A statement issued by his family on Monday said he passed away peacefully on Saturday at a London hospital. “Saeed Jaffrey has joined his brothers and sister and is rejoicing in the lap of his Heavenly Father, eternally”.
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Saeed Jaffrey, who has died in London, aged 86, would have been delighted with the nice things that are being said about him, especially by English journalists.
The Indian-born British actor appeared in the Oscar-winning Gandhi and films such as My attractive Laundrette, as well as many Bollywood films and British television productions, including Coronation Street.
Saeed Jaffrey, an Indian actor acclaimed for his roles in global films including “Gandhi”, “My handsome Laundrette” and “A Passage to India”, has died at age 86.
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In the Millennium edition of the Guinness Book of Records, Jaffrey was named as the only Indian actor to appear in 18 worldwide films.
With expressions like “a multifaceted actor whose flair and versatility will always be remembered”, Modi expressed his “deepest condolences” on the official PMO Twitter handle.
His Hollywood stint, with top directors and actors like Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Roshan Seth, James Ivory and Daniel Day-Lewis, further extended his fame. Started my career with u in Masoom. Born in Punjab’s Maler Kotla city, he moved to Delhi, where he founded his own English language company, Unity Theatre.
Jaffrey started his career at state-run All India Radio before moving to the United States as a Fulbright scholar and studying drama at the Catholic University of America, according to the Press Trust of India news agency. The tragi-comical Muslim nobleman in Satyajit Ray’s Shatranj Ke Khiladi, who is obsessed with playing chess, comes to mind. He won a Bafta nomination for his role as Nasser in “My lovely Launderette”.
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He leaves behind his wife Jennifer Jaffrey, as well as three children (Sakina, Zia, Meera) by his first wife, the actress and cookery author Madhur Jaffrey. “I will never forget him for his outstanding performance in ‘Ram Teri Ganga Maili.’ He was a fascinating man with a large body of work”. Talented and respected, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1995 for his contributions to drama. Saeed remarried Jennifer Jaffrey in 1980 before she became his agent.
