There was a time in Bollywood, in the 80s and the early 90s when a lot of movies were set in the colonial era. And one of the staple actors in those films used to be the late Tom Alter. Because of his Caucasian origins, Tom Alter used to be frequently cast as a British officer oppressing the people, although he has done a lot of positive roles as well. A respected actor in theatre, television and Bollywood, Tom Alter was born on June 22, 1950, in Mussoorie. His grandparents migrated to Chennai from the state of Ohio in the US in 1916. Tom was educated in Mussoorie and had Hindi as one of his subjects hence spoke impeccable Hindi without a western accent. He was often known as the “Blue-eyed Sahib who spoke Hindi”. At the age of 18, his parents sent him to his native country, the US, for higher studies but Tom’s heart was in India. He was not too interested in academics either and soon returned to India.
In 1970, Tom Alter happened to watch Rajesh Khanna’s superhit film Aradhana, and the desire to be an actor was born in him. He wanted to be just like Rajesh Khanna and made him his idol. He studied at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune. From 1972 to 1974, he remained in Pune. During this time, Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri were his juniors while Shabana Azmi was his senior. He was also the captain of the FTII cricket team.
Tom Alter made his Bollywood debut in 1975 with the film Mrig Tushna. He appeared in a series of films like ‘Hum Kisse Kam Nahin, Parvarish, Desh Pardes, Kranti, Kudrat, Gandhi, Vidhata, Swami Dada, Ram Teri Ganga Maili and Junoon. Apart from this, he worked in popular TV serials like Bharat Ek Khoj, Captain Vyom and the widely popular Shaktimaan, where he played Mahaguru, a mystical sage and mentor to the titular superhero.
Tom Alter spent his childhood in Rajpur between Dehradun and Mussoorie. While living here, he also learned about Garhwali. He wished to appear in films made in the Garhwali language but he could not fulfil this wish. Tom passed away from skin cancer in September 2017 in Mumbai at the age of 67. He had wished to spend his last few days at his birthplace at Mussoorie but even that wish remained unfulfilled. Tom had been a Padma Shri awardee in 2008.
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