Hyderabad: Veteran actor Kabir Bedi's upcoming autobiography 'Stories I Must Tell: The Emotional Life Of An Actor' will reveal a lot of things new to readers with raw emotional intensity. From open marriage with Odissi dancer Protima Gupta to relationship with then diva Parveen Babi, the actor has bare it all in the book which he focused on during COVID-induced lockdown last year.
Ahead of the release of his book, in the latest interview with a webloid, Kabir revealed that he has narrated his journey, ups and downs, achievements and tragedies 'Stories I Must Tell: The Emotional Life Of An Actor'.
Autobiographies are expected to bare all. When asked is he was aprehensive about how his daughter Pooja Bedi might feel reading about her mother Protima in the book, the 75-year-old actor said, "I didn't worry about that much. Pooja knows about the history herself. There is nothing in the book that will surprise Pooja greatly. There might be some aspects that might. But overall, Pooja knew her mother very well. She knew a lot of things that happened. She was there for a lot of things that happened even though she was a child. But then growing up you remember, your mother reminds you, your father reminds you. So, it was not like Pooja was not aware of all the things that happened. So I wasn't particularly concerned about how my writing about Protima might affect Pooja . Because I was sure in a larger sense it will not. I would like to believe that I have done great justice in writing about her and I have written it as honestly I can."
Kabir Bedi with daughter Pooja Bedi Bedi also spoke about Protima's infamous streaking stunt. "When Protima came to me in Malaysia she said that ‘I have streaked’. Streaking is somebody running naked on a stage or street generally protesting something. And I didn't know what she is talking about. She said I have streaked and somebody photographed and put it in a magazine. She wasn't telling me the truth about how or why she streaked. Later it turned out she did it as a publicity stunt for a magazine."
The actor also admitted that being in an open marriage with Protima caused 'more anxiety than freedom'.
Kabir Bedi at the 64th Festival del Film di Locarno red carpet on August 5, 2011 in Locarno, Switzerland READ |Pooja Bedi reveals what her kids think about she getting remarried
"At that time, I was shooting for Sandokan. I wanted to focus my whole energy on getting this right. I was given the lead in a European television series. I wanted to make the most of it. I didn't want it to upset the equilibrium that my wife had gone streaking in public. So I didn't make a fuss about it. I was like the deed is done and there is nothing I can do about it. I have to focus on what I have to do. People could not understand how I could accept my wife streaking. How I wouldn't walk out on her or I wouldn't throw her out of the house. How could I possibly live with such a woman. That was the age we lived in. That was the openness and tolerance we were trying to achieve . That was what we hoped open marriage would give us that freedom. In the end of course, it caused more anxiety than freedom and therefore it ended. But those things are not hidden from our children. They know about them. So I wasn't upset or worried about writing about them. They knew about it," Kabir said.
Talking about Parveen, he said he wanted to be her protector and she was a one-man woman opposite to her bohemian image in those days.
Kabri Bedi in a candid click Talking about Parveen's health issues, Kabri said, "Her problems could have begun in childhood, because she used to see spirits in the monuments around her house, that were related to her family's history — the Babi-Pashtun clan had served emperor Humayun at one point. There was an incident where Parveen had one of her disturbing episodes, her mother said to Mahesh Bhatt, 'Her father used to be like that', so my question was 'Could it be genetics that created that situation'?"
He further added, "When you love somebody, you want to take care of them. I realised late there were problems and I wanted to be her protector."
Kabri Bedi with third wife Parveen Dusanj-Bedi Parveen's relationship with Bedi is said to be ended after she travelled with him to Italy in the wake of his success with the TV serial Sandokan and realised that he was the bigger star of the two and was receiving the kind of adulation that she had never received in Bombay.
The book is scheduled to be published with Westland Publications on April 19.
