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Bedi buys rights to his 1976 cult series Sandokan to make Hindi version - Kabir Bedi talks about personal loss, his blockbuster Sandokan, The Far Pavilions, and his international career |
 KABIR BEDI - SANDOKAN (1976) |
Film producer Kabir Bedi says he has acquired the Indian rights to his blockbuster SANDOKAN (1976). He will dub the cult series into Hindi as early as this year and has started work on the project already. In a recent interview, given at the time he was rehearsing for the London musical THE FAR PAVILIONS, Kabir Bedi said SANDOKAN is virtually unknown in his home country, adding: "Hopefully, by the end of the year people in India will have seen it." Kabir Bedi talked also about personal loss, his blockbuster SANDOKAN, his international career and his part in the musical THE FAR PAVILIONS: "The journey [of life] has to be interesting and that's what it's always been for me!" Transcript: Andrea Verschuur === Kabir Bedi: "...The Far Parvilions - Wonderful role. He's an Afghan, settled in this principality. He's Master of Horse to his Highness, the Maharajah of Gulkote, etc. It's a lovely role." Interviewer: "And I can imagine you in that role, your personality fits quite so well. And, tell me, how were you approached?" Kabir Bedi: "Well, I was approached by Michael Edwards, the, I'm sorry, Michael Ward, the producer, and Gale Edwards, the director - and I met them. We had a very good meeting and they said, they wanted me for the role. And then, after some negotiations, it was all agreed - and I'm on board! We have a great show in the making, by the way." Interviewer: "You are fairly busy in Bollywood, so this change-over from Bollywood to London Westend, how does this change [affect] your work pattern?" Kabir Bedi: "Well, Bollywood has always been very good to me every time I wanted to go there and work. There were always roles they had for me - and I'd undertaken a fair amount the last few years... And I, then, once I knew that I was going to be doing this, I started clearing the decks and finishing off my commitments 'cause this had sort of been agreed over six months ago. So I was able to finish all my commitments in India, before coming here. And - now I'm going to be here. And, when I've finished this if other offers come up, here or abroad, I'll take them. Because, you know, I don't just work in Bollywood, I also work in Europe, I also work in America. In fact, if anything, I work the least!!! in England." Interviewer: "Now, tell me, in Bollywood, we have a very relaxed style of working - people come late, people do things in their own ways, whereas this is pretty pretty tough discipline..." Kabir Bedi [interrupts]: "Very tough, in that respect I mean, even five minutes is considered a treasure of a time. I mean, if you think, I mean we have eight separate sessions we have in the day. If a person is five minutes late for each, then, basically you've lost forty minutes a day right there by the time of the week you've lost three, four hours - and they're very tough on time. And it suits me because, you know, in India I was considered very English because I was always on time." Interviewer: "Right, let's talk about your early career in Bollywood. It progressed very slowly, isn't it?" Kabir Bedi: "Well, let's put it this way, you know, when I entered the industry -- and that is from the theatre 'cause I'd done Girish Karnad's Tughlaq which was a huge hit, so a lot of people came to sign me --, I didn't know very much about the industry and I was rather indiscriminate when I was signing up films but just when some major breakthroughs had started to happen for me with Raj Khosla's Kuchche Dhaage and Rajkumar Kohli's Nagin and a few other films like that, I left for foreign shores. I went, I did this big series in Italy called Sandokan - and then basically I spent eight years out of the 80s in Los Angeles, I spent four years out of the 90s in Los Angeles, other times in England - so mine is not just a Bollywood career. My total years in Bollywood, if you total them up, comes to no more than ten or twelve, so I think, given that I'm very happy with the popularity and fame that Bollywood has given me..." Interviewer: "Tell us about this Italian series called Sandokan because not many people know about it in India. They have heard about it but they don't really know about it..." Kabir Bedi: "Well, it's a classic series. It's a story of a Asian revolutionary who fights the British but also falls in love with a British girl and it's a beautiful architypical epic love story. Pretty much, you know, in the style of The Far Pavilions. That [Sandokan] is an epic story with a love story at the centre of it - which was a massive hit in Europe - so, what has happened is, it's now that I've actually started the process of ensuring an India release for it by acquiring the India rights and also dubbing it into Hindi etc. So hopefully, by the end of the year people in India will have seen it. But in England, people haven't seen it because you're the villain of the piece for the English, since it's a colonial kind of story.... And the networks here didn't choose to play it which is very unfortunate, because whenever Sandokan has been shown it has been a huge success." Interviewer: "But, how come you ended up in an Italian series?" Kabir Bedi: "Well, they were just looking for an Asian hero who was tall, athletic... and in fact the person who wrote the books based on Sandokan had drawn the character who actually looked a lot like me. And when they came screen testing in Asian capitals all over the place they basically picked me, and I came to Rome, did a screen test, got accepted - and the rest, as they say, is history." Interviewer: "Coming back to Bollywood, what are your, say, most favourite roles you have done so far, if I had to ask you to pick up three of them?" Kabir Bedi: "Well, if you want to name a few, I think, Raj Khosla's Kuchche Dhaage from the early days, then you have Khoon Bhari Maang, then you have Yalgaar... There actually have been a number but I think the role that I will be remembered for the most in Bollywood is a film that's coming out, which is the film of the Taj Mahal and, where I play the Emperor Shah Jahan." Interviewer: "Could you tell me more about your new film?" Kabir Bedi: "Well, it's again a huge historical. It's very told of the point of view of the old Emperor which is played by me, in his later years, and in a flashback the young lovers and their love story etc - but, it's really the life story of Shah Jahan, as told from the older Shah Jahan. So it's a role of many dimensions etc. And having gone very deeply into the Muslim roots of Shah Jahan has actually helped me play the role of Khan Sahib in the Far Pavilions because it gives me a good sense of the religiosity, of the andaaz, of the style of the character, of the... everything. This really helped me a lot in The Far Pavilions." Interviewer: "And who has played Mumtaz Mahal's role in the film?" Kabir Bedi: "This is played by a young actress called Sonya Jahan who is being introduced. She is the granddaughter of the legendary Noor Jahan, a singer of Pakistan." Interviewer: "Tell me, later in your early days in Bollywood, you were known as pretty unconventional and you were known for your unconventional lifestyle, you know. [Kabir Bedi agrees] How, at that time, people reacted to that lifestyle?" Kabir Bedi: "Well, you know,hmmm, people always, hmmm [laughs] react to rebels, to people who are different, in strange ways. Some people admire them, some people are shocked by them, etc. But, you know, if you want to get a sense of some of that - there was an article that was just written in the Sunday Times of India by Malavika Sanghvi called "King of Hearts". If you look that up online [interviewer: "right..."] you'll get a lot of insight into my relationships with Protima, with Parveen, with Persis, with three very important women in my life who I lost, tragically." Interviewer: "What kind of sense of loss you feel with them?" Kabir Bedi: "Well, you... Loss is a very very deep thing and death is so utterly and ruthlessly final. I mean, it's just like the severing of a limb. You always live with the wound but you learn to live with it, you know - and because life has to go on... But there was always a sense of a deep personal loss and a deep regret of many things that perhaps one should have done or said etc. All those things with death fall into focus." Interviewer: "What are the, say, biggest regrets in life?" Kabir Bedi: "I'm not getting into that right now." Interviewer: "Or the pleasures in life, let's say, gains(?) in life?" Kabir Bedi: "Well, I had a very interesting life. I've, you know, had the privilege and the opportunity to work on many continents, having a career not just in Bollywood but a major career in Europe and also doing some major American films, and particularly television there. So, there are many satisfactions in terms of having had a wide ranging and interesting life through the whole process and that's what it's all about. You know, the journey has to be interesting and that's what it's always been for me! And I think, now, here in England, doing The Far Pavilions, the major musical on the Westend, is also a deep sense of satisfaction to me because people in England have seen my work the least!" Interviewer: "Where would you like to go from here?" Kabir Bedi: "I'd like to take some time off, after this, really, to do some writing, some thinking, some... putting up some projects together etc. I'd just like to take a little... Once I've finished this, later in the year, I'd just like to take a few, maybe three to six months off - 'cause I've been acting continously for far too long." [ Source: Kabir Bedi interview Bollywood history talking "Kabir Bedi on The Far Pavilions, Bollywood and his women" ] |
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