 Today with me on Candid Conversations is a very fascinating personality. He's left a very charmed life, a very interesting life. He's also led a very complex life which of course he's outlined in his beautiful, beautiful autobiography called Stories I Must Help. With me is Kabir Bedi and Kabir Bedi he's acted in Hollywood. He's acted in Hollywood. He's acted as the henchman of James Bond villain in Hollywood. He's also got a psychotic, I think that is the word, psychotic fan following in Italy where he's played this pirate called Sandokan and apparently this is what I've read in old issues of film magazines. There used to be long lines of women and used to be signing all over them. Anyway, over to Mr. Bedi. Mr. Bedi, welcome to the show. Thank you for welcoming me with such lovely words. Yes, Italy certainly was the site of one of my biggest successes, the countries that's given me the most fame and honor. I've also done many things beyond Sandokan and Italy, many other miniseries and films which got me knighted by the Italian Republic. But basically my relationship with Italy is very deep and profound and they've done some amazing things for me and with me. Right and you know early on in your book I was really intrigued by something which I read. There was this phase in your life when you know before you were a journalist and you asked John Lennon about LSB and then you went on to ask Elizabeth Taylor about the men who she is left with. What exactly was going on in your mind at that time? You know my interview with The Beatles actually is the first chapter of my book because it's really one of the pivotal turning points of my life and I was a student in Delhi University working with All India Radio because I had to pay my way through college and when I heard The Beatles were in town I was just overwhelmed and determined to get to them. There's any mad fan would want to and I persuaded my bosses who laughed at me saying I'll get this interview. How I got that interview is all in the book. What happened in the interview is all in the book but to answer your question specifically of course The Beatles were the greatest people in the world for me not just the musicians because they represented the whole of the sixteenth. The whole change of social environment, sexual revolutions, social revolutions, revolutions in music, fashion, design. It was a time when the whole world was changing and they represented that. So it was also the age of hippies and we were pretty convinced that The Beatles were stoners and I asked John learning about that of course he didn't want to answer that because he said I don't know what the laws are around here young man you're trying to get me into trouble and judge people by their music and but I pushed the envelope. I said what about LSD? I think I got a bit annoyed with me because he said those things are very dangerous to talk about you don't talk about those things. The fact that I interviewed them certainly is one of the highlights of my early life and and what followed when only a radio after broadcasting the interview erased it because they didn't have enough money for new tapes so horrified me so horrified me that I decided I don't want to work with these people and with 700 rupees in my pocket I set out to find a new life in in Bombay. So it was in many ways a turning point in my life because in a way I have to thank the guys that erased the tape so I still might be working with them on the radio. They gave me the push to leave and to find a new life for myself. I didn't come to Bombay looking to be an actor I never seriously considered being a professional actor I loved it it was a hobby and I came to Bombay and I worked with advertising agencies Lintas and Ogilvy because I wanted to hone my skills as a filmmaker and yet because acting was a hobby and I'm a great good fortune in Lintas was to have Alec Padamshi as my boss and he cast me in the role of Tuglak, Girish Karnat's first great player English and that became a huge success and that led to Bollywood which led to Italy etc so it's strange in life how all these things have far more profound effects than you realize at the time at the time yeah at the time it's all a chain reaction I hadn't left Delhi I'd never found that the job in advertising if I hadn't found advertising if Alec hadn't been my boss I wouldn't have got that role Bollywood might never have discovered me Italy might never have discovered me so all these are the what-ifs of history but the fact is that when you when you take bold decisions when you take chances in life and you are propelled by your beliefs when you make those chances great things do happen luck favors the brave you have to be in the war to win the war you have to be in it to win it and if you make the right choice through the time hopefully fortune will favor you wise words wise words for Mr. Bedi and you know on that note there's this thing which I just wanted to take up in the book stories I must tell we see a lot of making and a lot of unmaking of Mr. Bedi right the different phases you went through in your life so did it surprise people who read your autobiography who you know used to see you in a particular light and said you know this is a very this is a very different phase this is a very different sort of persona of you which we actually saw we saw that you did so much of so many other things also because you know the name Bedi has always controlled up a lot of glamour a lot of glamour a lot of fascination so did you get feedback like that you know it's a very good question to ask of you because nobody really knew all my stories people in indian new mean a certain way people in europe new mean another way people in america new mean another way from my american series when i had my success in italy my series sandra can broke every known record in european television it was viewed by 34 million people so 27 million people in a country of 60 million people which is 34 share which is unheard of today in any television it just at that record has remained till today in italy perhaps europe yet after all the success i wasn't getting lots of offers and i couldn't understand why i should be in indian dated and i spoke to a director who seemed like a very nice chap how i got along when he said kabeel we can't cast you you are just sandra can we make social films we make political films we make comedies we can't have a sandra can walk into our film and ruin the story and i thought my god am i going to be a one one you know one shot wonder in a country of my biggest success and it really made me stop and think and i realized that i would have to push on do other things in other countries which are seen in italy so eventually they would realize that not just sandra can have many other things and in one sense i got lucky because at one level i got cast immediately in one other italian film which is also pirate role but a western pirate he wasn't an asian pirate the black pirate it was the precursor of the pirate to the caribbean film because we shortened in the caribbean in columbia etc but the i had to do other things in america even the bond film etc to break that jinx that was one secondly in my i spent almost two decades in america towards the end of that period i came to a point where i was actually facing bankruptcy i actually filed for bankruptcy because things have gone so against me at a time when i was facing economic i mean emotional devastation as well because i lost my son the schizophrenia and all these things just goes to show that no matter how successful a person is no matter how glamorous his life seems there's always something that can darken the skies that can change the scenario and normally people hide these things you know and so did i i didn't go on broadcasting i have one bankrupt i didn't i just said about quietly doggedly rebuilding my life and one little film after another i rebuilt it took me 27 films but i redid it uh in my autobiography i'm able to talk about it and i think that's what surprises people that there's a persona who not only is that this glamorous life and these great loves but he's also um suffered a lot he's also had triumphs he's had tragedies and traumas i think being able to share that has touched people in a way some people said my book moved them to tears i mean since we last spoke my book has now you know it's become a national bestseller uh it's one of the amazon most popular book award um it's it's gone from strength to strength as an italian edition out i mean italy promoting the italian edition as well so something has resonated with people and that's what i wanted to do i wanted to make this a very human story a story full of human fallibilities right and you know you mentioned you mentioned the bond film now i've spoken before i've i've seen the bond film it's one of my favorite movies you know mr beddy like your roger mode is there touching those dice with your uh with your with your hand that the thing is falling down and you you probably died uh on fighting on top of a plane with him if i'm not wrong what i really want to know uh really is you know landing a role in hollywood is a big thing landing the role as a henchman of a bond villain is another level at that point of time in the early 80s or whenever that was there must have been a lot of jealousy back in india or some of the you know actors and established actors over here oh my god uh beddy co henchmen to be cast in a bond film in a role of any importance puts you in a different league as far as the bond film fans are concerned and they are a legion across the world yeah they are you know they have those even those are their clubs their symposiums their meetings their merchandise today they have their websites their um the online seminars all kinds you get invited to a zillion things and your fan base internationally just explodes yeah uh same thing happens when i did the board the beautiful uh that again was the number one show so these things cause tremendous fan bases to develop and i had one major one in europe already so between that and this it really helped me uh a lot in my career i'm going to ask you a question and i can guarantee no one has asked you a question ever before okay all right in koon bharim man mr beddy feeds his fiance to a crocodile then he gets killed by a crocodile in the bond movie of course level also crocodiles in mohindu karo also level crocodiles not really to actually remember that what is this fascination have you ever thought of having a crocodile as a pet i mean you know like like the border your question very briefly no i have not thought of that and to compliment you i have not made that correlation before myself so let me compliment you on seeing the link and the thread there um yeah i must think a little more about crocodiles and their role in my life and whether i should or shouldn't have one as a pet thanks a lot for talking to us thanks for talking about your highs and your lows it it's really something to you know talk about it constantly with your book and all and for the ones who are seeing this interview uh there are uh a lot more amazing stories which are there in mr beddy's book in his autobiography i think he's apparently writing another one i don't know but for sure mr beddy all the best for the future and thanks so much thanks so much for talking thank you kabeer thank you so much and i must say the title of my book is stories i'm still but the subtitle perhaps is the more important part the emotional life of an actor thank you so much kabeer thank you