Saeed Jaffrey

Claim Page

ffluent Muslim family in Punjab. His maternal grandfather, Fazle Imam, was the Dewan or Prime Minister of the princely state of Malerkotla and was awarded with honorary title of Khan Bahadur for his loyalty. His father Dr Hamid Hussain Jaffrey was a government employee and worked as a doctor in Health Services department of the United Provinces of British India. However unlike his family tradition of education, young Saeed was drawn towards art and cinema. He was addicted to Bollywood films and would mimic Bollywood superstar of the 30’s Prithviraj Kapoor (who played Emperor Akbar in Mughal-E-Azam). His art of mimicry took shape into a fabulous actor when he joined Minto Circle School at Aligarh Muslim University and started doing theatre. At the young age of 10 years he won the hearts of his school principal when he played role of Dara Shikoh, son of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, in a school play. Saeed Jaffrey developed a command in multiple languages Since Saeed Jaffrey had decided to make career in acting hence he worked hard on his language and mastered multiple languages, particularly English, Urdu and Hindi. While at Aligarh he mastered the Urdu language. Later he joined Wynberg Allen School, a Church of England public school. Here he mastered British-accented English. Further he did his B.A. and M.A. from Allahabad University where he mastered the Hindi language. The languages played a vital role in his career as it helped him play all kinds of character in Hollywood and Bollyood. From school to college to post graduation, Saeed continued with theater. His passion for theater was so intense that besides post graduation in Arts, Saeed Jaffrey also studied drama at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He acquired a postgraduate degree from the prestigious the Catholic University of America in 1957.

Saeed Jaffrey began as RJ with AIR Saeed Jaffrey first heard radio in 1945 when he was 16 year old. While travelling with father he found his father listening to BBC Radio station during a train journey. Later when India got freedom, Saeed Jaffrey listened to India’s First Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru's inaugural speech on All India Radio and was fascinated by the medium. Hence he started his career as Radio Jockey with All India Radio at the age of 22 years. We worked as an English Announcer with the External Services of All India Radio. Saeed Jaffrey won fame in International TV In 1951 Saeed Jaffrey formed his own English theatre company called Unity Theatre and did plays of Shakespeare in New Delhi. Later he went to London and studied drama at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and got a postgraduate degree from the prestigious the Catholic University of America. Saeed Jaffrey made his mark as urbane Rafiq in the BBC TV series (1975-78) cult classic Gangsters. Later he appeared in many television series, including Staying On (1980); The Jewel in the Crown (1984); Tandoori Nights (1985-87) and his super hit serial The Far Pavilions (1984) with Hollywood veteran Omar Sharif Saeed Jaffrey stint in International films Saeed Jaffrey’s first role in International cinema was in Hollywood film The Man Who Would Be King with Michael Caine and Sean Connery. His other hit films include James Ivory's The Guru, Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures with Dame Peggy Ashcroft, Courtesans of Bombay and John Masters' The Deceivers with Pierce Brosnan. He played the key role of Indian leader Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Sir Richard Attenborough’ film Gandhi. His other memorable role is in Sir David Lean’s A Passage to India as Hamidullah. Saeed played three diverse leads in the Canadian film Masala and the drunken lead in the film After Midnight with Hayley Mills, for Channel Four. He won a BAFTA nomination for his role as Nasser in My Beautiful Laundrette. In the Millennium edition of the Guinness Book of Records, Saeed was included as the only Indian actor who has appeared in eighteen international films. Saeed Jaffrey worked with top filmmakers in Bollywood After a milestone performance in Satyajit Ray’s landmark film Shatranj Ke Khiladi, Saeed Jaffrey stunned Indian filmmakers with his next superlative performance as Lallan Miyan the Lucknowi pan stall owner in Farooq Shaikh’s all time comedy Chashme Buddoor. After the tremendous success of Chashme Buddoor, he became a favorite character artist of Indian cinema and ruled 80’ and 90’ working with top stars and great filmmakers like opposite Dilip Kumar (Mashaal), Amitabh Bachchan (Ajooba), Aamir Khan (Dil), Naseeruddin Shah (Hero Hiralal), Rishi Kapoor ( Heena), Anil Kapoor (Eeshwar), Govinda (Aunty No 1). He also worked with top filmmakers like Shyam Benegal’ Mandi, Shekhar Kapoor’ Masoom, Yash Chopra’s Vijay, Ramesh Sippy’ Saagar, Rakesh Roshan’s Khudgarz, Subhash Ghai’s Ram Lakhan etc. In fact Saeed impressed film legend Raj Kapoor so much that after Ram Teri Ganga Mali he repeated him in his next film Heena. Interestingly in both the films he won Film fare Best supporting actor nomination.