 |
| Saeed Jaffrey in My Beautiful Laundrette |
Titles like Ram Teri Ganga Maili and Shatranj Ke Khiladi made him one of India's greatest screen star, but Saeed Jaffrey was also beloved of British viewers, starring in classics like A Passage To India, My Beautiful Laundrette and Gandhi. Now he has died at the age of 86.
A Punjabi actor who got an early break in Z-Cars, Jaffrey got his first big screen role in James Ivory's British-Indian co-production The Guru in 1969. He would later appear in TV series The Advetures Of Black Beauty, Gangsters, Tandoori Nights and Coronation Street. The first Indian to receive an OBE, he also won praise for his work in radio and theatre, taking his theatre company across the US to perform Shakespeare plays.
Jaffrey is survived by his daughters Meera, Zia, and actress Sakina Jaffrey, from his marriage to actress and writer Madhur Jaffrey, which ended in 1965. His death was announced by his niece, Shaheen Aggarwal, who wrote "Saeed Jaffrey has joined his brothers and sister and is rejoicing in the lap of his Heavenly Father, eternally. The entire Jaffrey Family bids you, "adieu", you beautiful, beautiful man See you in heaven!"
