Kabir Bedi: The Italians' heartthrob

Kabir Bedi. The spaghetti PirateHe was just back from Italy, and could not restrain the experience within him. Kabir Bedi, tall, tanned, bearded, immaculately dressed, sitting on the edge of a sofa in a Delhi hotel said, "If you are looking for news, I am news." Along with his story about the wild success of his television programme 'Sandokan' in Italy, appeared about 50 odd pamphlets, cuttings and photographs as evidence of the Italians smothering him with their excitement."Kabir causes a traffic jam," "Kabir the Italians' heartthrob," "Kabir waving to the thousands of fans outside his hotel," all of which spoke volumes, leaving no doubt in anyone's mind that Kabir had finally made it big, if not in India, in Italy at least.Kabir, born of an English mother and Sikh father, has all the good looks any actor could dream of. But in spite of the looks and the success of his stage plays, Kabir has never really been a success on the Indian screen. Except for a few offbeat but unsuccessful films that he has starred in, as an actor he has remained mostly in the wings.It is in fact his life style and his belief in "doing what I want," that has brought him into the limelight in gossip magazines. On the subject he said, "I only speak about my personal life, when it helps clear misunderstandings, otherwise rumours and gossip tend to take root as fact."All road lead to RomeBut now "the game is different." It is no longer Kabir's personal life that has brought him to the notice of thousands. It is him, his acting, his TV series which has made him the current rage of the Italians.It all started off with an Italian film unit searching all over the world for an actor who looked like 'Sandokan'. Kabir along with a few others, fitted the bill and after breakneck competition in Italy, he was given the role. "It was an opening that any actor in the West would have given his right arm for, I would have done it free. In fact what it has done for me, I should have paid them."There have probably been many successful actors in Italy, so why this hysteria about Kabir Bedi? "It is the story, the director and of course me." The film 'Sandokan' has been adapted from the Italian turn-of-the-century novelist Salgari's Sandokan. Salgari lived all his life in Turin and produced 85 novels and 100 short stories about foreign countries he had never visited.But the descriptions in these books were so apt that it was obvious that extensive research had been done. Italians for generations have been acquainted with Salgari. It is only the present generation which seems to have lost touch with him, but now with Kabir's film there is a huge revival of Salgari's series. Two of his novels are based on incredible characters, Corsaro, which Kabir will be portraying in South America in July, and Sandokan.Sandokan is the story of a pirate who has an island of his own that is so prosperous that it threatens the existence of the East India Company, who in retaliation set out to capture him. Meanwhile Sandokan falls in love with an English girl "rather like what happened to my father," and it is her death that helps him escape in the end.With many successful Asian actors fading out like Omar Sharif, it seems the right moment for an actor like Kabir to step into the breach. If one is to judge by the fact that out of the 57 million people in Italy, 27 million Italians, not counting those under 17 "who are the main viewers" saw the television programme, Kabir seems to have been already accepted as the new heartthrob. "It was an ideal launching ramp for an actor," he said.Right from the time Kabir (with Parveen Babi on his arm) arrived in Italy, he was met with hysteria and adulation. The hotel he was staying in was teeming with fans. Tom Jones, the well known singer, was also staying at the same hotel and thought he was responsible for the crowds. Mr. Jones soon checked out of the hotel though Kabir did not say why. "It is nothing I would like to gloat over. Tomorrow it could happen to me," he said.1976, a promising year for Capricornians if one believes in astronomy, seems to be proving true for Kabir. Having found the woman in his life - Parveen Babi - "honest, good looking, intelligent," and having "created such a bombshell" in Italy with Sandokan (scheduled to be shown all over Europe) "which has in effect made me an international star," Kabir is definitely on his way up. What does he see for himself? "A starry future."Published By: AtMigration Published On: Mar 11, 2015 13:26 IST--- ENDS ---

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Kabir Bedi: The Italians' heartthrob

Kabir, born of an English mother and Sikh father, has all the good looks any actor could dream of. But in spite of the looks and the success of his stage plays, Kabir has never really been a success on the Indian screen.

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