Book by Kabir Bedi

That is certainly an interesting arrangement, a slightly different biography, which the title “Stories I must tell” really takes into account. It is stories from his life that Kabir Bedi shares with us. Some are very moving, like the story about his son Siddharta. Here Kabir Bedi reveals his great “wound”, from which, as he himself writes, he still suffers. He writes about his beliefs, about his films, his women, India, Italy, Hollywood and announces part 2 with further stories of his life.

Sometimes he gives us a brief glimpse of very personal things that were crucial in his life. His son's suicide is certainly the saddest and most touching chapter in this book. But Kabir Bedi's emotional worlds also reveal other contents, such as B. the speculation, the loss of his fortune, which was very painful because the desire for the dream home could not be realized. I would have wished for more of these biographical insights, because they bring me much closer to Kabir Bedi than a list of A-actors with whom Kabir Bedi was allowed to work and of whom he proudly lists photos in the appendix.

In general, I was overwhelmed by the many names. Certainly, the Indian names are not so familiar to us here in the West, but the other names from the European and American areas were simply confusing. For that I would have liked more intensely written stories with a few of these people.

So what I liked best was the chapter on his extraordinary parents. That was very revealing. They have left very big footsteps, and it is certainly difficult to try to emulate them in any way, especially from a religious or philosophical point of view, which is always an issue in Bedi's Book. Perhaps because of these "elevated" parents, he wanted to prove his success in a completely different area, namely acting.

For me, the book reveals Kabir Bedi's rather great frustration with the situation in Hollywood, according to his quote: “Hollywood devastated me, Italy and India resurrected me” (pp. viii, 277). He has settled in Hollywood twice. He didn't get the roles he wanted there. But Italy loved him and also knighted him. Kabir Bedi is very fond of Rome. Here the Italians recognize him as “Sandokan”, actually the greatest role he has played. He himself writes that his name is associated with this role. So the criticism he recently expressed in newspapers on Can Yaman, maybe the next Sandokan, is perhaps understandable. Sandokan was Kabir Bedi's role of his life and he left his mark on this literary figure. He has played this role in a total of four films (series), but one, as far as I know, never aired, namely “Il Figlio di Sandokan” ("The Son of Sandokan") from 1998. Bedi paradoxically writes that this series was aired much later (“The other was The Son of Sandokan (Il figlio di Sandokan), realeased much later due to fights in Italian courts.”- p. 282). If anyone knows anything about it or has actually seen the film, I would be very happy to receive information about it.

Kabir Bedi describes the time in which he became acquainted with Sandokan as “days of glory”, which, however, were also overshadowed by the psychologically difficult situation of his partner at the time. I would like to know more about the filming, the time of his fame in 1976 and his experiences afterwards, precisely because it was the role of his life.

Overall, the book was informative, insightful and also touching. It gives an insight into some of Kabir Bedi's life experiences. By the way, it was published in English and Italian.