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With a career spanning across three continents, doing more than 60 films and 30 TV shows and after lending his voice to the humble radio, Kabir Bedi has had quite a life as an actor, presenter and voice artist. Though shiny and talented, this coin also has another side. The actor has gone through tumultuous times which were riddled with financial despair, stagnant work and family issues. The actor lost his son Siddharth to suicide. Siddharth was Kabir’s son from his first marriage to classical dancer Protima Bedi.
Kabir talked about these very challenges and his story of redemption in his 2021 memoir, ‘Stories I Must Tell: The Emotional Life Of An Actor’. Siddharth was diagnosed with schizophrenia and died by suicide in 1997 at the age of 26.
He spoke about his failures at an Aaj tak event, stating, “I have had my share of ups and downs, bankruptcy and mistakes which I have written in the book. I suffered great losses due to bad investments. All of this happened when my son was dealing with schizophrenia. I tried to prevent my son from committing suicide but I couldn’t and I felt guilty. At the same time, I went through financial disasters. I would go to auditions and did not know what to do. I lost a lot of work due to that. I was emotionally devastated and from there how I built myself again is all a part of my journey.”
Siddhartha was an intellectually gifted individual who got accepted into one of the most prestigious IT programs in the US at Carnegie Mellon University. “I tried to prevent my son from committing suicide, but I couldn’t, and I feel guilty,” says Bedi.
“Maine likha hai apni kitaab mein about the final months of Siddharth. Ek story hai ek baap apne bete ko suicide karne se kaise rok raha hai. Ab aap sochiye kya beeti hogi mujhmein. Ye meri zindagi ki sabse badi tragedy hai (I have written a chapter in my book about the final months of Siddharth. It is a story of a father trying to stop his son from taking his own life. Now, try to imagine what I must have gone through. This is my life’s biggest tragedy),” Bedi said.
The actor also reflected on the tough times he faced as an actor while his son was battling with his disease and also after his death. He said that he would go to auditions without any idea of what to do. “I lost a lot of work during that time.”
Bedi, made his debut in Bollywood back in 1971 in the movie (Hulchul) and just after six years of doing his first Hindi film, he would go on to work in the Italian production, The Black Corsair. He was one of the first actors of Indian descent to go to Europe and make a name for himself. Bedi would go on to work in many more Italian films but the one that stood out was his portrayal of pirate Sandokan.
He also played a villain in Octopussy, which starred Roger Moore as James Bond. Highlighting his years as an actor away from home while facing problems regarding his famili, Bedi bares it all in his memoir. Bedi would later return to Indian cinema around the early 1990s and continued his career playing small but impactful roles.
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