Kabir Bedi, who drew adulation in the 1970s and 1980s for his roles in Khoon Bhari Maang and popular spy thriller series James Bond, is now silently working for uplifting the lives of underprivileged children.
“I have been working with Care and Share Italia Onlus for the last two years in their efforts to nurture and uplift children’s lives. It gives me immense pleasure to be a part of such an organization that is doing a splendid work,” said Mr. Bedi, who visited the city as the Brand Ambassador of Care and Share Italia Onlus.
From Italy, with love
Mr. Bedi is the Brand Ambassador of Care and Share Italia Onlus based in Italy. He visited the projects and works of the programme "Street to School" supported by Care and Share Italia and MKT ( partner of Care and Share Italia in India). He was accompanied by Mr. Tomaso Carraro, President Care and Share Italia and other volunteers from Italy.
“They accept all the responsibility of the child. They set up an establishment called ‘Mangoes Home’ with boys in the 14-16 age range whose education is entirely sponsored by the trust. They have centres in Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad as well. I went to Italy and toured with the members of the trust, urging people to help children in Andhra and Telangana,” the 73-year-old actor told The Hindu.
Giving back
Mr. Bedi emphasized that in order to give he had brought a few film makers from Bombay to teach the kids the art and nuances of film making, right from scripting to shooting, giving this social change a novel twist.
“These film makers, founding members of the Mumbai-based Film Bug, will train these children for two weeks in the art of film making and then push them to make films of their own choice,” said Mr. Bedi, adding that some of the films made by these kids were highly appreciated by some Bollywood film makers as well.
Child film-makers’ impact
“One film on sanitation had such a powerful impact that when it was shown in the municipality the child was living in, officers immediately addressed the issues,” said an enthusiastic Mr. Bedi, explaining how quickly the kids absorb the training to make socially-driven films.
Mr. Bedi added that while kids were not asked to make films on one particular genre, most of them had a social message in them, either directly or subtly, trying to express their thoughts to a wider audience.
“All these films will be presented at the India Alive Short Film Festival, hosted by Film Bug, and made available to the public shortly. Rrenowned Bollywood directors spoke highly of the films and even expressed their desire to take them under apprenticeship,” he added.
On the expansion of the Trust, Mr. Bedi said he was hopeful that it would spread its work to beyond the two states to other parts of the country in the near future.
