Candid confessions from an actor’s life

HYDERABAD :  From the fact that he is a descendant of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak to the revelation that he interviewed The Beatles for All India Radio, actor Kabir Bedi’s book Stories I Must Tell: The Emotional Life of an Actor is replete with surprising insights into the actor’s life.

In a chat with author Kishwar Desai at a session organised by The Hyderabad Literary Festival, the actor who has a fan following in India and Europe (especially in Italy where he was a rage), Kabir draws an outline of what a reader can find in his book. From his discussion, it is clear that he has lived a life that would be thoroughly called ‘unconventional’ during the 1960s in India. 

Born to an Indian father and British mother who went on to become spiritual leaders later on in life, Kabir went on to marry four women and have a tumultuous relationship with yesteryear glamour icon Parveen Babi. “My parents met at Oxford University and dedicated themselves to the freedom struggle after coming to India. While my father was a fiery communist, my relatively calmer mother found meaning in Gandhiji’s call for Satyagraha. When my mother started exploring Buddhism in Burma, I lived as a monk there for three months. I was just 11,” shared the star of the Italian TV series Sandokan.

The book, published by Westland, gives a frank account of Kabir’s marriage with model Protima Bedi which was much talked about at that time because it was an open marriage. The pair made headlines before marriage when they started living in with each other, a concept which still struggles to find acceptance in India. “Protima was a free spirit intelligent and determined. During the 60s, there were many revolutions that included sexual and societal ones. Our marriage did not work out eventually, which led to my relationship with Parveen Babi,” he said .