India’s first Hollywood star rose from elephant stables, fought WWII, almost played Birju in Mother India; his biopic is finally happening

Who was Sabu?

Born in 1924 in Mysore, British India, Sabu was the son of a mahout, an elephant caretaker who used to work for a maharaja. Sabu was very young when he lost both his parents and started working in the elephant stables. One day, American filmmaker Robert Flaherty found him while searching for someone to play the lead in Elephant Boy. The film, based on Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book story “Toomai of the Elephants,” marked Sabu’s Hollywood debut at just the age of 13.  The movie became a hit, and Sabu turned into an overnight global star. American and British media wrote praises for his charming, smart, and absolutely natural acting skills. Flaherty and supervising director Zoltan Korda won the best director award at the Venice Film Festival. 

Sabu Dastagir as Mowgli in The Jungle Book

British producer Alexander Korda wasted no time in signing Sabu under his banner, and next we know, the young superstar was headlining mega films like The Drum (1938), his first Technicolor role, The Thief of Bagdad (1940), Jungle Book (1942), where he played Mowgli, Arabian Nights (1942), White Savage (1943), and Cobra Woman (1944). Universal Pictures signed Sabu after he moved to Hollywood, and he became one of the few brown faces that mainstream audiences knew. That said, many of his roles were heavy on stereotypes. Sabu was often cast as the sidekick or the “exotic” hero, with little nuance.

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How World War II changed Sabu’s life

At the peak of his career, Sabu became an American citizen and chose to enlist in the Army Air Forces. He served as a tail gunner in the Pacific and flew 42 combat missions. He was decorated with the Flying Cross and the Air Medal. The on-screen hero turned into a real-life hero and soon became a household name in the US. After the war, Sabu tried returning to acting, but things had already started to change. The “exotic adventure” genre was fading, and Hollywood wasn’t offering him any lead or complex role anymore. Still, he did a few notable films like Tangier (1946), Black Narcissus (1947) , and The End of the River (1947).

Sabu Dastagir in The Elephant Boy (Pic- AP)

Interestingly, Sabu was the first choice to lead the Hindi film Mother India as Birju, which could have marked his debut in Indian cinema, but visa issues reportedly blocked it. That role, as we know, went to Sunil Dutt. So, despite being an Indian, Sabu never got to act in an Indian film. Tragically, Sabu died of a heart attack in 1963 at just 39. He was buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Hollywood. Some of his last films were Mistress of the World (1960), Rampage (1963), and A Tiger Walks (1964) – released posthumously.

Sabu Dastagir in The Thief of Baghdad. Pic-
Everett Collection

Producer behind the upcoming project, Prabhleen Sandhu, called it a legacy that “the world must never forget.” She added, “He wasn’t just India’s first global star—he was a bridge between worlds, cultures, and eras. To bring his story to the screen is more than filmmaking – it’s preserving a legacy the world must never forget and is a responsibility we hold close to our hearts.”

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