'Audience impact is huge in India' - Kabir Bedi

Kabir Bedi is an actor who has made a mark beyond the borders of India that no other actor could make. Whether it be the Bollywood movies Khoon Bhari Mang, Main Hoon Na and several others, or the international shows like Sandokan and Bold & the Beautiful, he has been an epitome of grace. And after a long wait the actor now essays a poerful role on Indian Television, the role of the Thakur in a village, who is a God for the villagers in Sahara One's new show Ganga Kii Dheej.

Tellybuzz had a conversation with this talented actor on his experience of portraying the role of Dadabhai..

Excerpts!!!

Tell us about the character?
My character name is Dadabhai who is very powerful who rules the village and the villagers look up to him as God. He is not a bad man but has different shades to his character. Because he is the village head, he has to stick to the rituals and practices of the village that cannot be beaked by anybody including him.

You have done Hollywood for 18 years, Bollywood as well and now television what difference did you find in all the three industries?
It has been 35 years in this industry and I believe that the difference is there everywhere.  In these years I have travelled a lot around the world working in different industries and have mostly contended myself in shows abroad. I am popular there especially for the character that I portrayed in Bold and Beautiful. In India I have been in theater and Bollywood for so long and the only thing that was left in my resume was that I haven't done any Indian television shows.

What made you to take up this show to debut yourself on India Television?

Till now I have not been offered such a powerful role and when this role came to me, I felt it was different from the others that are going on now on television. But at the same time the risk factor remains whether the audience will accept it or not, when a new idea is put forth. But here we are dealing with a concept of 'Pratha' that takes place in a village and it is a fact that there are villages in India that do not have light and water.

How do you think the audience would respond to the show, which is very different focusing on a sensitive social issue, considering the fact that reality shows have catered to the market?
Reality shows have a different audience altogether and people want to watch shows that can entertain them and it is unknown whether the audience would accept it or not. For me the character and the show were different from the ongoing shows on television and that convinced me to accept the character. Also the production has taken up a lot of expenses for the show and also the show contains talented people like Shabbir Shaket who has been in television for long.

How has the experience been shooting this show?
I am very much workaholic and I am having a good experience working in this show. I agree that the working hours are long but at the same time need to think of the daily telecast for half an hour slots and in theater too we have to deal with long scenes. In Hollywood they spend a lot on day shoots and when compared to the production quality what I felt in Ganga Kii Dheej is that we have shot in beautiful locations.

How is Kabir Bedi different from Dadabhai?
Dadabhai is an authoritarian which I am not in real life and I listen to people around me, also I don't believe in losing my temper and don't end up screaming at people. At the same time I have my preferences and conditions but I never believed in dominating someone to put across my views.

You were seen in Khoon Bhari Mang and then a few films after that; why didn't you continue films in Bollywood?
After I did Khoon Bhari Maang, I stayed in India for about four and a half years and then I went off to Italy where I got the opportunity to do a TV show. Now I am back here producing a few things and also several other things going on. At the same time I am also dubbing my Hollywood series in Hindi so that the Indian audience could watch it. I must say that audience impact is huge in India.

You were mostly seen in Hollywood rather than Bollywood, any particular reason?
I always wanted to do serious acting and I found that Indian films are known for their singing and dancing which I love to watch and not to do. I wanted to do something different which I luckily found it in Hollywood and I feel glad that I made a mark in Hollywood which many other actors couldn't do for which I had to put in a lot of hard work. Nowadays it is easy to get a role in Hollywood unlike earlier times where it was very difficult to get a work and only few roles were written for us Indians to play.

Reporter and Author: Ranjini Nair