt's "The
Kiss," says Verdeluna...
Close your eyes and feel my fingers caressing your face, while your feet stand
upon a bed of flowers...
How many different kisses are there, Sandokan? - Let's see... there's the pirate's
kiss, but also that of the rhino, horn against horn, or of the gazelle, side
against side, the lion's kiss, as deep as its growl, and the civet cat's, and
that of the Napoleon fish, as long as the Russian Campaign...
But how about love kisses, between a man and a woman? Well, there's the Gone-With-The-Wind-Kiss,
and frankly my dear, I don't give a damn. Then there's Doctor Zhivago's kiss
for Lara. Or there's the nine-and-a-half-week kiss, for which you have to pour
ice cubes on to yourself, and I don't think it's worth it...
Go away! I don't mean movie kisses!
Ok then... the first kiss of two lovers. The goodbye kiss outside the front porch.
Or outside a restaurant. A new year's kiss, full of promise. Or a kiss in a motel,
or on a little square in Paris. Or the kiss before making love, that calls on
the heavens and the stars to accompany us through the night.
See how many kisses you know?
But I still prefer the kiss of the pirate, full of love and passion...
Verdeluna saw Patrizia kiss her boyfriend, the DJ, the other day. Aaaah - it
finally made her understand that her little girl is now a woman...
She's a big girl now, and must have been a wise woman in her previous lives,
says Sandokan. He thinks reincarnation isn't for everybody, but yes, for some
people it exists. Maybe he was a captain on a large ship in a previous life,
or a humble fisherman... But it must have been somthing related to the sea. Every
time he looks at the sea, he feels it has always belonged to him... Could he
have been a fish? Maybe, a big and majestic swordfish...
Verdeluna says it's hard to believe she could ever have lived in another age
but the present. In Europe at least, there is no war, no hunger, no pestilence.
Living in another age would mean having to give up all of that... She wants to
reincarnate as a delicious pesce luna, a moonfish!
#53 -
Enter Sandokan, Master Hunter of Tunafish and Assorted Crustaceans, bang on time
for a change. But he isn't welcome. In fact it's better if he just went away.
Just because he calls himself Sandokan, should everybody lie at his feet?
- I don't call myself Sandokan. I AM Sandokan. And I don't like playing games.
- Oh yeah?!? So who's playing games here? Who are you calling yourself a pirate
who lives on the island of.. "Mompracem"???
- That's enough! No one ever made you chat with me if you don't want to! Just
pull the plug on this conversation any time you want!
- You want ME to pull the plug? Do you really think it's that easy? I work all
day and have a love life to get back on track. I want you to be honest with me!
- Just as YOU have to be honest too! You also could be just anybody. How do I
know you are who you say you are? Are you really a mother of two children? Do
you work in a shop? Are you divorced? I've heard all kinds of stories about people
in chat rooms!
- And why should I do that?
- SHUT UP! You're clucking like a chicken!
- Toc toc toc toooooooooc!!!
- SHUT UP!!!
- I am as silent as a tomb.
And so they bicker on, until Sandokan tries a more conciliatory approach... Well
OK then. She's had an awful day. First she ran into The Twit, in the local supermarket.
Did they argue? Nope. Worse. Peering from behind a stack of canned tomatoes,
Verdeluna saw he was alone. No Vanessa Paradiso. Then Renato saw her, and showered
her with compliments. Ever the charmer, he even tried to get a date! How horrible!
Verdeluna is convinced he never even realised she was his ex-wife!
Then there was Walter, the priest. He'd been waiting for an hour at the shop,
after leaving a message on her mobile phone. Verdeluna had answered "OK" -
so where was she??? Well, the "OK" was really meant for Olivia, who
wanted to meet at the gym. So she made a mistake. Who doesn't?
Then, of course, she realised she'd forgotten her phone at the supermarket. She
went back after work, picked it up and... there was a message....
" It's me," the message said. "Let's meet in Sailors Square at
eight. Under the Mariner.'' And so she went, thinking of course that with all
those
maritime suggestions, it could be none other than a certain pirate...
She got there twenty minutes early, and waited until quarter past. All manner
of men passed by the Mariner, and poor Verdeluna was torturing herself about
who could be the pirate... The kind old pharmacist, who always gives her a discount?
Even Tarzan, the car mechanic, came along. He smiled, and walked past. Then there
was Patrizia's math teacher, making Verdeluna cringe at the thought he might
be S... (Well in that case, she'd have run to the nearest convent).
In the end, no one turned up. And Verdeluna went home, gutted, humiliated, and
furious at her pirate...
But the pirate denies all knowledge. The message wasn't his. Simply not guilty,
your honour! I would never do anything to risk losing you, Verdeluna. You've
become too important to me.
Mmmmmm... Really...? Then show me!
Let us be carried away Verdeluna, just as we are carried away every evening.
Come on board Verdeluna, and it will always be this way. Oooh Sandokan, I just
can't help believing you, it's stronger than me... Hold me tight Sandokan...
#54 -
This time, Verdeluna is late. She was outside on the balcony and nearly got caught
by a violent hailstorm. Sandokan, too, once ended up in the middle of one, just
after he'd won the Labuan boat race. The weather suddenly changed, and his galleon
was covered in hailstones. Yanez collected the whole lot and took them to his
kiosk. That night, they celebrated Sandokan's victory with super-fresh rum mojitos!
Last night, Patrizia sat down next to Verdeluna, and frantically zapped through
all the TV channels. She then turned off the set, and the two of them just sat
there, silent. Verdeluna knows her daughter well enough that this meant she had
something important to say, but couldn't muster the courage to say it. Just like
Marianna, says Sandokan, she would beat about the bush for hours, and would make
me stop doing whatever I was doing.
Yes, well, Patrizia said that she and her boyfriend, the DJ, have hmnnnmgh...
What? They have begun to have mnwmnm.... What are you saying?? Ahem. They have
started to have sex! Those were her very words!
Not only that, the DJ has asked her to start taking the pill. And that's fine
by Verdeluna, as long as it's her daughter's own decision, not taken under the
influence of any DJ or other man!
Sandokan is delighted, however, and offers to pop a bottle of Yanez' best champagne.
This is great news, and it's even better that Patrizia has confided in her mother.
She must be a very smart girl.
But it's only yesterday that she was still my little girl. Now she's not my little
girl any more.
And it seems like yesterday when I met you, Verdeluna. With you, every time is
like the first time. Ooh you men, you are always so harmonious, so able to hold
a multitude of conflicting emotions together. With us women, it's always a disaster.
We're always in turmoil..
But that's normal, Verdeluna. It's all about hormones. You women have to fight
the cycle every time. And Verdeluna deals with that little problem at the gym.
One good kick planted on her friend Olivia's head and she feels ever so balanced
again. Yodela hoohoo!
Yesterday, Verdeluna travelled to the gym by bus for the first time after the
demise of her old 131. She liked the experience. Sandokan often uses the toy
train that travels around Mompracem, which makes him want to shout "all'assalto!!!",
or else one of Yanez converted ferries, built from old galleons.
Come with me Verdeluna, to the No.24 bus stop. There's a special galleon service,
only once a year, that will take us straight into space... And there's hardly
ever a ticket collector...
#55 -
Sandokan's sense of smell is heightened by the night, and he can smell Verdeluna's
perfume, like the notes of a flute, far, far away. Verdeluna is flattered, and
would like to make the olfactory concert last as long as possible.
But alas... her nostrils are assaulted by a strong smell of onion pervading the
entire building. To Sandokan, though, that's more like a violin. Perfection itself.
Like the onion fry-ups of Yanez, which attract people from all over Mompracem
and, if the wind is right, even beyond.
How would Valerio have seduced his astrophysicist, Verdeluna wonders, with fried
onions? Maybe... And how would Sandokan seduce Verdeluna? With a magnificent
pot of mussels, cooked by Yanez. No, that doesn't count. Ok, with a green salad?
Yanez has a huge kitchen garden on Mompracem, so big he even gives guided tours
to schoolchildren. But Sandokan's favourite has to be Nicole's Pumpkin...
Nicole Kidman visited Mompracem many years ago, to prepare for her lead role
in the blockbuster "Cinderella". But on visiting Yanez' kitchen garden,
she got furious with him (causing poor Yanez, who likes strong women, to fall
in love with her instantly), and why? Because in the entire vegetable plot, there
wasn't a single pumpkin to be found.
And so, Australian pumpkins being the biggest and the best in the whole wide
world, Yanez had some seeds flown in from Oz and...
Wham!!!
He had the biggest pumpkins ever known to man.
Nicole was delighted, and danced the night away with Yanez on the beach (until
the stroke of midnight, when she suddenly ran away, leaving a little shoe made
of crystal behind her...)
Verdeluna reminisces about the huge Sunday meals she and her brothers would have
with their parents at some countryside trattoria, sitting around a big table
in the sunshine and gorging themselves on an endless succession of courses. And
when she wanted to run away to play, her father always insisted on giving her
a big hug first...
Nowadays, people don't even look at each other any more, says Verdeluna. They
don't greet, they don't talk, even when they're together in a lift. There are
no lifts on Mompracem, but there too, society is changing... From tomorrow, Verdeluna
will look the first person she meets straight into the eyes, and greet them politely.
People may think she's mad, but better to be a single mad woman in a sane world
than the other way round...
Verdeluna has prepared a wonderful aubergine bake, famous all over the neighbourhood.
The smell is absolutely devine, and she's going to put it into the oven now,
just for the two of them, just for Sandokan...
...to be continued
You'll find daily updates of Kabir's radio show CH@T online at kabir-bedi.com...
Please note:
More than 1000 "Friends of Kabir Bedi" received this news item
directly via email.
If you too would like to be well-informed about Kabir, please register with
Kabir's international club "Friends of Kabir Bedi" (it's free,
easy and you will not receive any spam-mails)! |
| |
Shekhar Kapur impressed with
Kabir Bedi's popularity November 17, 2007
According to the Times of India, Elizabeth director Shekhar Kapur was "very
happy to meet [Kabir Bedi] in Rome" and was quite impressed with the
popularity which Kabir Bedi enjoys in Italy, as he observed at Rome Film
Festival:
- "I think I became famous there because of him - when on the red carpet,
Kabir hugged me and called me his brother. It's amazing how Italians continue
to just adore him." |
| |
Of
she-ghosts and flat-pack gallions November 16, 2007
Kabir's Italian radio show Ch@t - weekly wrap -
As Verdeluna writes a note for the message tree, spirits do the housework,
and there is love in a pastry class. But flat-pack furniture doesn't agree
with Italian housewives, and the pirate places a feather on the beach...
#46 -
Sandokan nearly missed tonight's chat with Verdeluna, after going diving
offshore Mompracem with Yanez, and nearly getting sucked out into the ocean
by the current. Verdeluna is worried sick about the danger to which he is
exposing himself - much to Sandokan's delight. He too would worry about Verdeluna!
Verdeluna's brother Walter, the priest, has started a new thing in his parish:
one evening he went to the tree in front of his church, and tied a message
to one of its branches, expressing his deepest feelings. That same night,
several other messages appeared, and the idea caught on. Now Walter's asked
Verdeluna for a contribution to the message tree, but she is convinced the
only thing she'd be capable of writing is: "Down With the Twit!!!"
Walter's message was that a soul cannot live well in one area of life when
it misbehaves in another. Life is single, whole, and indivisible. That idea's
from Gandhi, Sandokan says approvingly.
Verdeluna is desperate! What is she going to write that is profound enough
to impress her brother Walter? Look around you, Verdeluna, the world is full
of messages, and nothing happens without a reason. Our job is to understand
that reason.
Verdeluna found a tortoise in the garden of her apartment building. Is that
a sign too? Certainly! Older than time itself, the tortoise is a creature
of mystery. Its top is round like the heavens, and its bottom is flat like
the earth. Man is imperfect, and nature is his complement.
How Verdeluna misses her son Valerio, the modern-day pirate sailing the seven
seas, wherever his fancy takes him! Recently he was at Port Royal, Jamaica,
a notorious pirates' haunt through the ages. None of the passengers on his
cruise ship could sleep that night... All'assalto!!!
Why can't Sandokan come up with a profound thought for Walter's message tree?
Well alright then: the ocean's nature isn't always calm; the same is true
of the ocean of life...
#47 -
Sandokan has been taking the children of Mompracem on a canoeing trip, to
teach them to be independent and self-reliant. So who was the leader of the
group, the captain of the little flotilla? Sandokan says it's much too early
for the children to be competitive, and that they should learn to have some
fun first.
But we live in a competitive world, says Verdeluna. Just look at how people
behave in traffic! No matter where they're going, they want to be the first
to get there. And to think that my finish line for the morning rush hour
is Sir Hugo's shop...
Verdeluna tells the story of Debbie, a Californian woman of Italian origin,
who married the love of her life at age 55, having nearly given up on the
whole idea. Her partner's name is Pattie, a schoolteacher she met in a pastry
class. Must have been a sweet meeting, comments Sandokan. It's so boring
to always be politically correct! But despite playing the clown, Sandokan
is full of respect for two people who follow the voice of their heart without
caring about social convention or discrimination.
Mompracem weddings, though, are strictly between men and women. And they
are truly wonderful to behold. The bride's hands and feet are painted with
henna, the groom arrives on horseback, and the couple's wedding night is
spent among a thousand perfumes of the orient.
Night of the orient, night of love - how I adore being surrounded by the
night... Let's be each other's love pastry, you'll be my profiterolles, and
I'll be your baba au rhum...
#48 -
Verdeluna is struggling with a leaking tap, but of course there isn't a plumber
in sight. Sandokan says Yanez is an expert plumber. He even fixed the island's
only tap on Mompracem, which was dripping with such a loud thud every minute
that it kept everyone awake.
Enter the Portuguese Plumber, who fought with the delinquent tap for a week,
but to no avail. Then one day, there was a loud crash from the well, the
earth shook, and Yanez was heard to swear loudly. And then: silence. The
Mompracemers started to count... 50 seconds... 58.. 59.. 60... 61... 62...
nothing. Only that within minutes the whole island, utterly exhausted, fell
blisfully asleep!
So how did he do it? After a week's struggling with spanners, screwdrivers,
fists and boots, he finally plugged the leak with... a coffee bean.
But seriously, does Sandokan think the world is running short of water? The
Americans seems especially alarmist, but then they always are...
As a little girl, Verdeluna used to go to a nearby cave with her family to
fetch water from the well there. It used the be called the Cave of Spirits
because the local shepherds would spend the night there with their flock,
and the next morning they'd always notice a couple of lambs were missing.
So the story went that the spirits of the cave didn't live by water alone...
Don't be afraid of the spirits, says Sandokan. They're present, but we need
them for the equilibrium of our cosmos. The pirate also has a ghost aboard
his gallion, who plays silly tricks like turning the ship around when it
is heading straight for the enemy, just as Sandokan shouts all'assalto!!!
But on another occasion, the ghost cooked Sandokan the most amazing breakfast,
with coffee even more exquisite than Yanez'.
Verdeluna is convinced the spirit is a girl-ghost. Turning pirates away from
battle, and making them coffee, are feminine things to do. So what would
Verdeluna do in her place? Make Sandokan stay in bed of course, and get the
coffee from Yanez!
But wait... Verdeluna feels a sudden sense of peace, quiet and relief...
And even the bathroom tap has stopped dripping... Could it be that...?
#49 -
Verdeluna is struggling to assemble an Ikea bookshelf, while Sandokan is
out snorkelling among the coral. Verdeluna loves coral necklaces, especially
the one she got from her Granny Benedetta, along with a glass of ice cold
lemonade. And Sandokan has fond memories of an Italian Renaissance painting
by Piero Della Francesca, of the Madonna with her child, little Jesus is
wearing a coral necklace [note: probably Piero
della Francesca's Madonna di Senigallia, about 1474]. How does Sandokan
know about Italian art? From a calendar brought along by Yanez, of course!
Which brings us back to the Ikea bookshelf.
Yanez once proposed selling his flat-pack, do-it-yourself gallions to Ikea,
but they couldn't find a store big enough for them. Now Verdeluna is desperate
to find the instructions that came with her furniture...
Sandokan, heeeeelp me...!
There's only one thing to be done in such cases: all'assalto!!!
So, after another romantic excursion among the stars, Sandokan raises the
big question: just what is Verdeluna going to do with her new bookshelf?
She is turning the whole house upside down, redecorating all the rooms. Wasn't
getting rid of The Twit stressful enough? They say that after divorce, restruc..
restrutu... restructuring the house is the most stressful thing that a person
can do.
Verdeluna loaded some old sticks of furniture onto the Fiat 131 and drove
to the local dump to get rid of them, but before she could even enter the
site, five youths surrounded the car, opened the doors and dragged all the
rubbish out. With Verdeluna screaming in terror, they drove away in their
old van with her discarded belongings loaded on top...!
Sandokan is furious. Amateur pirates! It's people like that who give the
profession a bad name. That's the problem with your cities, you pretend the
problems aren't there instead of confronting them. So what would be Sandokan's
solution? Giving away Granny Benedetta's lemonade to everybody!
#50 -
I like the night, like any honourable pirate... Connecting... Connecting...
Waiting... Like I wait for the wind when I want to leave port...
Sandokan has helped Yanez stock up his kiosk with coffee bags, but the thought
of that exquisite aroma made the bags as light as feathers. Speaking of which,
Verdeluna followed a feather blown by the wind with her kickyodelling friend,
Olivia. It started out as a game but became quite serious. And so they trailed
the little feather this way and that, their heads in the air, counting the
stars, until it flew towards the port. And so they gazed at the little feather
as it drifted ever higher, ever higher, and ever further away. "Auf
Wiedersehen,'' said Olivia, the South Tyrolean. "Auf Wiedersehen,''
echoed Verdeluna. Porzellana! We nearly fell in, didn't we?
Then they just stared into the distance, and got gloomy, until Olivia announced
she would go home and make a zucchini strudel. Would she eat it all alone?
- Nein ! Tomorrow I vill bring half to ze shop for you! A very practical
lady, says Sandokan. If she'd known Hamlet, it would have been a case of
to strudel, or not to strudel...
Sandokan explains the Day of Light, a Mompracem festival when the fishermen
place all kinds of objects by the sea that represent missed opportunities
in life. If the next day, the sea has washed some of the items away, that
means another opportunity will soon present itself. Ernest Hemingway put
down a swordfish made of sugar, to remember the day he went fishing in a
rickety old boat after having some of Yanez' exquisite coffee!
When he came back from his trip after three days and three nights, Ernest
had with him the biggest swordfish ever seen by man... except it was so big
he'd had to tie it to the side of his boat, and it got eaten by sharks. Hemingway
went to his cabin, and disappeared for a whole week, until the smell of Yanez'
coffee brought him back to the world... And another fisherman left a wooden
giraffe, to show his pining for a long-necked ukulele player that once visited
the island...
Verdeluna once visited a safari
park in Fasano with The Twit and their children, and when a giraffe started
licking their car windscreen, Renato had the brilliant idea of honking to
scare it off. With the result that an equally scared elephant decided to
sit down on their vehicle, and The Twit, ignoring all instructions to the
contrary, got out to inspect the damage. Within seconds, a troupe of monkeys
descended on him and undressed him to his underwear...
A small feather has settled on my computer, Verdeluna, the feather that Olivia
and you followed to the sea. I will keep it, and put it on the beach on the
Day of Light...
...to be continued
You'll find daily updates of Kabir's radio show CH@T online at kabir-bedi.com...
Please note:
More than 1000 "Friends of Kabir Bedi" received this news item directly
via email.
If you too would like to be well-informed about Kabir, please register with Kabir's
international club "Friends of Kabir Bedi" (it's free, easy and you will
not receive any spam-mails)! |
| |
Of bottled air and enchanted
dreams November 9, 2007
Kabir's Italian radio show Ch@t - weekly wrap -
Pirate and housewife have never been closer than this week, with the opening
of a new espresso bar on the Italian shoreline!
But there is distant romance, too, with the story of Dante and Assunta in
Argentina.
Come and see all kinds of things in bottles, like messages, and air!
And join Sandokan the commander and Verdeluna the stowaway...
#41 -
Sandokan reminisces about his trip to Vienna with Yanez, where they went
to the New Year's Concert at the invitation of Riccardo Muti. The Maestro
had been on Mompracem, where Yanez' coffee granita with cream so beguiled
him that he simply had to do something equally delightful in return. Ahhh
Vienna, that concert... it was as if time itself had been suspended, and
all the women were dressed like the Empress Sissi...
Let us dance... One, two, three, our heads are spinning... Hold me tight...
We are in a room full of mirrors that reflect the light from the chandeliers
above... But above all, they reflect the light of your smile, Verdeluna,
which makes my heart spin....Ooooh Sandokan, hold me so tight I can't breathe...
All'assalto!!
And so on to Yanez' Aunt Faustina, the last in a long line of air collectors.
SANDOKAN!!! No I'm not joking! She captures the air of important events in
little glass bottles to lock in the memories, the atmosphere. She has travelled
the world, sniffing and bottling the real mementos of mankind... Pink Floyd
plays in Pompeii? She's there! The Berlin Wall comes down? Aunty has already
bottled some Berliner Luft. A meteorite hits Alaska? She's riding on top,
even before it hits the ground. Grace Kelly's investiture as Princess of
Monaco is among her personal archive, and even - no one knows how she pulled
that one off - the first moon landing!
When you open one of her little containers, you are instantly taken back
to the instant where it was harvested, in all its intensity, in all its sensuous
splendour. But of course you can only do it once. The bottle, once opened,
will loose its air instantly and the experience can't be repeated.
Sandokan opens a bottle just for Verdeluna, and she is instantly transported
to the time she took a boat trip to Lisbon with her son Valerio. By the way,
he's very seriously in love with his Mexican astrophysicist, Pedro Miguel.
Verdeluna recalls another event. Valerio had been hit by a car and was in
a coma for a couple of weeks. She was constantly at his bedside, refusing
to budge until finally he came round. Oh how she loved life that moment!
Sandokan opens another bottle and yes! yes! that's exactly how it was!!!
Three years ago, Patrizia ran away from home after Verdeluna had a particularly
bad row with The Twit. She looked for her daughter all night, but - nothing.
Finally she found the 14-year-old girl at a train station looking at the
timetables. So they just bought tickets for Paris, on impulse. Does Sandokan
have that bottle? Does he ever....
Ahhh Sandokan, you must get Faustina to bottle all our memories too!
#42 -
A world without chat would be a world of long telephone calls, of stacks
of letters stuffed into shoeboxes... To chat, you don't need envelopes and
stamps. Just send your message into the universe and see what comes back.
Like a message in a bottle... Connecting... Connecting... Waiting....
Sandokan, another victim of Net Nostalgia, is a fan of bottled messages.
There's quite a few of them on the beaches of Mompracem. One day, in search
of mussels, the pirate digs up a bottle. Not just any bottle: a bottle of
1910 vintage Dom Perignon, no less... Inside it, there was a message in Portuguese,
which Yanez translated. A musician describes how he has continued to play
almost unto death, how he found the bottle of champagne and drank it, affirming
life moments before it was about to end, how he entrusted his final thoughts
to paper and then to the bottle...
Wait a minute, 1910... couldn't that be the Titanic? [note: the Titanic went
down in 1912] Verdeluna isn't happy at the thought, with her own son sailing
the seven seas... She recalls how crazy he was about playing the trumpet
as a child, never ever wanting to put it down even for one minute. So how
come he became a chef, not a musician?
He took to making pies for the family, never eating one himself, so he got
thinner and they all got fatter. They were excellent pies...
So is Verdeluna now taking singing lessons? Errr, no. She's too intimidated
by the presence of Martina, the talented singer and shop assistant. Take
it as a game, and enjoy using your own talents, says Sandokan. It's a shame
not to!
Verdeluna bought a beautiful old globe on the flea market the other day,
and the first thing she did was to look for Mompracem. I can't find it, she
cried to the salesman! Well, Mompracem is a funny old island, he replied.
If you want to find it, it's there, and if you don't, it isn't. Anyway, say
hello to the Tiger for me!
Wouldn't it be nice if you could rearrange the world to suit yourself? Verdeluna
would swap Mompracem with the island of Elba. That would bring Sandokan a
lot closer! But would the Italians like it? The sea would be full of pirates...
All'assalto!!
Then we could swap the United States and Africa, or England and Sri Lanka,
or, perish the thought, Naples and Milan!
#43 -
Verdeluna? Would you like to come and play with me tonight? That all depends
on the kind of game, Sandokan. Tell me about your wishes, and tonight I will
make them come true!
Well, you could start by making my ex's shiny new car disappear... You should
see how he races it around the street to impress young Vanessa - no. Better
still give it a brand new scratch, all along one side, every morning. Okay
- and when I've defaced the Twitmobile, what else do you want? You get two
wishes, so just one more. Those are always the rules in games of this kind.
Hurry up, it's nearly dawn...
Oh of course I know. I want you - or is that too much? Is it too much of
a desire? Verdeluna, it's my very own wish, my very own desire. Why not make
it come true? Yanez and I are in Italy!
Sandokan! Where are you?!? I'm on the beach of Positano, near Naples, where
Yanez has been asked to officially open a beach kiosk tomorrow...
Oh Sandokan tellmeit'snottruetellmeyou'rejustjokingtellmeit'sallasillygame....
And if you do tell me that, I'll be as mad as hell, I'll be like a child
when you take away his ice cream, no his birthday cake!
There's an intense perfume of espresso tonight... Yanez and the kiosk owner
are fine-tuning their coffee machine so that everything will be perfect for
the grand opening tomorrow. When I look out of the window, I can see the
church of San Pancrazio, halfway between Positano and Amalfi. I told you
Verdeluna, I am here, I am close to where you are...
Oh Sandokan, if you're joking I will really kill you... No, I've been waiting
all my life for this day... I'm getting into the car right now, I'm on my
way... I'm waiting for you Verdeluna! The Tiger of Malaysia is waiting for
you, pacing up and down Mount Vesuvius...
Oh Sandokan, Sandokan, where are you.........
Oh Sandokan, I fell asleep over the computer keyboard, waiting for you. Wait,
wait, connecting, connecting, wait, waiting.... Pleasepleaseplease just be
there!!!
Verdeluna?
Sandokan?
Where are you?
On Mompracem, as always!
And if I said Positano, Sandokan?
You mean the church of San Pancrazio, Mount Vesuvius?
How do you know about those?
Ahhh some years ago an Italian fisherman came by on Mompracem and we talked
for a long time about the beauty of the Amalfi coast...
And I dreamt we were going to meet there, in the Green Grotto...
Every night before we go to sleep, the maker of dreams sits down next to
us, and reads our deepest emotions. And he builds a bridge that crosses between
dreams and reality, between the last glimmer of the moon and the first rays
of the sun.
Give me your hand, Sandokan, and let's cross that bridge together... Too
bad that chatters make it all up... Just like in your dreams, Verdeluna,
not everything, not quite everything...
#44 -
Are you there, my buccaneer of celestial marvels? As always. Last night I
found another message in a bottle on the beaches on Mompracem. I want to
plant a majestic tree in the middle of my room, it said, and make my house
into a great gallion. Signed: Verdeluna!
Verdeluna, too has found a kind of message in a bottle. She walked singer
Martina to the stop of the No. 59 bus she always takes home, in the pouring
rain, and while they turned around to avoid being soaked by a passing driver
going through a puddle, Verdeluna saw it... an ancient book lying on the
bus stop bench. So she waited for the No 59 to take away Martina, and picked
it up. The book contained a note: "Read me, and leave me where you think
someone else may find me." (Sandokan once discussed a similar idea with
Mr Feltrinelli, as the publisher visited Mompracem, but somehow the idea
never took off...)
The book was "The Secret Sharer," by Joseph Conrad - almost a colleague
of mine, says Sandokan. He knows the story well, of the anonymous captain
who rescues the drowning Legatt, only to find out that the man to whom he
bears such great resemblance has in fact killed a sailor. He hides the fugitive
and helps him to safety.
Would you hide me in your heart, Sandokan, if I were a fugitive? We are two
kindred souls destined to sail the seas together, the fugitives of love,
the captains of our passion. So where are you going to leave the book when
you have read it? In the supermarket, maybe, or in the cinema, or I might
put it back at the bus stop.
Verdeluna, too, has been a stowaway. Not on a ship, but in a hotel on Sardinia,
in 1982, when Italy had just won the world football championships. Verdeluna
and her friend Francesca had been camping on the Costa Smeralda, near the
gorgeous Hotel Bristol, and they got curious. Still on a high after the football
victory, they talked their way past reception and... WOW!!! Those beds!!!
Those rooms!!! They spent a week moving from free room to free room, knowing
all the service entrances and fire escapes... Verdeluna never had such fun
in her life, even if today she would deny all knowledge of the event to Patrizia...
Didn't they ever find you out? You were real pirates!!!
#45 -
Sandokan has been watching wave upon wave of migrating birds flying over
Mompracem. They seemed like so many angels, against the backdrop of the moonlight!
Not even a pirate would have their courage and determination to reach the
promised land, to stay alive no matter what. Not even Sandokan? Well now,
that's different.
All'assalto!!
Aunty Assunta, the sister of Verdeluna's grandmother, emigrated to Argentina
at age 15. In mid-Atlantic, her ship hit such a storm that even the biggest,
sturdiest men were on their knees, praying, and kissing their wives' rosaries.
When she arrived in Buenos Aires, her father was there to greet her, and
such was her joy at being reunited that she fainted, and had to be carried
to a nearby bar, where she came round in the middle of a crowd of men, to
her profound embarrassment. They had a huge farm on the outskirts of the
city. The Argentinian government gave away large plots of land to immigrants,
and the Italians those days had excellent farming skills. Too bad they all
had to leave Italy - A curse on gob.. gleb... globalisation!
Another plan the immigrants had was to rebuild the village square they remembered
from San Lorenzo, the town they left behind in Italy - church, cafe, pharmacy,
tobacconist and all! It took them seven years. And after those seven years
they had a huge party to celebrate! (The true history of mankind is made
up by common people heroes pursuing their dreams, just like this, Sandokan
knows...)
And then... that's where Assunta met her future husband, Uncle Dante. They
fell in love instantly, and after a short while, he decided he would ask
her to marry him while they were dancing the tango! The only problem was
that Dante was a terrible dancer and he didn't want to make a fool of himself
in the country that invented the tango... So he took lessons in secret, resolving
that if Assunta were ever to find out and get jealous, he'd tell her he danced
only with partners in masque...
Then one evening... a dance floor, a band, the moon, the sea -- and after
a long night's dancing the tango, Dante finally popped the question! They
were the happiest couple in sight... When they returned to the original San
Lorenzo in Italy after many years, they bought a little house surrounded
by chestnut trees. And on many an evening, they would put a tango record
on the gramophone and dance the night away, holding each other tight like
it was that first dance all over again.
What if I asked you to dance the tango with me? Round and round we would
swirl...
More's the pity that it's all made up, in the chatter's mind... But not everything
Verdeluna, not quite everything...
...to be continued
You'll find daily updates of Kabir's radio show CH@T online at kabir-bedi.com...
Please note:
More than 1000 "Friends of Kabir Bedi" received this news item directly
via email.
If you too would like to be well-informed about Kabir, please register with Kabir's
international club "Friends of Kabir Bedi" (it's free, easy and you will
not receive any spam-mails)! |
| |
The
Rich, the Mad, and the Famous November 2, 2007
Kabir's Italian radio show Ch@t
- weekly wrap -
This week, TV crews descend on Mompracem to film the reality soap "Island
of the Rich." We also meet Sting, a hippo on a Vespa, and a deluded
artist washing his paintings in a coin-op laundry. We round the week off
with a good pelting of ostrich eggs. And oh yes, it's serious between Valerio
and his very astrophysical boyfriend!
#36 -
It's showtime on Mompracem: they're filming L'Isola dei Facultosi, the Island
of the Rich, a reality soap starring Steve Jobs, George Bush, Onassis, Madonna,
you name them. Bribed by the promise of an i-phone, Sandokan has helped Jobs,
who was about to faint with hunger. But his money is on Bush, who has brought
his hunting rifle with him as the only personal object he is allowed to bring.
And the pirate, not known for his love of football, he declined the offer
of the Milan team by Silvio Berlusconi, who was pining for a can of tuna.
But isn't it all a fake in these reality shows? Not everything, unfortunately,
not quite everything...
Verdeluna has dreamt about her brother Walter, the priest, who was roasting
a very large goat. So she went to join him for morning mass, at half past
six. Verdeluna likes small country churches, especially in summer when they're
wonderfully cool and quiet inside. Sandokan offers to build her one on the
beach of Mompracem!
So what happened during Mass? Verdeluna fell asleep again, that's what. The
peace and quiet, the darkness, and the familiar voice of her brother... and
afterwards, he woke her up. Even the four little nuns were gone... Verdeluna
told her brother about the goat dream, which according to him meant she should
come and see him more often.
So what did Sandokan do before breakfast? He did some triathlon: a swim around
the island, twice round it again by bike in the sand, and three cross-island
runs straight through the jungle. The trick is to get up straightaway, without
thinking. And what if there were something to delay you? Oh, I'd do some
mattress Olympics, beginning with a round of Kamasu....
Or you could listen to one of Yanez' Sunrise Concerts on the beach. Classical
music conducted by Karajan, Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta... So just sit there,
dressed in your luscious sarong, sipping a cup of tea. And Sandokan? He'd
be dressed in a dinner-jacket, presenting the concert. And then he'd sit
down with her, and his hands would slip under the sarong, exploring unkown
worlds.... But don't worry Verdeluna, I am an honourable pirate...
#37 -
Mompracem has had a surprise visit from Sting, and after a long jam session
at Yanez' kiosk the night took Sandokan by surprise. As always, he's late,
of course. Verdeluna has had a surprise visitor, too: Vanessa Paradiso, The
Twit's little girlfriend, has walked into La Urla, the fashion shop she runs
with Sir Hugo. How she would have liked to take her to the kickboxing ring
for a little punishment, reducing the silly girl to apple compote as her
friend from South Tyrol would have done. She was looking for some woollen
jumpers for Renato, her lover and Verdeluna's useless ex.
A good woollen jumper is better than a nice joint, proclaims Sandokan. Hold
on, you've been smokimg marihuana? Well, without inhaling, just like my friend
Bill Clinton.
Sir Hugo, who knows all about The Twit, smiled sweetly to Vanessa as he asked, "Are
these for your father?" - so that the poor girl blushed scarlet before
she stumbled out of the shop.
Verdeluna tells Sandokan how she'd borrow her brother Walter's Vespa scooter
when she was 16, to go in search of boys. How she felt on top of the world!
But coming back was the hard part, tearing herself away from her beau after
kissing him forever and forever... At one point, she drove the scooter with
her head turned back towards the boy, and they crashed. She broke an arm,
he broke a leg, and it could all have ended far worse if they hadn't landed
in soft grass... Sandokan and Yanez once drove their scooter straight into
a hippopotamus. The hippo, a former circus animal, was an expert driver and
took their Vespa away from them, trundling off into the jungle...
Verdeluna felt desperately guilty about wrecking Walter's Vespa, so she worked
all summer, picking apples, to buy him a new one. In the end, Walter gave
it to her when he entered the seminary to become a priest. Before, he was
a factory worker and a trade union man, always out to improve his fellow
workers' lot after the workplace death of his father.
#38 -
Verdeluna has been posing for a sexy calendar, for charity, and is terribly
excited about the project. Dressed in little more than a Father Christmas
hat, she will be on the December page. And guess who they've roped in for
the month of March? None other than Sir Hugo!
The Mompracem pirates once had similar plans, but couldn't agree on how to
split the proceeds. No way calendar-boy Sandokan would have taken any less
than Blackbeard or Captain Morgan!
Valerio has written that he and his boyfriend, the Panama diver, are now
officially together. The man in question is actually an astrophysicist from
Mexico City, and with a stellar physique himself, quips Verdeluna. Sir Hugo
says Valerio is lucky to have found his kindred spirit in Acapulco of all
places, and... that Verdeluna should choose the shop's spring collection
and... that she should tell her son he has a wonderful mother... - Verdeluna
is moved to tears, crying on top of the Father Christmas hat that she is
still clutching. - The spring collection is to be full of audacious colour,
showing lots of confidence and joy to be alive. Sandokan agrees that spring
calls for something life-affirming. He is going to get a pedalo to sit on
the beach next to Yanez' kiosk, inspired by the mayor of the Italian resort
of Riccione, who recently passed by on the island. - Verdeluna is thinking
of volunteering one morning every week at the family unit of the prison where
Patrizia works - the unit where little Roberto is from, the boy who once
wrecked her peaceful Sunday afternoon with his noise... And she's gone to
the meadow where she used to go as a little girl with her friend Olivia,
the yodelling kickboxer. - In your world there are two children, three brothers,
one ex-husband, Sir Hugo, and your friend Olivia - that's Verdeluna's hemisphere!
- And what's Sandokan's? Yanez, and all the seas of Monpracem. Together,
the two hemispheres make up a single, unique world. I wish you were sitting
on my knee, with a pirate's bandanna tied around your forehead, sipping rum.
Don't worry, I told you I am a pirate and a gentleman. Oh too bad... that
it's all in the imagination...
#39 -
Verdeluna's words have been flying through the air over Mompracem, and Sandokan
has caught them im his little net before they fell to the ground. They speak
of her lips, like ripe apricots, and of his eyes, full of life, and his proud
forehead. Oooff... That's hot stuff, Sandokan!
Verdeluna complains her apartment is overheated, and she has to pay for the
privilege. Yanez has opened a coin-op laundrymat next to his kiosk, and Verdeluna
has woken up to find out her washing machine is broken, out of order, kaputt.
And there's a lake of soapy water all over the apartment. Maybe Yanez could
open a branch of his laundry business, "Clean on the inside" in
Verdeluna's neighbourhood? It comes with a lush library, internet point,
and a bar that sells Yanez' exquisite coffee. Or she could set one up herself,
called "Beautiful on the inside, Clean on the outside".
Coin-op laundries are places of great mystery, Sandokan declares. Even the
other day he was washing some sails of his gallion, staring into the machine
as it exploded into its spin-drying cycle. Then he was accosted by a painter,
who wanted to launder hundreds of his canvasses because, he said, they were
the works of a madman. So Sandokan sat and watched him fill all the machines
with deranged works of art and bursting into the wildest of colours as the
artist turned them on. What was the painter's name? Something like "Van
Gogh," although it was probably just a namesake...
Which reminds Verdeluna of her brother Vittorio, who has taken up painting
to help himself heal from alcoholism. His works aren't just paintings, they're
full of strange bits of paper and plastic, nails, even toothpaste. But Vittorio
has poured out all his anger, frustration and angst. And he looks a lot better
than he used to!
Verdeluna recalls how when she was a little girl, she shared a room with
Vittorio. Her brother's idea of fun was to doodle on the wallpaper. One day,
when nearly the whole room was covered, she complained. Vittorio got out
a bucket of white paint and painted the whole room white, along with everything
in it, even Verdeluna's favourite doll... How she begged him to restore everything
to normal, even the defaced wallpaper...
And does Sandokan have any childhood memories?
He lives by the day, our pirate does, without looking too far ahead or behind.
He's not afraid of death, and his funeral will be one giant party! All' assalto!!!
#40 -
This time, Verdeluna is so fed up with waiting that she nearly turns off
her computer. Sandokan wants to say a prayer for a long-departed friend,
who once came to Mompracem: Pier Paolo Pasolini. He was an excellent footballer,
and Sandokan remembers how once he scored a near-impossible header against
the monkey Darwin, on an assist by Yanez.
And if that wasn't enough, he once rid the island of a pelican plague by
luring the birds, just like the Pied Piper, to a meeting outside Yanez' kiosk
with the Mompracem fishermen, to settle their differences. He worked out
that pelicans communicate with their feet, and simply learned their language.
And to this day, pelicans and fishermen each stick to their part of the island,
and peace reigns among all. Is that really true? Well, no, it's a little
fable that Mompracemers like to tell each other over a cup of exquisite coffee.
But all the same, Pasolini had such an eye for life that he was loved and
revered by all.
Sandokan remembers how they staged a production of Shakespeare's Othello,
with home-made Sicilian puppets, for which Pier Paolo had a passion. Sandokan
spoke the role of Othello, and Pasolini that of Iago, his nemesis. Yanez
was Desdemona, Othello's wife, whom he kills in a fit of jealous rage, having
been manipulated into thinking that she was unfaithful. The story didn't
go down at all well on Mompracem, where betrayal is regarded as the worst
possible offence against mankind. The actors had to stop the play amid a
hail of coconuts, chairs, mangos, and ostrich eggs!
Later, as the three of them were sitting on the beach, Pasolini said the
citizens of Mompracem were right to rebel against insincerity and betrayal.
And he sighed deeply. A day or so later, he left silently, and that was the
last they ever saw or heard of the great artist... He died on the second
of November, many years ago...
...to be continued
You'll find daily updates of Kabir's radio show CH@T online at kabir-bedi.com...
Please note:
More than 1000 "Friends of Kabir Bedi" received this news item
directly via email.
If you too would like to be well-informed about Kabir, please register with
Kabir's international club "Friends of Kabir Bedi" (it's free, easy
and you will not receive any spam-mails)! |
| |
| OCTOBER
2007 |
| |
Stranded
goods at Mompracem October
26, 2007
Kabir's Italian radio show Ch@t - weekly wrap -
Jellyfish, manta rays and even an old gramophone are among the creatures
and objects washed up by the sea around Mompracem this week, prompting spirited
debate about the environment, gays coming out of the closet and the war in
Iraq. But of course Sandokan and Verdeluna find time to go on a romantic,
imaginary journey.
Or isn't it really all in the imagination?
#31 -
If only Yanez would stop hacking into my computer! I can never get online
after he's used it. Sandokan is hoping Verdeluna will be patient enough to
wait for him...
Sandokan, are you there? Chatting without you is so boring! Some people wait
in line at the supermarket checkout, some wait to find their true love, others
again wait at the post office to pay their bills, and others... just love
to keep others waiting, just like that... Like Sandoka...
BLING! Ooh Sandokan, what a coincidence, I only just logged on and there
you were. I was just thinking that we spend so much time waiting. Don't you
ever wait on Mompracem? Never... Having time for ourselves is a great gift,
perhaps the best ever...
Sandokan and Verdeluna, noctural tightrope walkers on the internet, philosophise
about the meaning of time and of waiting. Verdeluna has been chatting with
a woman calling herself Fatastrana. Her father, having abandoned all hope
of having a son after siring four daughters, decides to ask Fatastrana to
follow in the footsteps of several generations of the family's men and become...
a gravedigger. Her specialty is to provide a highly personal service... If
the customer has always wanted to go to London but never made it there in
his lifetime, Fatastrana will make sure he is buried in a London cemetery.
You get to go wherever you want, and forever!
Sandokan is reminded of an Egyptian tomb statue he saw in the British Museum,
husband and wife, hand in hand, looking serenely into the distance... Sandokan
is always looking for that light. Would Fatastrana's services be an idea
for him? No, he'll never leave the island of Monpracem. He is the Tiger of
Malaysia! All'assalto!!!
From death to birth then. Mompracem women have no large hospitals and give
birth to their children at home.
Who are you really, Sandokan? Are you really my pirate and my gentleman?
I am a man, full of passion and romance. With you, time seems to stand still
and take on the rhythm of our breath. Our time is like a star that shines
in the night. Oooh Sandokan, too bad that in a chat, it's all invention...
#32 -
Today, we find out about Sandokan's pet hate - the jellyfish. He's been bitten,
and it hurts. Diving from his gallion, Sandokan plunged straight into a sea
of the wobbly creatures. Even the Tiger has an Achilles' heel...
A large fleet of Portuguese Men o'War can only mean one thing: the sea is
getting poisoned. If not near Mompracem, then certainly nearby. This appeals
to Verdeluna's inner environmentalist. She gets furious if she just sees
someone throwing an empty cigarette pack or an old tram ticket onto the street.
Sandokan says there's actually a car that runs on rubbish, rather than petrol.
But it's parked up in a Swiss museum. Oil has to be sold, after all... -
Just think about the Bhopal disaster, and all the atom bombs that have been
detonated, and the Americans and the Chinese who won't sign the Kyoto Protocol
- and they call me a pirate, an outlaw? - Our planet is like an excellent
piece of bread: not a single crumb should go to waste.
Meanwhile, there's a party on at Mompracem tonight. An entire cruise ship
has arrived, full of tourists who'll be spending the night. But don't forget
a pirate who's still smarting from the bite of the jellyfish, Verdeluna.
Oh stop being such a baby! Tonight the Tiger is a little tiger cub that's
demanding attention. And speaking of cruises, Verdeluna misses her son Valerio,
who's sailing the seven seas, even if it's, sometimes, easier to love someone
who's far away. And it's useful having a cook in the family!
Let us leave early in the morning on a rowing dinghy, to lose ourselves on
the seas of Mompracem, when the perfume of the night is still in the air,
without space and without time, delighting in each others' sighs... Ohhh
yes Sandokan, I like that idea, but it's such a shame that to chatters, it's
all in the imagination.
Ouch, damnd jellyfish! Not everything Verdeluna, not quite everything...
#33 -
Sandokan has just finished a plate of Yanez' linguini alla piratesca. He
tells of the hunger strike they once held on Mompracem, to protest against
the libiria.. libellia.. liberalisation of gun ownership. Until then, only
the pirates had the right to bear arms, but for a while, so did everyone
else. And Sandokan drank only water...
The jungle was full of gorillas with machine guns. Arnold Schwarzenegger
came along to get some ideas for his future political career, and when he
left, he took the gorillas with him. Now, the great apes are the Governor
of California's lifeguards!
Verdeluna has more to say about her hairdresser neighbour, who is facing
a gang of extortionists. Sir Hugo maintains he has never been asked for protection
money, so the poor woman seems to be alone in her troubles. Verdeluna goes
on the Internet and discovers there is a self-help group of shopkeepers who
stand firm against the criminals, with the help of the police.
Ahhh for the times when all battles were fought in the name of liberty and
justice, says Sandokan. Verdeluna's brother Christian is like that, giving
the best of himself for a noble cause... Although one day, he phoned his
sister to say he was quite willing to steal a plane and fly home from Iraq
to have a giant plate of spaghetti carbonara.
If Sandokan could have a brother, what would he be like? The pirate can only
imagine having a little sister, sweet, pretty and an excellent cook. Well
okay, then, he'd have two older brothers. One would be the Pope, and the
other the President of the United States.
I have chosen you, Verdeluna, because you reflect the spirit of the island
that I love. Because you remind me of the past, illuminate the present, and
caress the future. Because it's you, and no one else but you.
I don't know why I chose you, says Verdeluna. I just know that I chose you.
And there's no point looking for a thousand words to explain my sensations,
my emotions, when we are together like this, linked by an invisible thread...
Sir Hugo's fashion shop has been going from strength to strength, ever since
he hired Martina, the aspiring singer. There are crowds of young people visiting
the shop now, and Hugo is happy as Larry. Verdeluna only hopes Martina won't
get famous too soon, and leave... She should talk to Yanez, the ever-busy
maker of exquisite coffee to Sting, Michael Jackson and Madonna. He would
have a useful contact or two!
And you, how would you help a woman with two children, who's separated from
her husband, and who only sings under the shower? - Well, I have an old Indian
book called the Kamasss...andokan!
#34 -
Sandokan has been swimming the oceans with a manta ray, the most majestic
of fish. He got a little carried away trying to imitate the way it swims,
and had a long swim back ashore. The manta ray is a divine creature!
Just like we are divine, says Verdeluna, who is very pleased with herself.
Yesterday she beat Olivia the Yodeller at kickboxing! - "Porzellana," Olivia
said afterwards, using her favourite term of respect. Ahhh Sandokan, let's
get our manta ray wings and swim in the warm sea together.
Valerio, Verdeluna's son, has been diving near Acapulco in between shifts
in the kitchen of his cruise ship, with a local friend, errr, more than just
a friend, actually. Do you mean he's gay, asks Sandokan. Well, what do you
want me to think! He writes he's never been this happy, and he sends me a
picture of himself with this... Tarzan.
The manta ray doesn't think, it doesn't judge, Verdeluna. Your son's fallen
in love with Tarzan. If a man wants to take another man into his chamber
of delights, well, that's God's will too.
Verdeluna has nothing against gays, but the idea takes a little getting used
to. And by the way, Sir Hugo is gay too, did you know that? Last year, around
Christmas, Verdeluna found him sitting in the shop's fitting cubicle, crying
his heart out. He had a young man, a splendid and beautiful young man, twenty
years ago, an architecture graduate. But the boy fell ill with Aids, and
in a short time he was dead. Hugo sat at his bedside in hospital that Christmas
eve as his boyfriend passed away. And now he is deeply ashamed that he never
came out of the closet then, since he was deputy mayor of the city.
In the chamber of delights, decorated with flowers, fragrant with perfumes,
surrounded by friends and servants, upon consuming the banquet, a man will
seek the rest that he deserves. What's that? A little bit of Kamasutra, and
a little bit of Sandokan. Verdeluna, I am waiting for you. You must decide
if you want to continue drinking from this cup.
If only I could swim like the manta ray, majestic creature of the deep...
Then open your arms, feel the warmth that surrounds them, feel the sea that's
part of you. And you, will you follow me? I am at your side, I am above you,
I am with you...
#35 -
Going to bed without chatting to Sandokan is like starting the day without
breakfast - a decent cappuccino and a sweet roll. So what does a pirate eat
for breakfast? Well, Yanez makes excellent espresso, but his cappuccino is
so-so. Never mind, as long as Sandokan's old gramophone is within reach.
He'll crank it up for a shot of inspiration first thing every day, playing
his old opera records. La donna e' mobile!
So where did you steal the gramophone, Sandokan? Well, one day he was at
sea, and Sandokan and his fellow pirates were enchanted by this magic song
wafting towards them over the waves. Then they saw - a solitary man on a
raft, with a gramophone. Placido Domingo, he said his name was, and he was
skin over bone after many days on the raft. When the pirates pulled him on
board, he refused to be rescued unless they also took the instrument that
had given him sustenance for all those days...
But when they came ashore, the shipwrecked sailor gave Sandokan his gramophone.
- "You and the gramophone saved my life," he said. "Now I
know what I want to do in life: become an opera singer." Which does
to show it sometimes takes a shipwreck to save you...
Verdeluna, too, recalls the old gramophone of her Aunt Assunta. But her useless
ex-husband, The Twit, had no time for it, just like he never appreciated
anything of emotional value. Verdeluna, you do talk about The Twit a lot,
even if you do speak of him badly.
You sound a little jealous, Sandokan!
I have many gramophone records that I could play for you, Verdeluna. All
you have to do is come and turn the crank. You make my head spin round, Sandokan,
just as if I were a little girl. You, me and the gramophone, alone on a raft...
...to be continued
You'll find daily updates of Kabir's radio show CH@T online at kabir-bedi.com...
Please note:
More than 1000 "Friends of Kabir Bedi" received
this news item directly via email.
If you too would like to be well-informed about Kabir, please register with Kabir's
international club "Friends of Kabir Bedi" (it's free, easy and you will
not receive any spam-mails)! |
| |
Prince
Omar in Dutch homes October
26, 2007
TV
ALERT
The Bold & Beautiful (2005) episodes re-introducing Hunter
Tylo and starring Kabir will be broadcast from Thursday,
November 1, 2007 on Dutch TV, channel SBS 6 - Mooi en Meedogenloos
-.
The episodes will be repeated early next morning.
Please check international TV listings page online for more details, incl.
repeats...
Kabir and Tylo shot numerous episodes for THE BOLD & THE BEAUTIFUL in
the 1990s, including one which involved the svelte actress bellydancing to
Kabir while clutching a live viper.
Kabir said he enjoyed shooting the scene "as much as anyone can enjoy
dancing with a live snake."
Please note:
More than 1000 "Friends of Kabir Bedi" received this news item
directly via email.
If you too would like to be well-informed about Kabir, please register with
Kabir's international club "Friends of Kabir Bedi" (it's free, easy
and you will not receive any spam-mails)! |
| |
Kabir Bedi to play lead part
in Hindi version of Distretto di Polizia? October
22, 2007
Kabir will probably be playing one of the main parts in a Hindi remake of
the crime series Distretto di polizia, broadcast by Italy's Mediaset TV company,
according to producer Pietro Valsecchi at the Festa Internazionale del Cinema
in Rome.
Kabir is said to be considered for the part of veteran police inspector Marcello
Fontana, who is played by Massimo Dapporto in the Italian original.
- "We're just rewriting Distretto di Polizia, together with an Indian
director, for broadcasting in India," he said. "Then we will also
take it to China. So some products can definitely be exported." On the
other hand, Valsecchi dislikes the way foreign TV shows are simply being
copied by Italian broadcasters. "We're the most creative people in the
world," he said. "All we have to do is buy a formula." |
| |
Play
it again, Yanez! October
19, 2007
Kabir's Italian radio show Ch@t - weekly wrap -
More matters of life and death this week, as the pirate and his chatmate
explore the flamingo position, internet relationships, near-drowning and
mafia protection rackets, to close the week in the Rick's Cafe in Casablanca.
Play it again, Yanez!
#26 -
Tonight we find Sandokan on an enchanted lake, where he watches two flamingoes
practising the ancient art of the Kamasutra. So how does our lakeside voyeur
manage to chat with Verdeluna? He's old fashioned: he uses an ever longer
cable to hook up to the telephone. So, let us examine the Flamingo Position:
both birds stand on one leg, their necks entwined. It's very difficult, says
Sandosutra, who would have liked to try it out for himself, if it weren't
for his gammy knees.
Now Verdeluna's daughter Patrizia is another matter. She has confessed to
still being a virgin, an awkward condition for a girl of 18 with a DJ boyfriend.
And how embarrassing during sex education class at school! No worries, says
Sandokan, flamingoes spend a full year in courtship before their first entwining
of necks.
What is the contraceptive method taught to Patrizia? Even in these days of
enlightenment, it's Ogino-Knauss. Sandokan knows it well. You guessed it,
Mr Knauss is a recent visitor to Mompracem! All the pirates listened to his
lectures with great attention. And nine months later, they all fled on a
cruise ship. Bloody globla.. glibol.. globalisation! And Mr Knauss? He sailed
into the sunset with a pretty Malaysian girl, with whom he had 20 children...
Verdeluna had a long heart-to-heart conversation with Patrizia, and now feels
much more of a mother to her. To me, you're Mammaluna, Daughterluna, Wifeluna
and Sisterluna all rolled into one, says Sandokan.
Martina, the siren-voiced shop assistant, has turned out to be a great success
with Sir Hugo after all. To everyone's surprise, she has now got an indefinite
contract! How much that man has changed!
Come, Verdeluna, let us follow the warm winds of Mompracem and travel beyond
the stars, where thousands of little men are keeping the universe in order,
the mechanics that make it all happen. Look, they are making a shooting star!
Let us a sit and watch the spectacle, and when it is over, a red curtain
will cover the stage, and it will be dawn again. Alas, it will come to an
end, always, but every evening it begins all over again. And we have the
best seats in the theatre!
#27 -
Verdeluna is late, and Sandokan wonders if she is somewhere out there on
the ocean, in a lifeboat. But no, she is safe and sound at home. But talking
of lifeboats reminds Verdeluna of her holidays on the beach at Cesenatico,
on Italy's Adriatic coast, when she was a little girl. She recalls the hot
sand, the smell of sea and suntan lotion, the taste of an ice cream.
Sounds a lot like Mompracem, says Sandokan. Not really, it was a very busy
beach, where everyone got lost and was looking for everyone else. Then she
would play pinball with her brothers, and win, because she always teamed
up with Walter, a very gifted player. If pinball were a religion, Walter
would be its pope. Vittorio even confessed that always losing at pinball
is what really drove him to drink...
Happiness is a magnificent sand castle in our hearts, says our eastern sage,
and we must look after it very carefully. Verdeluna remembers how one day
at Cesenatico, Vittorio saved her life. She had secretly taken Christian's
snorkelling mask and went for a swim with it, marvelling at the weird world
of swimmers' legs, just below the surface. But as she swam further and further
away from the shore, she suddenly panicked, feeling herself being dragged
ever deeper into the water, becoming all water herself... When she finally
came to, there was a group of people standing around her as she lay on the
beach, like angels and demons judging the little girl and deciding if she
was to go to heaven or hell. And then there was Vittorio, giving her artificial
respiration, which he had learned at school. Such a courageous big brother...
That's the day when Verdeluna ceased to be a child, when her dolls were fond
memories but no longer toys.
Verdeluna's father was in tears, looking on his daughter as if she were an
angel from paradise. I should give you such a very big telling off, he said,
but I'm so very happy that nothing happened to you and that Vittorio was
so brave...
#28 -
Verdeluna speaks of her honeymoon with Renato, The Twit. They went to Morocco,
where she enjoyed a huge feast of the senses, and he would only eat Italian
food, and drink espresso. On the plane, they hit severe turbulence and the
aircraft plunged thousands of metres into what seemed to be an empty void.
Renato was the only passenger who was laughing out loud!
So let me take you to safer and quieter waters, Verdeluna. Let me count the
ways to your heart... Verdeluna is dreaming of a Navy officer in full white
uniform, who will sweep her away from her humdrum life as a shop assistant.
An officer and a gentleman... aaahhhh.....
Which brings the discussion to Richard Gere. You guessed it - another Mompracem
passer-by. He arrived on a ship all on his own, in full dress uniform, and
the women went crazy. What wonderful evenings they passed, Sandokan and Yanez,
sipping exquisite coffee at the kiosk with Riccardo Girino - that's the star's
real name, the pirate reveals.
So how would you come and collect me, Sandokan?
Well first, I'd fire one of the cannons on my ship, to give you plenty of
time to pack your bags - women are slow at that - and then I'd send a tiger,
accompanied by her cubs, to bring you straight to your pirate and your gentleman.
The whole town would walk out to see you, transfixed with wonder and curiosity,
as the tiger slowly but firmly leads the way. Then there'd be a guard of
honour on my gallion to welcome you, Verdeluna.
The tiger will come! Good things come to those who wait...
Verdeluna talks about the day when Renato finally popped the question. He
found the most romantic spot ever, outside a church with a wonderful garden,
and pulled out the rings. Verdeluna, beyond herself with excitement, said "yes!" -
and The Twit dropped the ring that he was going to put on his fiancee's finger.
Down a hill it rolled, and into a pond, and first the sexton, then the priest,
then the priest's housekeeper, and two parishioners who had come for confession
had to help fish it out. All to no avail. It finally took the fire brigade
to recover the jewel, and to celebrate, they turned on their siren and flashing
blue lights....
#29 -
Can you sell your dreams or can you only give them away? Pirates, in any
case, don't much care for buying or selling. Sandokan's gift to Yanez was
the dream of opening a kiosk, and Verdeluna inspired her son to take up playing
the trumpet.
Verdeluna speaks of the new hairdressing salon that has opened up next door.
The owner is a great source of gossip, and they talked about chatting on
the internet. Verdeluna's online relationship with Sandokan, however, remains
secret, locked away on the hard disk of her heart. So the story turns to
BigJim63 and Barbie69, two chatters who finally meet in real life. He gets
off the train from Palermo to Milan, at the town where Barbie lives, and
they kiss passionately on a station bench, with the crowds milling around
them. Six months later, they get married! Of course, Barbie69 is none other
than the hairdresser herself.
- "When my love swears that she is made of truth," says Sandokan...
Even though I know she is lying, I believe her, just so that she will think
I am young and inexperienced, innocent of the subtle ways of the world. Shakespeare?
Nope. Yanez. Drunk. But Verdeluna and Sandokan are a different story altogether.
But Barbie has a more serious story to tell. Just after opening her salon,
a gang of youths burst in and demanded protection money. Just pay every month
or the shop goes up in flames, they said... Which raises the issue why Verdeluna
has never heard of her own shop being threatened. Either it was miraculously
left alone, or the gang spoke with Sir Hugo, who hasn't said a word to his
co-owner. Verdeluna is determined to break through the wall of silence and
take a stand against the mobsters. If only the tiger were there to help her...
One day on Mompracem, Yanez fell in love with a femme fatale, a really ill-tempered
woman they all called Mata Hari. But he loved her for it, and they spent
many days hiding in the forest together, always fighting, and scaring the
parrots with their cries. After a few weeks, however, the Mompracem climate
had worked its wonders on Yanez' love, and she was as sweet as a pussycat.
And Yanez? He sent her back to where she came from. She had become much too
docile for him.
Let us escape into the forest, Verdeluna, and argue and shout until our lungs
burst, and then let us make love forever...
#30 -
Verdeluna has been chatting to Saint Francis, who has been trying to convince
her to throw all her clothes out of the window and go about naked. What does
Saint Sandokan think of that? Well, Saint Francis received the stigmata,
and laid down his life for those in need, as did Gandhi....
But not, the pirate is interested in less saintly pursuits. He rather fancies
himself a Don Giovanni, and Verdeluna, too, likes him better that way...
One day, he was near the island of Mindanao, in the Philippines, and encountered
a group of missionaries, helping the poor. So the pirate decided to give
them a purseful of money and... that evening, the purse was full of coins
again. Sandokan wept: the miracle convinced him he was wrong in giving only
one purse, instead of all he had.
It's all a matter of mentality. If there are rich people and poor people,
mankind has got it all wrong. Take Yanez' example: he actually gave all his
clothes away, and went around naked. Only it had some alarming effects on
other people, and he decided to get dressed again.
Verdeluna isn't feeling well, and has to work tomorrow. Sandokan will ask
Yanez to play As Time Goes By. Please take me to some smoky barroom, Sandokan,
where the whiskey tastes of melancholy, where your eyes burn, where women
look at you from under their hats... maybe something out of Casablanca? Wait
Verdeluna, the love you see in those bars is a love that hurts. The love
that has turned you into the most enchanted woman in the world, and that
now is no longer there.
How is Verdeluna's brother Christian, the sergeant serving in Iraq? He'll
be on home leave in a month, and the family can't wait to see him. However,
he will go back to war, which is his duty and his calling. Too bad we can't
all be like Gandhi, or Saint Francis, says Sandokan. Food, water, shelter,
air conditioning... these are the things that make all men into egoists.
Verdeluna just loves her Versace shoes, is that egotistical too? I'd just
live to see you in them, Verdeluna. I love that woman, that girl who shows
all her beauty... Would you lean back over the bonnet of a car for me, or
will we sit close by at the bar in Casablanca? Ohhh. play it again, Sam...
Achoo, Verdeluna sneezes. All the colds in the world disappear here, in Casablanca.
This is the best flu cure in the world, says Verdeluna. So what do you take
on Mompracem when you have a cold? Yanez' recipe is tortoiseshell broth with
lizards' tongues. Actually, no, pirates never get sick, but they do need
cuddles...
...to be continued
You'll find daily updates of Kabir's radio show CH@T online at kabir-bedi.com...
Please note:
More than 1000 "Friends of Kabir Bedi" received this news item directly
via email.
If you too would like to be well-informed about Kabir, please register with Kabir's
international club "Friends of Kabir Bedi" (it's free, easy and you will
not receive any spam-mails)! |
| |
Kabir Bedi: "Collaboration of film industries very interesting" October
19, 2007
Kabir at the film festival Festa Del Cinema in Rome on the collaboration
between Indian and Italian film industries, according to Italian news
agency Adnkronos today:
- Kabir Bedi, collaborazione nel cinema molto interessante
- Adnkronos
- "Questo scambio tra Italia e India e' molto interessante. Noi dobbiamo
pensare che il cinema non si fa piu' ognuno per se' nel proprio Paese, ma
oggi le storie hanno un respiro sempre piu' internazionale."
L'attore indiano Kabir Bedi, l'indementicabile "Sandokan" dello
sceneggiato tv degli anni '70 e di recente tornato sul piccolo schermo nei
pannni di nonno Kabir nella fiction di RaiUno "Un medico in famiglia",
risponde cosi' in occasione della Festa del Cinema di Roma, in merito alla
collaborazione tra l'industria cinematografica italiana e indiana.
- "Il cinema sta cambiando -dice Bedi- si producono sempre piu' film
destinati ad un mercato internazionale. Nell'epoca della globalizzazione
anche l'industria cinematografia si sta globalizzando. Cosi' come nel scambio
reciproco che da' valore ad entrambe queste industrie cinematografiche." |
| |
India's
first successful crossover star: Kabir Bedi October
18, 2007
Kabir Bedi on those good times when he interviewed the Beatles in India,
on his pride to be the first successful crossover-artist from India, and
on Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan's
popularity in the Western world:
- "I'm
the first crossover artiste: Kabir Bedi" |
| |
Kabir
Bedi endorses 'fantastic marriage of convenience' October
18, 2007
In one of the many extensive interviews Kabir Bedi is currently giving to
the Italian press at the Rome film festival, he talks about the cooperation
between the film industries of Italy and India:
- "Italy
- India - Cooperation in film a 'fantastic marriage of convenience'" |
| |
Chinese
viewers are not allowed to watch 'Nonno' Kabir Bedi! October
15, 2007
The TV rights of Kabir Bedi's Italian TV series Un Medico in famiglia
5 have been sold successfully to several other countries at the TV
business market Mipcom 2007, Cannes, France. However, Chinese censors
blocked its purchase to China as they feel the extended Medico 'patchwork'
family is not compatible with Chinese family principles. |
| |
Longing
and nostalgia in Italy and Mompracem October 12, 2007
Kabir's Italian radio show Ch@t - weekly wrap -
This week's theme is longing and nostalgia, for what could have been but
wasn't, and for what's elsewhere but not here and now.
As Einstein heads off into the sunset with Pamela Anderson, we learn of Sandokan's
efforts to fly in reverse, thus adopting a new perspective on life.
And after a jam session with Bob Marley, we hear how Windows was invented
at Yanez' kiosk.
#21 -
We join our champions of chat as they debate the merits of milkshakes made
with coconut versus cow's milk. Sandokan comes down firmly on the bovine
side, saying cows are sacred and their milk makes children grow. If only
Verdeluna wasn't allergic to dairy produce...
Verdeluna has been to see the Bologna auto fair with her brother Vittorio
and his social worker, Carlo. The two men clearly share a passion for cars...
and for gawking at the sparsely clad girls fluttering around the exhibits.
How would Verdeluna look, reclining in bathing costume over the bonnet of
her good old Fiat 131?
The outing has been a great success, and Vittorio hasn't touched a drop for
two days. Sandokan and Verdeluna drink a milkshake toast to Carlo's persuasive
powers. Big of heart (for giving his love to others) and of ear (for listening),
he is a little like Gandhi, although he looks like Einstein.
One day, the mathematical genius was sitting on the Mompracem beach, says
Sandokan. Suddenly, a gorgeous sports car appeared on the horizon, with an
even more gorgeous blonde at the wheel. Einstein gets into the car, and the
two drive off into the forest. To this day, Sandokan feels a strange presence
in the jungle, and it ain't a tiger... So who was the blonde, asks Verdeluna.
According to the Mompracem grapevine, it was Pamela Anderson.
In today's glob... glbaz.. globalised world, we are all consumers, says Sandokan,
ever in search of the latest glitzy toy, be it a car or a new handbag. Sandokan's
only temptation is Yanez' coffee and his famous mussel dish. - "Everything
you want to be is fine," the pirate purrs in that most exotic of languages,
English, and he waxes truly poetic. We know what effect that has on Verdeluna!
Aaaaaaaaah! What was that, Shakespeare? No, it was Sandokan... In your imagination,
you can make me into whatever you want, but I'll always be Sandokan. And
I will always be Verdeluna, and in the chatroom, it's all made up anyway...
#22 -
Sandokan has been chasing a hummingbird, walking backwards just like the
bird flies backwards. He wanted to see what the world looks like in reverse.
The experiment is a little depressing: all we'd be able to see is our past
rather than our future. And speaking of memories: what's Sandokan's most
cherished remembrance? Marianna, of course... - All of which leaves Verdeluna
a little peevish. Is she the most useless woman in all of God's creation?
What would Sandokan say if her best memory were The Twit? Sometimes what
is best is worst, and what is worst, best, declares Sandoguru. Which doesn't
help. - Maybe the hummingbird hasn't got it all wrong. Verdeluna would love
to go back in time and do some of the things she never did - like dance the
waltz with her father, for instance. He always wanted to, on New Year's Eve,
and she would hide under the kitchen chair out of embarassment. If only she
could be his ballerina now, holding him tight... - He was a great dancer,
Verdeluna's father, looking just like Fred Astaire dancing with his wife.
And boy, did he love his watermelon! Hold me tight, dad, hold me tight, I
am here for you, Verdeluna sobs.
I should have known you before, says Sandokan, I should have gone looking
for you, looking until I found you. Our regrets are lessons for the future,
otherwise what's the point in looking over our shoulders?
And how good is Sandokan on the dance floor? Well, he does do the mazurka
with Yanez, to bring on the rain from time to time. It always works! At least
the thought of Sandokan and Yanez dancing makes Verdeluna laugh again, and
the dark mood is dispelled. They sing a song to celebrate!
Verdeluna says she and her yodelling nemesis, Olivia, look like a pair of
fighting monkeys, according to her kickboxing instructor. So why does she
go on taking the punishment? Follow my example, and play cricket instead!
But Verdeluna is a great believer in the power of the fist, and she does
love taking a long shower afterwards - like cricketers, says Sandokan. -
There are wells on Mompracem that are so clear the water seems like light.
That's where the pirate goes for his ablutions after doing battle. And all
alone too, unlike Verdeluna, who likes to talk men with her kickboxing friends
under the shower. So why are men always a problem? We'll have that discussion
some other night, and besides, to chatters it's all in the mind anyway...
#23 -
Today's Mompracem celeb is Bob Marley, of The Wailers fame, who's been a
frequent visitor. Not only was he a great artist, he was also a very religious
man, and liked Yanez' coffee. Together, pirate and reggaemaster contemplated
the universe with great wonder. Verdeluna's priestly brother, Walter, loved
to use No Woman, No Cry even in his sermons... No donna, no piangere, Verdeluna
croons...
Sandokan recalls a jam session he once had with Marley and Yanez, to the
offshore accompaniment of a choir of sirens. Maybe he can help Walter with
a little more inspiration!
Verdeluna is excited! Her demonstration against racism, prompted by the treatment
of Walter's Moroccan aide, has been a great success. There is even a half-page
picture in the paper, with herself in the middle. Taking action for peace
is truly a sacred deed, says Sandokan. Even Patrizia's boyfriend, the DJ,
closed down the disco for an evening to join in the organization. Verdeluna
still feels guilty about misjudging him in the beginning.
The conversation then turns to Walter, who had to find his place in the congregation
after replacing an elderly priest with much authority. Then, there was the
story of Ennio, a boy born deaf and dumb. One day, Ennio's parents were looking
for the boy, who was lost. Walter went to his Garden of Silence, an abandoned
vineyard that he used for meditation. He knew Ennio once made a drawing of
the garden, and expected to find him there. And there the boy was, sitting
on a rock, taking in the silence in a silent world... Walter sat with him
for a while, and they ate some grapes together. That evening, he wrote a
note explaining the boy's absence, saying he had been needed for the church
football team...
The westerly wind will whisper the words of our hearts. And you, will you
whisper me all your secrets? Will you carry me to the sweet abyss of your
mysteries? Climb on board, Verdeluna, I have a treasure-trove full of secrets,
ready to be discovered...
#24 -
Sandokan has been listening in secret to Verdeluna, his feline of night.
Together, they weave the tales of 1001 nights, to be followed by another
thousand, and another. (Editor's note: we can't promise that many translations...)
Verdeluna the social climber is not to be outdone by the Mompracem roll call
of famous visitors: she has chatted with Rudolfo Valentino, Sean Connery
and George Clooney! Of course, the difference is that Sandokan isn't using
a pseudonym. Then again, you can be a prince even if you're the poorest person
on earth...
One night during Carnival, Verdeluna and Renato were dressed up as princes
from the tales of 1001 nights. That was the night that Patrizia was conceived.
Verdeluna was truly Renato's princess, his Sheherazade. Then at least, there
was true love between you, says Sandokan.
Warming to her theme, Verdeluna relates how Valerio came to be during a romantic
midnight swim at a thermal bath hotel in Tuscany. That, too, was true love.
According to Sandokan, a child's true conception occurs when his parents
exchange glances for the first time. That's when the spirit is born.
Too bad Dr Jekyll has turned into The Twit... Has Sandokan got a Mr Hyde
side to him? If so, it's hidden on the dark side of the moon. All men are
the same, says Verdeluna, and it makes her sad to think that Sandokan also...
So does Verdeluna still love Renato, the muscular car mechanic with oil in
his face that made her lose her head as a little girl? She can't say – you
don't just write off 20 years of living together...
Finding true love is everone's greatest dream, but we have to fight for everything
in life, including our dreams.
And speaking of true love, Verdeluna tells the story of the African woman
who found a newspaper clipping with the picture of Bill Gates, founder of
Microsoft and inventor of Windows, the richest man on earth, and fell madly
in love with him. She took her children and embarked on a journey of epic,
biblical proportions, walking across the Sahara desert to reach the Mediterranean
coast, crossing the ocean on a rickety ship to reach Sicily. But doesn't
Bill Gates live in America? Well no one knows where the African pilgrim is
now. Maybe she's in California...
Of course, Gates was also once a visitor to Mompracem. Sipping Yanez's coffee,
he got a vision. He saw a window on the horizon, and another one on top of
that, and another, thousands upon thousands of windows spread out across
the sky. And thus, with the help of Yanez's coffee, came about the birth
of Windows. Just think of all those royalties Yanex could have had...
#25 -
Verdeluna! Sandokan is ready to accompany you tonight, along the beach, on
a boat with sails of silk, or by the golden trees. Verdeluna dreams of Mompracem,
but her alarm returns her to the harsh realities of life in the morning. "Our
alarm is the wind, bringing us the perfumes of the day," says Sandokan,
just to make her feel better. What Verdeluna needs is a long holiday, aboard
a pirate gallion for instance.
Her days in the shop are particularly exhausting when Sir Hugo is attending
business meetings, and even Martina is auditioning. Some of the customers
are just terrible, like the fat old geezer who walked in with a Ukranian
girl much younger than him and said she could buy anything she wanted...
Obviously, she was just after his money and an Italian passport, Verdeluna
rants. It ain't necessarily so, says Sandokan. I always wait to see if behind
all the appearances there is true love after all. Well, these two, they spent
two hours in the shop, having Verdeluna unpack and show every single item,
and then declared there was nothing quite good enough for them. Then her
last customer spent nearly an hour on her mobile phone, while Verdeluna was
advising her on what to buy for a dinner party. She finally left with a shawl,
and Verdeluna slammed the door shut and went to the kickboxing studio to
let off steam...
Sandokan says Verdeluna should meet Mohammed Ali, and Will Smith, who starred
in a film about the boxer. Both visited Mompracem during the shooting, and
discussed anything and everything, from women to the great questions of the
universe. And then they practiced Mohammed's phantom punch, with which he
could KO an opponent while barely touching him. Verdeluna, too, is an expert.
One day, she was taunted by her brother Walter, and she responded as Mohammed
would have known best. Alas, poor priest...
Oh how Verdeluna would like to be close to Sandokan right now... Put all
your dreams into a grain of sand and send it to me. You will find me!
...to be continued
You'll find daily updates of Kabir's radio show CH@T online at kabir-bedi.com...
Please note:
More than 1000 "Friends of Kabir Bedi" received this news item directly
via email.
If you too would like to be well-informed about Kabir, please register with Kabir's
international club "Friends of Kabir Bedi" (it's free, easy and you will
not receive any spam-mails)! |
| |
Social
calendar: this week on Mompracem October 5, 2007
Kabir's Italian radio show Ch@t - weekly wrap -
This week's social agenda on Mompracem includes visits by astronaut Neil
Armstrong, Formula One champion Niki Lauda, and Mr. Guggenheim, the art collector.
Meanwhile, a power blackout brings changes to Verdeluna's life.
We hear of rocks and sirens, savour Chopin nocturnes, and cringe to Olivia's
yodelling antics.
#16 -
Tonight it's the Mompracem colony of flying fish that's been holding up our
pirate. Yanez has brought a grand concert piano to his beach kiosk. And speaking
of instruments, Patrizia has brought along Alessandro, a boy whose mother
is in prison. [note: the Rai summary calls the boy Roberto, but Verdeluna
clearly calls him Alessandro]. The kid has found the old harmonica that useless
ex Renato once bought his son Valerio in the vain hope it would discourage
his fascination for the trumpet. Naturally, boy (age 2, but so fat he looks
12) plus harmonica have turned what should have been Verdeluna's quiet afternoon
off into a screeching hell. The Twit ruins Verdeluna's life even when he's
not there! - Sandokan's Wisdom of the Day: All of us are responsible for
all the world's children. That's the only real glob... blob... globalisation.
And: Chopin can bring out the best in any display of flying fish. Must get
Yanez to play us a Nocturne. - And so on to kick-boxing. Verdeluna's taken
a course. She says it splits her bones and is totally exhausting, but makes
her realise she still has energy to fight back against everything that gets
her down. You're much closer to Mompracem than you think, Sandokan teases
her. Her opponent is Olivia, a big girl from South Tyrol, and like all good
(almost-)Germans, what Olivia wants, Olivia gets. Ouch. - Time for some yodell | |