Bob Christo

QAMYAB – THE FORGOTTEN GEMS OF BOLLYWOOD

Qamyab is our humble tribute to all those lesser-known actors, one hit wonders and junior artists who we see umpteen times but don’t know about; beyond their faces. These actors have been an integral part of Bollywood but didn’t get their due. This series is our sincere attempt to put a name to these faces, familiarize them to our readers and celebrate their achievements in life – however big or small. We believe that every artist contributes in his/her own way to the cinema’s success. Qamyab will explore the unknown lives of such actors and artists as we believe even these forgotten gems of Bollywood deserve their due recognition today.

The ‘firangi’ characters in Hindi cinema are invariably on the villain’s side, sometimes playing the prime antagonist. The well known ‘goras’ which pop up in mind, are Tom Alter and Gavin Packard, who fit in to such roles perfectly. A few other actors who appeared in select films were Brian Glover in 1942 A Love Story (1994), Paul Blackthorne in Lagaan (2001), Alex O’Neil in Joker (2012) and Nathan Jones in A Flying Jatt (2016).

Apart from Tom and Gavin, it was Bob Christo, who made a name for himself in Bollywood with some memorable performances. The mere mention of Bob Christo might have brought his menacing bald and bearded look in front of our readers eyes. And of course, who can forget his very famous dialogue from Mr India (1987) – “Indian God marta hai, Jai Bajrang Bali”.

The charm of Bollywood stars has led many fans, including foreigners visit Mumbai just to meet them. Bob also came all the way from Rhodesia in Zimbabwe just to meet his favourite Hindi movie star.

Bob Christo was born in 1938 in Sydney, Australia as Robert John Christo to German parents and grew up in Germany. He was a qualified engineer and has a Greek descent. Before acting, Bob Christo had done jobs in different fields like army assignment in Vietnam and construction business. He was passionate about cinema and undertook training in acting to become a hero.

In 1974, Bob faced a personal tragedy when his wife Helga passed away in a car crash leaving him with their three children. Christo then moved to California with his kids, who were fostered by an American family there and he continued to work at various places.

While posted in Rhodesia in the mid-70, Bob came across the Time magazine issue of June 28, 1976, which had Parveen Babi on its cover. This was the first time the reputed Time magazine featured a Bollywood actress on its cover. Bob Christo got fascinated by her beauty and made up his mind to meet her.

In 1977, Bob reached Bombay (now Mumbai) and saw a film shooting around Juhu area, which is home to many Bollywood celebrities. During the shoot, he befriended some crew members and inquired about Parveen.

nterestingly, Bob Christo was offered Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979) before he landed in Mumbai. But the casting director backed out after finding that Bob is a civil engineer and instead asked him to build Cambodian style temples for the set in Philippines. Bob refused the offer but the guy who replaced him as actor in that movie, became a big star.

Finally, Bob got a chance to meet Parveen Babi when he was taken to Bombay Central station by his friend, where Parveen was shooting for The Burning Train (1980). When Bob saw Parveen, he failed to recognize her until he realised that she is without makeup.

It was Parveen Babi, who actually introduced Bob Christo in the film circuit, particularly to his mentor Sanjay Khan, as both were shooting for Chandi Sona (1977) at that time. Sanjay Khan was impressed with Bob Christo and decided to cast him in his next film Abdullah (1980).

Abdullah was a big break for Bob to debut in Bollywood, where he played the evil magician and an aide of Danny Denzongpa. Sanjay Khan had asked him to shave his head and keep a beard to get that menacing look.

Before Abdullah made it to theatres, Qurbani (1980), directed by Sanjay’s legendary brother Feroz Khan released to a thunderous response. Bob Christo played a garage owner in this movie, who rents out used cars for criminal activities and gets bashed up by Amjad Khan in one scene.

Abdullah is believed to be Bob Christo’s debut movie but it will surprise you that he was seen in a two-minute role in Saeed Mirza’s Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastan (1978) as Mr Roberts, who is the client of hero Dilip Dhawan. This is an extremely rare information which we could gather through our extensive research and curiously, Bob Christo had a completely different look in this film. He was half bald, clean shaven with long side locks and wearing spectacles, which made him resemble the late Indian politician, Sanjay Gandhi. But after Abdullah, Bob retained the bald bearded look throughout his career.

The angry young man era, which started with Zanjeer (1973) dominated the ’80s decade and Amitabh Bachchan needed some new henchmen to bash up apart from his regulars like Goga Kapoor, Shetty, Azaad Irani and Yusuf Khan (Zibesko). Bob Christo as the foreigner baddie, also joined this league. His jail fight scene with Bachchan in Kaalia (1981) attained cult status due its iconic dialogue “Hum jahan khade hote hai, line wahi se shuru hoti hai”. Amitabh bashes him up badly after this line.

The onscreen fight routine of Bob Christo continued until the ’90s, where he always played a foreigner villain getting beaten up by the hero. Some of his memorable performances are Qurbani (1980), Kaalia (1981), Disco Dancer (1982), Namak Halaal (1982), Star (1982), Ashanti (1982), Nastik (1983), Boxer (1984), Jagir (1984), Kasam Paida Karnewale Ki (1984), Mard (1985), Geraftaar (1985), Allah Rakha (1986), Kala Dhanda Goray Log (1986), Avinash (1986), Palay Khan (1986), Mr India (1987), Jaadugar (1989), Toofan (1989), Agneepath (1990), Yodha (1991), Saugandh (1991), Deedar (1992), Hum Hain Kamaal Ke (1993) and Gumrah (1993). Mahesh Bhatt’s Gumrah is particularly notable performance of Bob Christo, where he plays a jailer in Hong Kong prison in which the heroine Sridevi is lodged. Bob had a rare intimate scene with actress Kunika in this movie.

Apart from superstar Amitabh Bachchan, Bob Christo took a beating from action stars like Dharmendra, Mithun Chakraborty, Jackie Shroff, Sunny Deol, Sanjay Dutt and then newcomer Akshay Kumar. In a not too old interview, Bob claimed that during his visit to Mumbai, he met Akshay Kumar and they remain good friends.

Mentor Sanjay Khan also gave him a break on television in his magnum opus The Sword of Tipu Sultan (1990) and later, in The Great Maratha (1994).

In early 2000, Bob Christo shifted his base to Bangalore with his family, where he started working as a yoga instructor and kept away from the movie world. He was working at Hotel Golden Palms SPA there, which is owned by Sanjay Khan. Though Bob had bid goodbye to Mumbai, he would frequently travel to the city as his wife and younger son lived here. During this time, he would also meet his filmy friends but stayed away from the glamour world.

After 2006, Christo stopped working as yoga instructor as he had developed a spine injury and in later years, he was limping due to the surgery and stopped his gym workouts as well. He faced these issues in old age as he did dangerous stunts and five hundred push ups a day during his movie career. Another reason to stop his yoga lessons was that he overheard a guy complaining why a man with a limp is teaching yoga here!!

This was the time when Bob Christo decided to bring his life journey on paper via an autobiography written by his close friend and co-actor Tom Alter. Titled Flashback: My Life and Times in Bollywood and Beyond, Bob couldn’t see its formal release, which was to be launched in June 2011 by Akshay Kumar. He passed away on 20th March, 2011 at seventy-two years due to cardiac arrest leaving behind his wife Nargis Christo and his children Sunil, Darius, Monique and Nicole.

Bob Christo’s death in 2011 was not the end of his Bollywood journey as his final release came five years after his death in 2016- a long delayed movie called Aman Ke Farrishtey with the late Dev Anand, Hema Malini, Javed Jaffrey and Ekta in the lead. This film was in the making since early ’90s and faced an inordinate delay for about twenty-five years.

Bob Christo may be forgotten by today’s generation but Bollywood followers of the ’80s and ’90s will instantly remember him as the villainous foreigner, whom the hero teaches a lesson and makes him shout aloud “Jai Bajrang Bali”!!