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Kabir Bedi
Bedi in 2012
Born	(1946-01-16) 16 January 1946 (age 78) Lahore, Punjab Province, British India (present-day Punjab, Pakistan)
Occupations	Actor television presenter
Years active	1971–present
Spouses	Protima Gauri ​ ​(m. 1969; div. 1974)​ Susan Humphreys ​ ​(m. 1980; div. 1990)​ Nikki Bedi ​ ​(m. 1992; div. 2005)​ Parveen Dusanj-Bedi ​(m. 2016)​
Children	3
Mother	Freda Bedi
Honors	Order of Merit of the Italian Republic

Kabir Bedi (born 16 January 1946) is an Indian actor. His career has spanned three continents covering India, the United States and especially Italy among other Western countries in three media: film, television and theatre. He is noted for his role as Emperor Shah Jahan in Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story and the villainous Sanjay Verma in the 1980s blockbuster Khoon Bhari Maang. He is best known in Italy and Europe for playing the pirate Sandokan in the popular Italian TV miniseries and for his role as the villainous Gobinda in the 1983 James Bond film Octopussy. Bedi is based in India and lives in Mumbai.

Early life and education

Kabir Bedi was born in Lahore in the Punjab Province of British India (now in Punjab, Pakistan) on 16 January 1946. His father, Baba Pyare Lal Singh Bedi, was a Punjabi Sikh author, philosopher and a direct descendent of Guru Nanak. His mother, Freda Bedi, was an English woman born in Derby, England, who became famous as the first Western woman to take ordination in Tibetan Buddhism. He was educated at Sherwood College, Nainital, Uttarakhand, and St. Stephen's College, Delhi.

Career

Bedi began his career in Indian theatre and then moved on to Hindi films. He remains one of the first international actors from India who started out in Hindi films, worked in Hollywood films and became a star in Europe.

Stage acting

As a stage actor, Bedi has performed Shakespeare's Othello as well as portrayed a historical Indian king in Tughlaq, and a self-destructive alcoholic in The Vultures. In London he starred in The Far Pavilions, the West End musical adaptation of M. M. Kaye's novel, at the Shaftesbury Theatre. In 2011 Bedi played Emperor Shah Jahan in Taj, a play written by John Murrell, a Canadian playwright for the Luminato Festival in Toronto. In 2013, this play was recommissioned and went on an eight-week multi-city tour of Canada.

Film career

In the James Bond film Octopussy, Bedi played the villain's aide Gobinda.

He has acted in over 60 Indian films. In the historical epic Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story, he starred as the Emperor Shah Jahan. Other starring Hindi film roles include Raj Khosla's Kacche Dhaage, Rakesh Roshan's Khoon Bhari Maang and Farah Khan's Main Hoon Na.

Bedi shot a movie with Hrithik Roshan (Kites), Govinda (Showman), and Akshay Kumar (Blue). He also starred in Deepa Mehta's film, Kamagata Maru with Amitabh Bachchan and John Abraham. He acted in the Tamil film Aravaan, directed by Vasanthabalan.

Bedi played roles in Columbia Pictures' The Beast of War, a film on the Russian war in Afghanistan, directed by Kevin Reynolds, as well as the acclaimed Italian film Andata Ritorno, by Marco Ponti, winner of the David di Donatello Award. In 2017, he acted in the Telugu historical movie Gautamiputra Satakarni, as Nahapana, an important ruler of the Western Kshatrapas.

Television career

Bedi has appeared on American television, in Hallmark's African epic Forbidden Territory, and Ken Follett's On Wings of Eagles and Red Eagle. He played Friar Sands in The Lost Empire, for NBC. He also acted in Dynasty, Murder, She Wrote, Magnum, P.I., Hunter, Knight Rider and Highlander: The Series.

In Europe, his greatest success was Sandokan, the saga of a romantic Southeast Asian pirate during British colonial times, an Italian-German-French TV series which broke viewership records across Europe. He recently starred in a prime-time Italian television series, Un Medico in Famiglia, on RAI TV.

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

He had his own cinematic talk show on Indian TV, Director's Cut, a 13-part special series interviewing the country's leading directors. His success on television continued in 2013 with award-winning prime-time shows Guns and Glory: The Indian Soldier and Vandemataram, for India's news channels Headlines Today and Aaj Tak.

In the Indian Biblical television series 'Bible Ki Kahaniya', Bedi played both the young and aged Abraham.

Radio career

In 2007 he starred in Chat, a radio show aired by RAI Radio2, in the role of Sandokan. In 2012, he did a series of Radio One programmes titled Women of Gold and Men of Steel in honour of industry champions in India. In 2017 he did another series in English for Radio One, Ten on Ten, celebrating the top ten innovations out of India. He also did the year-end special series, Best of 2017.

Writing

Bedi is a regular contributor to Indian publications including the Times of India and Tehelka on political and social issues affecting the country. He is also seen debating such topics on Indian national television.

Charity

In February 2017, Bedi was announced as the new 'brand ambassador' for international development organisation, Sightsavers, saying on his appointment, "Today there is immense awareness and attempt towards eye health and care in India and Sightsavers have shown way to people at large in the country with their achievements in the area of eye care." Bedi is the honorary brand ambassador for Italian Charity Care and Share Italia, which educates and looks after street children, from school to university, in Andhra Pradesh and Telegana.

Awards and achievements

Since 1982 Bedi has been a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (who are responsible for presenting the Oscar awards). He is also a voting member of the Screen Actors Guild.

He has won numerous film, advertising and popularity awards across Europe and India.

By decree of the President of the Italian Republic of 2 June 2010, Bedi was officially knighted. He received the highest ranking civilian honour of the Italian Republic and was bestowed the title of "Cavaliere" (Knight) of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. He has recently received Honorary Degree from Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.

Personal life

Bedi married four times and had three children, Pooja, Siddharth (deceased) and Adam. He was married to Protima Bedi, an Odissi dancer. Their daughter Pooja Bedi is a magazine / newspaper columnist and former actress. Siddharth, who attended Carnegie Mellon University, was diagnosed with schizophrenia and died by suicide in 1997 at the age of 26.

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

In the early 1990s, Bedi married TV and radio presenter Nikki Bedi. They had no children and divorced in 2005. After that, Bedi started a relationship with British-born Parveen Dusanj, whom he married a day before his 70th birthday.

Bedi supports the anti-government struggle in Myanmar, and he is an official ambassador of the Burma Campaign UK. He is the brand ambassador for Rotary International South Asia for its Teach Programme and the Total Literacy Mission in India and South Asia.

Filmography

Films

Television

Reality shows

Radio

Dubbing roles

Live action films

Voiceovers in ads and commercials

Voting memberships

References

1. ^ "Knight in shining armour". The Times of India. 11 December 2010. Archived from the original on 20 November 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
2. "Residence of Kabir bedi". Archived from the original on 21 December 2015.
3. "Kabir Bedi Birthday 2024: Tracing the actor's international film journey". MSN. 16 January 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
4. ^ Butalia, Urvashi (24 February 2015). Partition: The Long Shadow. Penguin UK. p. 159. ISBN 978-93-5118-949-7.
5. "Kabir Bedi reveals he is a '17th generation descendant' of Guru Nanak as he commemorates his 550th birth anniversary". The Times of India. 13 November 2019. Archived from the original on 5 February 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
6. Whitehead, Andrew (10 February 2019). The Lives of Freda: The Political, Spiritual and Personal Journeys of Freda Bedi. Speaking Tiger Books. ISBN 978-93-88874-08-3.
7. Mackenzie, Vicki (2017). The Revolutionary Life of Freda Bedi (1st ed.). Boulder, CO: Shambhala Publications. pp. xii. ISBN 9781611804256.
8. "Kabir Bedi & Lisa Ray Discuss 'TAJ'". 16 October 2013. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
9. Collection of articles on Kabir Bedi Archived 29 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
10. "The NT Awards – 2014 Winners". Archived from the original on 12 July 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
11. Bedi, Kabir. "Kabir Bedi Blog". Archived from the original on 18 December 2012.
12. "Kabir Bedi is Sightsavers' brand ambassador". 28 February 2017. Archived from the original on 1 March 2017. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
13. "Care & Share Italia names Kabir Bedi ambassador". The Hindu. 4 January 2019. Archived from the original on 20 November 2022. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
14. "Kabir Bedi: Awards page". Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
15. Kabir Bedi Misses Late Son on Father's Day Archived 18 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine
16. "Adam Bedi - Official Site". Archived from the original on 25 June 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
17. Adam Bedi baptised
18. "Let's keep it a surprise: Parveen Dusanj". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013.
19. "When Dad likes them young!". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
20. Ahmed, Afsana; Sharma, Smrity (6 May 2007). "Another Parveen is Kabir Bedi's love". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2007.
21. "Kabir Bedi ties knot with Parveen Dusanj on 70th birthday". CNN-IBN. 17 January 2016. Archived from the original on 19 January 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
22. "Kabir Bedi's voice for Burma's Mandela". Daily News & Analysis. Archived from the original on 2 February 2008.
23. "When will Shaakuntalam premiere on OTT? Check release date, time and where to watch Samantha Ruth Prabhu's film online". The Economic Times. 7 May 2023. ISSN 0013-0389. Archived from the original on 19 May 2023. Retrieved 17 May 2023.

External links

• Kabir Bedi at Bollywood Hungama
• Kabir Bedi at IMDb 
• Official website

• 1946 births
• Indian people of English descent
• Actors of European descent in Indian films
• Indian Sikhs
• English Sikhs
• Indian male film actors
• Indian male voice actors
• Living people
• Indian expatriates in Italy
• Delhi University alumni
• Male actors from Lahore