At the age of 70, Kabir Bedi is still dashing and filled with energy. With his performance in the James Bond film Octopussy and in Taj Mahal: An Eternal love Story, he carved a niche for himself in the film industry. In a conversation with Arjita Mishra, he tells her how some Hollywood writers are writing scripts especially for Indian actors
He started his career from theatre and then he moved towards Bollywood with films like Hulchul and Seema. He not only marked his presence in Indian cinema but, he is the first Bollywood actor to take Indian talent on a global platform. He said very proudly, “I was the first actor who went to Hollywood from Bollywood.” Kabir Bedi, who will be next seen in the film The Broken Key, shared with us that now it has become more easier for the Indian actors to get into Hollywood projects. “The time when I started working there, they didn't write roles for Indians. I had play all kinds of characters but today, they (writers of Hollywood) are specifically writing roles for Indian actors,” said the actor.
When asked about his forthcoming film, The Broken Key, Bedi said, “The Broken Key is directed by louis Nero who is a new age Italian director and has directed films like Rasputin and longtake. This one is his latest film which also stars Rutger Hauer, with whom I have already worked before in The law of Desert. It also casts the famous actor Michael Madsen. This is a story about a hero’s quest to unveil the secrets of the Turin Canon and I am playing a professor of antiques who then becomes a key part of his search.”
The actor who was last seen in the film Dilwale, talked about his Bollywood project Mohenjo Daro. Though he said that it is too early to talk about the film, he gave us a small background. “It is a fantastic film and I have a very powerful and strong role.” He added, “It is set in the Indus Valley Civilisation, when Europe was in the dark age. The film tells about the lifestyle of people of that time which is around 2500 BC. During that time, India had roads, cities, sanitation, power and government. It is a tremendous script written by Ashutosh Gowariker.”
The veteran actor who is also one of the voting members of Oscars Awards said that it is a huge responsibility for him to give a right vote to the deserving candidate. “First, the nominations are done from each of the categories. Once it comes to the nomination stage, we all vote for the films. Given the fact that all of the nominations are done by highly knowledgeable people, it becomes a great responsibility for us (all the voters) to cast the vote and to decide who will win the Oscars because it is the oldest and most prestigious film awards in the world,” he said.
“To fulfill our responsibility, they send us the DVDs of all the films which have been nominated. Each DVD is specially marked with our names so that if it slips from our hands and if any pirated copy of those films is released in the market, then we are immediately caught. We have to be very careful,” Bedi explained.
Being the most experienced actor, in terms of working in Hollywood, he said that he is very happy with the performance of Indian actors on the global platform. According to him, “This is a battle which we fought many years ago and today, fortunately, for Indian actors, Hollywood has realised their importance because Indian actors, whether from Bollywood or any regional cinema, have a big fan following not just in India, but outside as well. Due to this, they have realised the importance of the Indian market. They know that the Indian actors are commercially very active and are well known among the audiences worldwide.”
The actor, who has been part of the film industry for more than four decades, thinks that with joint efforts of both actors and directors, Bollywood has managed to make space globally. “Today everyone knows about Bollywood, the films which we make, the actors and directors who work in the industry. India has a whole new respect in the international market and people understand the power of Indian cinema. It is a big change. We have adopted most of the technical ability that Hollywood has. And also the whole new generation of Indian directors, who are making films with most realistic angles and content-centric films, are getting recognition in the international film festivals and that is the matter of pride for us,” the actor pointed out.
For the past few years, we have seen strong women-centric films been made by Indian filmmakers and Bedi agrees that the perception of the film fraternity has changed. “In Indian cinema, we can see more diversity with the kind of story we have these days. We are not afraid of making women-centric films any more and I think that it is a very positive development. With the type of films which we are making, I can say that we are going to get few more talents in coming days,” the actor concluded.