Indian actor holds Guinness World Record for doing most international films

Since Sabu Dastagir broke through in British cinema back in the 1930s and 40, many Indian actor have worked in films across the world, be it Om Puri and Naseeruddin Shah in Hollywood, Kabir Bedi in Europe, and of late, Irrfan Khan, Aishwarya Rai, and Priyanka Chopra.

In fact, it is an Indian actor who is the holder of the Guinness World Record for appearing in most international films. Interestingly, it is neither of the accomplished names mentioned before, reports DNA india.

International film, as per Guinness Book of World Records, is a title that is produced by studios or production houses from multiple countries. In that regard, the book mentions that the record belongs to Saeed Jaffrey, who has has appeared in 18 international films. Some of his major international titles include Gandhi , A Passage To India, Masala, and My Beautiful Launderette.

Guinness’ citation about Jaffrey’s record states, “He made his film debut in the 1977 Indian film The Chess Players (Shatranj Ke Khiladi) and has appeared in almost 100 Hindi films and one Punjabi film. In 1998 Jaffrey opted out of Indian commercial cinema in favour of acting in international films and on British television. He recently became part of the first Asian family to feature regularly in the United Kingdom’s longest-running soap opera, Coronation Street.”

Saeed Jaffrey was an British-Indian actor. Born in 1929 in Punjab, he began his career as a radio announcer in Delhi, before moving in New York in 1958, where he started acting in theatre. Although he appeared in his first film as early as 1958, he wasn’t a regular until the 1970s. His breakthrough role was in the 1977 Satyajit Ray film Shatranj Ke Khilari. He went on to play Sardar Patel in Gandhi, appeared in supporting roles in Masoom, Saagar, Ram Lakhan, Ajooba, Dil, and many more. His final film role was in the 2011 release Everywhere and Nowhere. The veteran actor passed away in 2015 at the age of 86.

/MHK/