Kabir Bedi is an Indian actor. His career has spanned three continents covering India, the United States and especially Italy. Among other Western countries, he is known to work in three media- film, television and theatre. He is best known in Italy and Europe for playing the pirate Sandokan and his role as the villainous Gobinda in the 1983 James Bond film Octopussy. In an exclusive interview with Bollywood Bubble, Kabir Bedi supports the re-release trend prevalent in Bollywood and provides his input on the entourage culture in India.
Kabir Bedi supports the re-release trend in Bollywood
Talking about the re-release trend currently prevalent in Bollywood, Kabir Bedi said, “The re-release trend is right if you ask me.” Elaborating further, the ‘Khoon Bhari Maang’ actor added, “I’ve never liked that when a film releases in theatres it runs for weeks or a couple of months and then people forget about it. Now that we have OTT and films are aired on TV, films are available for re-watching and this is good. But the joy of watching a film in theatres, you won’t get it anywhere else. To see something together, to laugh together, to cry together… it’s a community experience, a social experience.”
Bedi noted, “It is great to re-watch the box office hits of some era and celebrate the movies made then. People should be allowed to watch these films, there were good films made in the old days as well. People tell me that good films were only made in the bygone eras but today there aren’t any such films. I feel this is wrong. We recall only the hit films of the past and know about the flop films of today’s era. And the truth is that there have always been more flop films than hit ones. This makes us believe that we don’t have many good films today. But in my opinion, today’s films are equally good as the films from the old days.”
When asked which of his old films he would like to see released, the actor said, “I think Kacche Dhaage and Khoon Bhari Maang should be re-released. There’s one more film – Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story – where I played Shah Jahan. The film’s release was bad but the film itself was good. I wish this film gets re-released.”
Kabir Bedi on entourage culture in India
When asked about the entourage culture in Bollywood, Kabir said, “See I have an attendant and a makeup man, and my charges are very much reasonable. I don’t demand anything more. I believe that the demands of actors on producers are very wrong.” Further talking about the entourage culture in India, Bedi said, “I feel these are baseless demands. Fine, the producer needs to pay for your makeup, hair, and an attendant maybe too. But any demand apart from this doesn’t make sense. This is an actor’s responsibility if they want publicity, cameras, and social media specialists. It’s not the producers’ job to do so.”
Kabir further noted, “Internationally, you need to use the producer’s given makeup people only unless you are an A-lister. Most producers pay for your makeup, hair and attendance only if you happen to be a big personality. I feel it should come to India as well.”
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