From seeing a turbaned KabirBedi pitted against Roger Moore in the James Bond flick ‘Octopussy’ to Naveen Andrews’ role as a Sikh Sapper in the superhit film ‘The English Patient’ and Sir Ben Kingsley’s outing as Darwan Singh in ‘Learning to Drive’ the ‘turbaned ones’ have found many admirers.
When the crew of the James Bond film ‘Octopussy’ landed at Udaipur in 1982 for the shoot, the locals were naturally mesmerised by the suave Roger Moore and pretty lass Maud Adams.
But there was someone else who was the cynosure of all eyes too. A handsome bearded actor wearing a ‘Bandgala’ and matching turban. One could have easily mistaken him for a Indian prince watching the shooting, until he moved to the shout of ‘Action’ by the director John Glen. It was then that truth dawned on everybody that he was KabirBedi and was playing a notable role in the film.
The turbaned KabirBedi played the role of Gobinda who was the antagonist’s henchman and his was not a ‘blink-and- miss’ appearance as he had many engaging scenes in the hit film. For the western audience, it was a novelty to see a man sporting a turban confronting James Bond. However, KabirBedi’s tryst with foreign films got him instant stardom in 1976, when he played the lead in Sandokan, a six-part mini-series for European television directed by Sergio Sollima. He played the role of a Robinhood-type pirate who is basically an Indian prince. The miniseries catapulted him to instant fame all over Europe and especially in Italy.
Interestingly till date, many Sikh gentlemen walking on the streets of rural Italy still get called ‘Sandokan’ by the locals. Besides this, he also played roles in hit Hollywood TV Series ‘Bold and Beautiful’, ‘Knightrider’, ‘Magnum P.I.’, ‘The Far Pavilions’, ‘Dynasty’, ‘On Wings of Eagles’, ‘Desert Law’, ‘Buck James’ and many other films. We can without a doubt call him the first Punjabi global star. Michael Ondaatje’s acclaimed book ‘The English Patient’ was made into a film in 1996 by Tiger Moth Productions and distributed by Miramax Studios. The feature film was set during the final days of the Italian campaign during World War II. The story was about a French-Canadian nurse Hana (played by Juliette Binoche) working and living in a bombed Italian monastery, looking after a critically burned man who speaks English, but cannot remember his name. Both of them are later joined by Kip Singh (played by Naveen Andrews), a Sikh Sapper in the British Army who defuses bombs and has a love affair with Hana before leaving. The movie was a big hit and appreciated by the audience and above all, Naveen Andrews got nominated for the prestigious ‘Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture’. Who doesn’t know about Sir Ben Kingsley, who at the age of 39 played the role of Mahatma Gandhi in the Academy award winning film ‘Gandhi’. He also won the Academy award for ‘Best Actor’ for the same film. Of Gujarati descent, Ben has since then charmed audiences across the planet by playing varied characters across all genres of film. Be it the scheming Nizam in the ‘King of Persia’ or Trevor Slattery in ‘Iron Man 3’ to the memorable Itzhak Stern, Sir Kingsley has done it all. In his 2014 film, ‘Learning to Drive’ he played the role of Durwan Singh, a turbaned New York taxi driver battling demons of his own. His role was applauded both by viewers and critics alike and his is the most recent example of a turbaned hero who grabbed the attention of all worldwide. Above all, the western world also got a chance to learn more about the Sikh faith and way of life.
