Kabir Bedi in Sandokan (1976) | Radiotelevisione Italiana Kabir Bedi’s recently published memoir
Stories I Must Tell (Westland Books) has prominent sections on an Italian television show from 1976. That’s hardly surprising: titled Sandokan, the mini-series made the Indian actor a sensation in Italy and the rest of Europe and paved his path to Hollywood.
Sandokan is the dashing pirate hero from nineteenth-century Italian writer Emilio Salgari’s novels. Sandokan’s wealthy parents have been killed by the East India Company, which is seeking to expand its control of South East Asia.
Sandokan leads a group of rebellious sea raiders and frequently torments the British colonialists, earning him the title “Tiger of Malaysia”. Among Sandokan’s chief adversaries is the Rajah of Sarawak, based on the real-life British soldier James Brooke. Sandokan later falls in love with an Englishwoman named Marianna and marries her.