Tom Alter
Encyclopedia
Tom Alter is an India
n actor
of American
origin. As a thespian and television actor, he is best known for his work in Bollywood
, but has also worked in the theatre.
In 2008, he was awarded Padma Shri
by the India
n government.
, Uttarakhand
, India, Tom Alter is the son of American Christian
missionaries of English
and Scottish
ancestry and has lived for years in Mumbai
and the Himalayan
hill station
of Landour
. His father was born in Sialkot
. His elder sister Martha has a PhD in Sanskrit and his brother John is a poet and a teacher.
As a child, he studied Hindi and Urdu and, consequently, he has occasionally been referred to as the "Blue-eyed saheb with the impeccable Hindi."
He studied at the Film and Television Institute of India
. His major inspiration to enter films was Rajesh Khanna
. He confessed in an interview "I still dream of being Rajesh Khanna. For me, in the early 1970s, he was the only hero — romantic to the core, not larger than life, so Indian and real — he was my hero; the reason I came into films and he still is."
. In his own words, “There was something very warm about Jagadhri. I remained a teacher there until the day I watched Rajesh Khanna romance Sharmila in Aaradhna. That was the beginning of my addiction to cinema.”
Alter is fluent in Hindi and knowledgeable of Indian culture. He has worked for noted filmmakers like Satyajit Ray
in Shatranj Ke Khiladi
and is remembered for his role as a British officer in Kranti. In Sardar, the 1993 film biography of Indian leader Sardar Patel, which focused on the events surrounding the partition and independence of India, Tom portrayed Lord Mountbatten of Burma
. He has also played Indian characters in Indian television series, such as the long-running Junoon, in which he was the sadistic mob lord Keshav Kalsi. He also acted in Hollywood movie One Night with the King
with Peter O'Toole
.
Alter has written such books as The Longest Race, Rerun at Rialto, The Best in the world, and is also a sports journalist with a special interest in cricket, a game on which he has written extensively in publications such as Sportsweek, Outlook, Cricket talk, Sunday Observer and Debonair. He plays cricket for a film industry team MCC (Match Cut Club), which includes Naseeruddin Shah
, Satish Shah
, Vishal Bhardwaj
, Aamir Khan
, Nana Patekar
, Bhupinder Singh and Amarinder Sangha.
In 1996 he appeared in the Assamese-language
film Adajya
, and in 2007 acted in the theatrical reproduction of William Dalrymple's City of Djinns
alongside Zohra Sehgal
and Manish Joshi Bismil
. He also appeared in a solo play 'Maulana', based on Maulana Azad for which he has received much critical acclaim. He has also received praise for his role in the art film Ocean of An Old Man, which has been screened at film festivals around the world.
Alter's first cousin Stephen Alter
, also born and raised in India, is a notable author and teacher. Both are graduates of Woodstock School
, Mussoorie. Alter has also worked as the red robe guru in Mukesh Khanna
's production Shaktiman
(1998–2002). Tom has also acted in the role of a doctor in a Rajat Kapoor's comedy movie "Bheja Fry".
In April 2011, he acted in a short film "Yours, Maria" by Chirag Vadgama playing the lead role in the movie.
Tom is also a seasoned theater actor. In 1977 he along with Naseeruddin Shah and Benjamin Gilani
formed a theatre group called Motley Productions. Their first play was Samuel Beckett
's play Waiting for Godot
, which was staged at Prithvi Theatre, Mumbai on 29 July 1979. He has been performing at Prithvi Theater ever since, his latest being an adaptation of Vaikom Muhammad Basheer
's "Me Grandad'ad an Elephant" which was performed on 7 June 2011. He has also worked with the New Delhi
theatre group Pierrot's Troupe
.
Presently he is performing in TV serials such as "Yaha ke Hum Sikandar" (as a generous school teacher) and "Shama" telecasted on Doordarshan.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
of American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
origin. As a thespian and television actor, he is best known for his work in Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
, but has also worked in the theatre.
In 2008, he was awarded Padma Shri
Padma Shri
Padma Shri is the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan...
by the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n government.
Early life and education
A native of MussoorieMussoorie
Mussoorie is a city and a municipal board in the Dehradun District of the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is located about 35 km from the state capital of Dehradun and 290 km north from the national capital of New Delhi...
, Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand , formerly Uttaranchal, is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the Land of Gods due to the many holy Hindu temples and cities found throughout the state, some of which are among Hinduism's most spiritual and auspicious places of pilgrimage and worship...
, India, Tom Alter is the son of American Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
missionaries of English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
and Scottish
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
ancestry and has lived for years in Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
and the Himalayan
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
hill station
Hill station
A hill station is a town located at a higher elevation than the nearby plain or valley. The term was used mostly in colonial Asia , but also in Africa , for towns founded by European colonial rulers as refuges from the summer heat, up where temperatures are cooler...
of Landour
Landour
Landour , a small cantonment town contiguous with Mussoorie, is about from the city of Dehradun in the northern state of Uttarakhand in India. The twin towns of Mussoorie and Landour, together, are a well-known British Raj-era hill station in northern India. Mussoorie-Landour was widely known as...
. His father was born in Sialkot
Sialkot
Sialkot is a city in Pakistan situated in the north-east of the Punjab province at the foothills of snow-covered peaks of Kashmir near the Chenab river. It is the capital of Sialkot District. The city is about north-west of Lahore and only a few kilometers from Indian-controlled Jammu.The...
. His elder sister Martha has a PhD in Sanskrit and his brother John is a poet and a teacher.
As a child, he studied Hindi and Urdu and, consequently, he has occasionally been referred to as the "Blue-eyed saheb with the impeccable Hindi."
He studied at the Film and Television Institute of India
Film and Television Institute of India
Film and Television Institute of India , is an autonomous Institute under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India. It is fully aided by Central Government of India. It is situated in the premises of the erstwhile Prabhat Film Company in Pune, India...
. His major inspiration to enter films was Rajesh Khanna
Rajesh Khanna
Rajesh Khanna is an Indian actor of from Hindi films, and has been Hindi film producer and an Indian politician....
. He confessed in an interview "I still dream of being Rajesh Khanna. For me, in the early 1970s, he was the only hero — romantic to the core, not larger than life, so Indian and real — he was my hero; the reason I came into films and he still is."
Career
Tom taught at St. Thomas school in Jagadhri (Haryana) for $50 a month before taking to films. He worked as a sports teacher at the school. He used to coach cricket in the school. His crisp columns on sport have enthralled readers of popular newspapers and journals to which he contributed for ten long years. He loved his job and the small town of JagadhriJagadhri
Jagadhri is a city and a municipal council in Yamunanagar district in the Indian state of Haryana. This town is a part of twin towns, constituting Jagadhri and Yamunanagar; Jagadhri is the older one and the latter a relatively new town...
. In his own words, “There was something very warm about Jagadhri. I remained a teacher there until the day I watched Rajesh Khanna romance Sharmila in Aaradhna. That was the beginning of my addiction to cinema.”
Alter is fluent in Hindi and knowledgeable of Indian culture. He has worked for noted filmmakers like Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray was an Indian Bengali filmmaker. He is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. Ray was born in the city of Kolkata into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature...
in Shatranj Ke Khiladi
Shatranj Ke Khiladi
The Chess Players is a genre painting of 1876 by American artist Thomas Eakins . It is a small oil on wood panel depicting Eakins' father Benjamin observing a chess match. The two players are Bertrand Gardel , an elderly French teacher, and the somewhat younger George Holmes, a painter...
and is remembered for his role as a British officer in Kranti. In Sardar, the 1993 film biography of Indian leader Sardar Patel, which focused on the events surrounding the partition and independence of India, Tom portrayed Lord Mountbatten of Burma
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS , was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
. He has also played Indian characters in Indian television series, such as the long-running Junoon, in which he was the sadistic mob lord Keshav Kalsi. He also acted in Hollywood movie One Night with the King
One Night with the King
One Night with the King is a historical epic film that was released in 2006 in the United States. Based on the novel Hadassah: One Night with the King by Tommy Tenney and Mark Andrew Olsen, One Night with the King is a dramatization of the Old Testament Bible story of Esther, who risked her life by...
with Peter O'Toole
Peter O'Toole
Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
.
Alter has written such books as The Longest Race, Rerun at Rialto, The Best in the world, and is also a sports journalist with a special interest in cricket, a game on which he has written extensively in publications such as Sportsweek, Outlook, Cricket talk, Sunday Observer and Debonair. He plays cricket for a film industry team MCC (Match Cut Club), which includes Naseeruddin Shah
Naseeruddin Shah
Naseeruddin Shah is an Indian / Bollywood film actor and director. He is considered to be one of the finest actors of Indian cinema. In 2003, the Government of India honored him with the Padma Bhushan for his contributions towards Indian cinema.-Early life:...
, Satish Shah
Satish Shah
Satish Ravilal Shah is a Hindi and Marathi film and television actor best known for his comedy films. He is perhaps best known for his roles in the ever popular 80's sitcom Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi directed by Kundan Shah and Manjul Sinha. He is famous for playing the role of Municipal Commissioner...
, Vishal Bhardwaj
Vishal Bhardwaj
Vishal Bhardwaj is an Indian film director, writer, screenwriter, music composer and playback singer.-Early life:Bhardwaj was born in Bijnor but raised in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh to Satya Bhardwaj, a homemaker, and Ram Bhardwaj, a popular poet and lyricist. His father was a government employee and...
, Aamir Khan
Aamir Khan
Aamir Hussain Khan is an Indian film actor, director and producer who has established himself as one of the leading actors of Hindi cinema....
, Nana Patekar
Nana Patekar
Vishwanath "Nana" Patekar is an Indian actor and filmmaker.-Biography:Born Vishwanath Patekar in Murud-Janjira, Maharashtra, to Dinkar Patekar and his wife Sanjanabai Patekar. He is an alumnus of the Sir J.J...
, Bhupinder Singh and Amarinder Sangha.
In 1996 he appeared in the Assamese-language
Assamese language
Assamese is the easternmost Indo-Aryan language. It is used mainly in the state of Assam in North-East India. It is also the official language of Assam. It is also spoken in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and other northeast Indian states. Nagamese, an Assamese-based Creole language is widely used in...
film Adajya
Adajya
Adajya is a 1996 Assamese language film directed by Santwana Bardoloi based on a novel by Indira Goswami.-Plot:The film is set in 1940s Assam. Three widows in 1940's Assam struggle to lead dignified lives despite the extreme restrictions mandated by law and custom...
, and in 2007 acted in the theatrical reproduction of William Dalrymple's City of Djinns
City of Djinns
City of Djinns is a travelogue by William Dalrymple about the historical capital of India, Delhi. It is his second book, and culminated as a result of his six-year stay in New Delhi....
alongside Zohra Sehgal
Zohra Sehgal
Zohra Segal is an Indian stage and film actress, who started her career as dancer with dancer Uday Shankar in 1935 and worked with him for the next eight years. She has appeared in many Bollywood films as well as English language films and television series...
and Manish Joshi Bismil
Manish Joshi Bismil
Manish Joshi Bismil is a young Indian theatre director trained by the HCRFTA under guidance of Sanjay Upadhyay, Suresh Sharma, Rajeev Manchanda, Alok Chaterjee and various famous theatre personalities of India...
. He also appeared in a solo play 'Maulana', based on Maulana Azad for which he has received much critical acclaim. He has also received praise for his role in the art film Ocean of An Old Man, which has been screened at film festivals around the world.
Alter's first cousin Stephen Alter
Stephen Alter
Stephen Alter is an American author, primarily of non-fiction but also of fiction, who was born and raised in India, where he grew up as the son of missionaries. Accordingly, he was a Third Culture Kid , and his writings are generally described as Indo-nostalgic...
, also born and raised in India, is a notable author and teacher. Both are graduates of Woodstock School
Woodstock School
Woodstock School is a Christian, international, co-educational, residential school located in Landour, a small hill station contiguous with the town of Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India....
, Mussoorie. Alter has also worked as the red robe guru in Mukesh Khanna
Mukesh Khanna
Mukesh Khanna is an Indian television and film actor, best known for portraying strong, dynamic characters. He was born on 22 July 1951, in Mumbai, India. He came into the film industry in 1982 after graduating from Film and Television Institute of India. He rose to fame and is still best known for...
's production Shaktiman
Shaktiman
Shaktimaan, is a fictional Indian television superhero created by Nirmal Jani and telecasted on Doordarshan, India's national television network. It was first aired on September 13, 1997. It has also aired on the Pogo in English, Chutti TV in Tamil and repeated its Hindi telecast on STAR Utsav...
(1998–2002). Tom has also acted in the role of a doctor in a Rajat Kapoor's comedy movie "Bheja Fry".
In April 2011, he acted in a short film "Yours, Maria" by Chirag Vadgama playing the lead role in the movie.
Tom is also a seasoned theater actor. In 1977 he along with Naseeruddin Shah and Benjamin Gilani
Benjamin Gilani
Benjamin Gilani is an Indian actor of film, television and theatre. He portrayed Jawaharlal Nehru in the 1993 film Sardar. He also acted in the movie "Hum Dum"....
formed a theatre group called Motley Productions. Their first play was Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
's play Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot is an absurdist play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for someone named Godot to arrive. Godot's absence, as well as numerous other aspects of the play, have led to many different interpretations since the play's...
, which was staged at Prithvi Theatre, Mumbai on 29 July 1979. He has been performing at Prithvi Theater ever since, his latest being an adaptation of Vaikom Muhammad Basheer
Vaikom Muhammad Basheer
Vaikom Muhammad Basheer was a Malayalam fiction writer from the state of Kerala in India. He was a humanist, freedom fighter, novelist and short story writer. He is noted for his pathbreaking, disarmingly down-to-earth style of writing that made him equally popular among literary critics as well...
's "Me Grandad'ad an Elephant" which was performed on 7 June 2011. He has also worked with the New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
theatre group Pierrot's Troupe
Pierrot's Troupe
Pierrot's Troupe is a theatre group based in New Delhi, India, which was formed in 1989. The group performs original plays in Hindi, Urdu and English. It has performed more than 2000 shows, mostly in Delhi and other parts of India....
.
Presently he is performing in TV serials such as "Yaha ke Hum Sikandar" (as a generous school teacher) and "Shama" telecasted on Doordarshan.
Films
- Son of Flower (2011) (post-production) [Actor .... Major James Edwards]
- With Love Delhi
- Muigwithania (2010) [Actor .... Major David]
- Ocean of an Old Man (2008) [Actor .... Thomas - Teacher]
- Colours of Passion (2008) [Actor .... Justice Richards] ... aka "Rang Rasiya" - India (original title)
- Kailashey Kelenkari (2007) [Actor .... Sol Silverstein]
- Bheja Fry (2007) [Actor .... Dr. Shepherd]
- One Night with the King (2006) [Actor .... King Saul (prologue)]
- Alag: He Is Different.... He Is Alone... (2006) [Actor .... Dr. Richard Dyer]
- The Curse of King Tut's Tomb (2006) (TV) [Actor .... Lord Eastcliff]
- The Hangman (2005) [Actor .... Father Mathew]
- The Rising: Ballad of Mangal Pandey (2005) [Actor .... Watson]
- Viruddh... Family Comes First (2005) [Actor .... Anderson (British Consultate)]
- Subhash Chandra Bose (2005) [Actor .... Governor Jackson]
- Veer-ZaaraVeer-ZaaraThe soundtrack was released on CD and specially on Audio DVD. The music is based on old and untouched compositions by the late Madan Mohan, as revised by his son Sanjeev Kohli....
(2004) [Actor] ... aka "Yash Chopra's Veer-Zaara" - India (English title) (complete title) - Asambhav (2004) [Actor .... Brian]
- Aetbaar (2004) [Actor .... Dr. Freddie]
- Ghar Grihasti (2004) [Actor .... Drug smuggler]
- Mitter Pyare Nu Haal Mureedan Da Kehna (2004) [Actor .... Ghosht Khan]
- Silence Please... The Dressing Room (2004) [Actor .... Cricket coach Ivan Rodrigues]
- Yeh Hai Chakkad Bakkad Bumbe Bo (2003) [Actor]
- Hawayein (2003) [Actor]
- Dhund: The Fog (2003) [Actor .... Uncle Tom]
- Love at Times Square (2003) [Actor]
- Dil Vil Pyar Vyar (2002) [Actor .... Special Appearance]
- Bharat Bhagya Vidhata (2002) [Actor .... Mohammed Jalaudin Ghaznavi]
- On Wings of Fire (2001) [Actor]