Kabir Bedi

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 descendant of Guru Nanak. His mother, Freda Bedi, was an English woman born in Derby, who became famous as the first Western woman to take ordination in Tibetan Buddhism. He was educated at Sherwood College in Nainital, Uttarakhand, Delhi Public School Mathura Road and St. Stephen's College in 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.

His first appearance on television was as a newsreader on Doordarshan's news programme Mirror of the World, at a time when its signal only reached Delhi.

Shortly after the success of the Sandokan miniseries in Europe, by 1978, he was considering moving to Los Angeles in order to follow a more active role in the US film industry, using an apartment there as his base. He also suggested changing his name to sound more English.

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 Kuchhe 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 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. In 2007, he starred in the fifth season of a prime-time Italian television series, Un Medico in Famiglia, on RAI TV, playing the role of Kabir Dahvi, an Indian immigrant who opened a restaurant. A cameo in the 2025 series, whose title character is played by Can Yaman and whose second season was entering pre-production in December 2025, is on the cards.

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 Radio 2, 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 was ordained as a Buddhist monk in Myanmar when he was about 10 years old. He has been practising Buddhism for many years. He 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 TV show title Release year Status Character Sandokan 1976 European TV miniseries SandokanLa tigre è ancora viva: Sandokan alla riscossa! 1977 European TV miniseries SandokanDynasty 1982 TV series Farouk AhmedGeneral Hospital 1983 TV series RamaKnight Rider November 1985 TV series VasconeDynasty 1986 TV series Farouk Ahmed On Wings of Eagles 1986 TV series MohammedOne Life to Live 1986 TV series Colonel Carlos DemitriThe Days and Nights of Molly Dodd May 1987 TV series Bill 1991 TV miniseries KammamuriDesert Law 1991 TV series Moulet Beni-ZairThe Bold and the Beautiful September 1994 TV series Prince Omar Maharaja's Daughter 1994 TV series ChandraguptaHighlander: The Series 20 November 1995 TV series Kamir Bible Ki Kahaniya 1995 TV series Abraham, the PatriarchThe Return of Sandokan 6 October 1996 TV miniseries SandokanNoi siamo angeli a.k.a. We are Angels 16 February 1997 TV miniseries Gen. Napoleon Durate Forbidden Territory: Stanley's Search for Livingstone 7 December 1997 TV series Khamis Bin AbdullahTeam Knight Rider 9 February 1998 TV series Aristotle DragoMurder, She Wrote February 1988 TV series Vikram SinghMagnum, P.I. 10 February 1988 TV series MalcolmThe Bold and the Beautiful 4 May 2005 TV series Prince OmarVivere May 2006 Italian TV series Emir IbrahimDirector's Cut 2007 TV special series HimselfUn medico in famiglia 5 2007 Italian TV series KabirGanga Kii Dheej 2010–2011 Hindi TV series Dada BhaiBuddha 2013 Hindi TV series Asita Muni (Cameo)VandeMataram 2013 TV special news series HimselfGuns & Glory: The Indian Soldier 2013 TV special news series HimselfJai Ho 2014 TV special news series HimselfThinkistan 2019 Web series Danish AzeemTanaav 2024 Web series Life Hill Gayi 2024 web series

Reality shows

Radio Radio title Release year Status Character Ch@t (Italian fiction) 2007 RAI Radio 2 Sandokan 'Women of Gold' 2012 RadioOne Himself 'Men of Steel' 2012 Radio One Himself 'Ten on Ten' – 'Ten Biggest Impacts This Last Decade' 2017 Radio One Himself 'Best of 2017' 2017 Radio One Himself

Dubbing roles

Live action films Film title Actor Character Dub language Original language Original year release Dub year release Notes Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Ben Kingsley Nizam Hindi English 2010 2010 Performed alongside Yudhvir Dahiya who voiced Jake Gyllenhaal as Dastan and Joy Sengupta who voiced Toby Kebbell as Prince Garsiv in Hindi. Fantastic Four Reg E. Cathey Dr. Franklin Storm Hindi English 2015 2015 Performed alongside Karan Trivedi who voiced Miles Teller as Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic in Hindi.

Voiceovers in ads and commercials Project Type Language Year The Keeper of the Flame – The History of TATA Documentary English 2007 An Introduction to CHILDLINE India Public awareness campaign – narrator English 2008 Aircel Save the Tiger Campaign Public awareness campaign – narrator English 2009 Ford Motors launch Figo, India Live event English 2010 Somnath Temple, Gujarat Sound & light show English 2010 Red Fort, New Delhi Sound & light show English 2011 Virasat-e-Khalsa – Khalsa Heritage Memorial Complex, Punjab Narrator English 2011 Apollo Tyres Advertisement English 2013 Jindal Panther Advertisement English 2014 Banda Singh Bahadur – War Memorial, Punjab Sound & light show English 2014 TAJ Hotels, Resorts & Palaces Advertisement English 2014 DHL Advertisement Hindi 2015 Yamaha Advertisement Hindi 2015 Mount of Excellence Documentary narrator English 2015 Parle Advertisement Hindi & English 2016 Tanishq Advertisement English 2016 Konark Sun Temple, Odisha Sound & light show English 2017

Voting memberships The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Screen Actors Guild The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists The British Actors' Equity Association