British Asian Popular Indian Star Dies
At the age of 86 , Bollywood and British film star Saeed Jaffrey has died. He was one of the few actors who found fame and success in both Bollywood and Hollywood. He starred in “A Passage to India” and “Gandhi”, Henna, Massom and Dil, as well as many other programmes and films. After having a brain haemorrhage at his London home he never regained consciousness.
PM Narendra Modi paid tribute to Jaffrey saying he had “flair and versatility”. Saeed appeared in over 150 films and also was in “The Chess Players” – an Indian Classic and in addition acted in the popular British soap “Coronation Street”.
He was born in Punjab, a doctor’s son, graduated in English Literature, was fascinated by early screen classics. He started in Akashwani ( All India Radio) and soon after set up his own English language theatre in Delhi in 1951 to perform work by William Shakespeare, Oscar Wild and Dylan Thomas. In 1954 this group’s performance of The Eagle has two heads, enabled me to meet and fell madly in love with young actress Madhur Bahadur and persuaded to marry him and settle in New York, where he studied at Marilyn Monroe studio for a time. He also went on to star on Broadway and to become the first Indian actor to tour Shakespeare around US. Originally he studied history in India. He was a versatile and endearing thespian. May he rest in peace.
He also played character actor roles in colonial drama’s like The Jewel in the Crown, Gandhi and The Far Pavilions and in sitcoms like Tandoori Nights, My Beautiful Laundrette.
His passion as a womaniser broke the couple’s relationship when his affair with a dancer from an Indian troupe was revealed. Madhur Jaffrey left him taking their three children with her and eventually became a celebrated food writer and broadcaster. His recording of Kama Sutra, Art of Love was listed by Time magazine in February 1967.
After divorce Jaffrey moved to England and started work at the BBC’s World Service and also as part-time sales man at Harrods in London. His first major break came in 1974, in a British film as Billy Fish in John Houston’s The Man who would be King, co-starring Sean Connery and Michael Caine.
Jaffrey’s performance won a prize at India’s Filmfare Awards, and also starred in over 100 Bollywood hit films including Ram Teri Ganga Maili, Chashme Buddoor.
Jaffrey starred as a politician portraying Sardar Patel in 1982 epic film Gandhi. In 1984 Director David Lean’s EM foster’s A Passage to India, he had two parts.
On TV he appeared in Jewel in the Crown, Staying on with Howard and Celia Johnson and Far Pavilions with Omar Sharif and Sir John Gielgud. He remarried in 1980 to Jennifer and became the first Asian actor to receive an OBE for Services to drama.