Kabir Bedi began his career in Indian theater before moving to Hindi cinema. Bedi remains one of the first international actors in India who started in Hindi films, worked in Hollywood movies and became a star in Europe.
As a theater actor, Kabir performed Shakespeare's Othello and represented a historic Indian king, Tughlaq; and a self-destructive alcoholic in The Vultures. In London, he has also appeared in The Far Pavilions, West End's musical adaptation of Mr. M. Kaye's novel, at Shaftesbury Theater. In 2011, Kabir plays Emperor Shah Jahan in "Taj", written by John Murrell, Canadian playwright for the Luminato Festival in Toronto. In 2013, this piece was put back into service and toured for eight weeks in several cities across Canada.
In James Bond's Octopussy, he played the role of the villain's assistant, Gobinda, who fought Roger Moore from beginning to end.Kabir has played in more than 60 Indian films. In the historical epic Taj Mahal: A story of eternal love, Kabir plays the role of Emperor Shah Jahan. Raj Khosla's Kacche Dhaage, Rakesh Roshan's Khoon Bhari Maang and Farah Khan's Main Hoon Na are other important roles in Hindi cinema.
Kabir starred in The Beast of War by Columbia Pictures, a film about the Russian war in Afghanistan, directed by Kevin Reynolds, as well as Marco Ponti's famous Italian film Andata Ritorno, winner of the David di Donatello Award. In 2017, he played in a historic film Telugu Gautamiputra Satakarni, as Nahapana, an important leader of the Western Kshatrapas.
Kabir appeared on American television, Hallmark's African Forbidden Territory epic, and Ken Follett's On Wings of Eagles and Red Eagle. He played Friar Sands in The Lost Empire, for NBC. Kabir has also played 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 pirate from South East Asia to the British colonial era; an Italian-German-French television series that has broken audience records across Europe. Kabir recently starred in a prime time Italian television series, A Medico in Famiglia, on RAI TV.
He had his own Indian television talk show, "Director's Cut", a special 13-part series interviewing the country's leading directors. His television success continued in 2013 with award-winning "Guns and Glory: The Indian Soldier" and "Vandemataram" awards for Indian news channels - Headlines Today & Aaj Tak.
In 2007, he played in "Chat", a radio show broadcast by RAI Radio2, in the role of Sandokan. In 2012, he directed a series of Radio One programs entitled "Women of Gold" and "Men of Steel" in honor of the industry champions in India. In 2017, he made another English series for Radio One, "Ten On Ten" celebrating the first ten innovations from India. He also made the special end of the year series, 'Best of 2017'.
Kabir 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 these topics on Indian national television. |
