Italy honour for Sandokan’s Bedi
VETERAN Indian actor Kabir Bedi was honoured last Saturday (3) with a lifetime achievement award in Venice.
Bedi was presented with the Filming Italy Movie Lifetime Achievement Award (above) at the Venice Production Bridge market, according to Variety.
The actor became famous in Italy following the success of his TV show Sandokan.
Bedi, who previously served as an unofficial ambassador for Indo-Italian relations, said, “I have tried to make people in Italy focus on India for many years, and people in India focus on Italy.”
He added, “Since the time of Sandokan, I’ve done over six major series in Italy and not many people realize that Bollywood and Hollywood are a far lesser part of my life than my career in Italy.”
Based on Emilio Salgari’s novels, the TV series began in 1976 and became successful in Italy, gathering a record 34 per cent audience share.
The show was followed by several subsequent series and films revolving around the character.
The award was presented to Bedi by producer and actor Tiziana Rocca and Roberto Stabile, the head of the international department of Italian national audiovisual body ANICA, reported