Rakesh Bedi

Rakesh Bedi joined FTII to learn the nuances of acting From his school days Bedi was a theater enthusiast hence he first decided to sharpen his acting skill by joining theatre. Later he joined Pierrot's Troupe, a theatre group in New Delhi. After doing theatre for few years he joined FTII (Film and Television Institute of India) in Pune. Here his classmates were Om Puri, Suresh Oberoi, Vidhu Vinod Chopra etc. After completing his acting course Bedi came to Mumbai to find work in films. Like any struggler he too had to face many hurdles as he had no Godfather in Bollywood. His only identify was his FTII certificate and his experience in theatre. Rakesh Bedi began with cameo roles in Bollywood After an extensive struggle Rakesh Bedi decided to accept any role that came his way. Umesh Mehra was making Hamare Tumhare in 1978. It was an unusual love story of a middle aged widower Sanjeev Kumar who falls in love with a widow Rakhee. Both have their respective children. When the couple live together, how the children fight among each other made an interesting comedy. Since Bedi was good at comedy Umesh Mehra gave him a cameo in the film. The film was an average hit but filmmaker G P Sippy of Sholay fame signed Bedi in an important comedy role in his film Ahsaas. Thus Bedi became a known name in film industry and soon he became a popular after the mega hit film Ek Duuje Ke Liye. After this he never had to look back and gave several hit films like Sohni Mahiwal, Ram Teri Ganga Maili, Hatya, Marte Dam Tak, Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin, Tirangaa, Aankhen, Yes Boss, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan etc. Rakesh Bedi was in two minds before doing TV When Rakesh Bedi was at the top of his career in Bollywood after the success of Chashme Buddoor, Ek Duuje Ke Liye, Sohni Mahiwal, Ram Teri Ganga Maili, Hatya etc he was offered Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi on the televisioin (Doordarshan). It was directed by Raman Kumar. However Rakesh Bedi was in two minds as in those days working in television was looked down upon by the film industry. However Rakesh Bedi claims that when he was in USA he found that the Television stars were bigger than Hollywood actors. He read book about the Small Screen industry in America and was surprised to know that television stars had a bigger reach as it was a household feature. Hence actors were crazy to be on TV. Rakesh Bedi foresaw the reach of TV in India and did Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi. Incidentally the serial was such a hit that Bedi became a huge star with few weeks, in fact bigger star than in Bollywood. Overwhelmed by the huge reach of TV, Rakesh Bedi began focusing much on TV and did many TV serials Yeh Duniya Ghazab Ki; Zabaan Sambhalke, Shrimaan Shrimati, Yes Boss, Shubh Vivah, Bhabi Ji Ghar Par Hai etc Rakesh Bedi and his passion for theatre Rakesh Bedi proudly claims that he is one of the few actors in Indian cinema who has been concurrently doing professional theater along with Cinema and TV. He has been an active member of IPTA. For the best 30 to 40 years he is doing theatre as an actor and writer director. He has done many plays like his famous one-man play Massage written by theatre wizard Vijay Tendulkar. In this plays he portrayed as many as 24 different characters. Bedi, has also written and directed three super hit plays like Biwi-o-Biwi, Shimla Coffee House and Mera who Matlab Nahin Tha. Bedi confides that theater gives his creativity a kick to move ahead and keep him busy to invent himself as an actor.