BOOKED FOR LIFE

KABIR BEDI HAS JUST COME OUT WITH A BOOK ON HIS LIFE CALLED STORIES I MUST TELL. HE DISCUSSES THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND HIS REASONS FOR SHARING HIS STORIES WITH DEVESH SHARMA

- DEVESH SHARMA

He’s India’s most-famous export to the Western cinema. Much before Om Puri, Irrfan Khan or Priyanka Chopra burst onto the international acting scene, there was Kabir Bedi, paving the way for others. He lived in America for more than two decades, carving a niche for himself doing series like The Bold And The Beautiful and multi-starrers like Ashanti, where he rubbed shoulders with the likes of Miachel Caine and Omar Sharif. His most famous role abroad was that of Sandokan. The Italian series made him a household name across Europe. He’s considered an icon in Italy. They’ve bestowed him with the title of Cavaliere (Knight) of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, their highest civilian honour. Kabir has been romantically involved with a bevy of beauties and remained friends with them all, despite the break-ups. He remains a romantic at heart, having found the perfect life partner in current wife Parveen Dusanjh, despite the 30-year difference in their ages. Presenting excerpts from a candid interview with the man who has been a journalist, model, adman, actor and writer in his rich, varied life.

In the initial parts of your autobiography, Stories I Must Tell, you sound like someone in their twenties and then there is a certain maturity in the later parts. It’s like time travel of sorts. It’s time travel for me because I had to go back to that moment in time and focus on it. Relive it, to bring out all its nuances.