6 minutes agoAuthor: Ifat Qureshi
There is a scene from the movie Mr. India. In which an Englishman shouts Jai Bajrang Bali while getting beaten by the idol of Lord Hanuman. This man is Bob Christo. At the same time, Amitabh’s famous dialogue- The line starts from where we stand. In this dialogue, the person fighting with Amitabh is also Bob. He did many films, played many big roles, but his fans are less and his haters are more.
Despite this, his real life has been so exciting that a masala film can be made on him. Sydney-born Bob Christo had left Australia for Muscat, but had to stay in India after not getting a visa.
Bob Christo, who reached India under compulsion, became crazy about Parveen Babi, the most famous actress of that era, after seeing her in the magazine. Stopped to meet him in such a way that he did not go back. His dream of meeting Parveen was fulfilled, but he got angry seeing the actress without makeup. Bob became a villain in films and did 200 films.
Today on the 12th death anniversary of Bob Christo, read the interesting story of the foreign dangerous villain-
Sydney-born Bob Christo was a civil engineer
Bob was born in 1938 in Sydney, Australia. During World War-2, his father brought him to Germany, where he was raised by his grandmother and aunt. Bob worked in the theater for some time, but did not make a career in it. Bob studied civil engineering. Made a career in this too.
Bob played the role of British Simone in the 1985 film Mard.
The wife coming to pick up the airport passed away in an accident, so the hope of living ended
During the theater days, Bob fell in love at first sight with a girl named Helga. Bob was a 20 year old handsome boy and Helga was 19 years old. The two married in the late 50s, having three children, Doris, Monique, Nicole. One day after returning from a trip, Helga was about to come to the airport to pick up Bob, but before reaching he died in an accident. Bob was deeply broken by Helga’s death. Bob sent the children to the US, where his friend placed the children.
Bob Christo with second wife Nargis, sons Doris, Sunil and daughter-in-law Mona.
Bob was saved from dying in the bomb blast
Around 1974, Bob joined the Vietnam Army as in-charge of the engineering unit. One day while driving a truck in a mine, his truck ran over a bomb and the bomb exploded. Bob, who was sitting in the truck, was badly injured, but survived. After the end of the war in 1975, Bob started doing odd jobs related to film making in Vietnam itself.
Made a plan to steal the ship of the King of Morocco, but the leader died in a plane crash
While making the film, Bob met Pat Kelly, who was planning a secret operation to steal the ship of King Hassan, the King of Morocco. The two team up for a mission that could make them both rich. Kat dies in a plane crash before the mission can begin.
Bob played the role of prisoner Michel in the film Kalia. This scene of the film became very popular.
did risky work in the war, then left the army after seeing a murder
Bob Christo did many risky things by joining the army and risked his life. Many of his missions were very successful. Saved many ships and captured many, but changed his mind when he saw a black man being killed at the hands of 3 Englishmen. He left the army.
Unrequited love after seeing Parveen in the magazine
A picture of actress Parveen Babi was printed on the cover of Time magazine, on seeing which Bob started liking her. After some time Bob took a work permit for Muscat, Oman for a civil engineering job. It was taking time to get the visa, so he came to India for some time.
When Bob came to India, his desire to meet Parveen rekindled. When he reached Mumbai, he saw a film unit at Churchgate. At that time director Prem Kapoor was shooting his documentary film. When Bob told him that he wanted to meet Parveen Babi, Prem Kapoor assured that he would meet her one day. In a conversation at a tea-house on Veer Nariman Road, he learns that Zubair Khan, the unit’s cameraman, will meet Parveen Babi the next day on the set of The Burning Train, where the film’s muhurta is.
Even before Hindi films, Bob had done small jobs on the sets of Hollywood films.
Parveen Babi was mocked after seeing her without makeup
The next day Bob left with the cameraman. When he reached the set, a voice was heard from behind, Bob understood that it was Parveen. When I looked back, I was shocked to see his face. Went near and said, you are not Parveen, whereas the same famous actress was Parveen. Bob took out the magazine and said, this girl is Parveen, not you. Parveen was shocked.
Parveen Babi laughed, but understood the point. Actually, Parveen’s glamorous picture was in the magazine, while she was standing in front without makeup. Laughing, she said, “In the cover of the magazine, I am in make-up and in full getup. When I am not shooting, I am without makeup. Now before the Muhurta, I have to go for makeup.
Stayed in India and became an actor at the behest of Parveen Babi
Although the beginning of the first meeting was awkward, but during this time both of them became friends. On friendship, Parveen got Bob to work in films. Bob entered films with the 1978 film Ajeeb Dastan. Recognizing his talent, Sanjay Khan gave him the role of villain in the 1980 film Abdullah. He got recognition from the role of Villain and did about 200 films. These include superhit films Qurbani (1980), Kalia (1981), Nastik (1983), Mard (1985), Mr. India (1987), Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja (1993), Gumrah (1993).
Bob Christo’s autobiography Flashback: My Time in Bollywood and Beyond was launched by Akshay Kumar.
In the fight between Shatrughan and Sanjay Khan, a man came to kill him with a knife, Bob saved him
One day Bob Christo went to a party at Ranjit’s house with friend Sanjay Khan. After some time Prem Chopra, Shatrughan Sinha, Subhash Ghai and some others also came here. When friends met, liquor bottles were also opened. After some time an argument started between Sanjay Khan and Shatrughan and an atmosphere of heat was created. Most of the people present in the party stood with Shatrughan, but Bob supported his friend Sanjay. Suddenly the atmosphere got so bad that a man brought a knife from the kitchen to kill Sanjay. Bob snatches the knife from the man and tells him to be conscious. After some time, Sanjay and Bob leave Ranjit’s house. Sanjay’s bungalow was next to Ranjit’s bungalow.
Sanjay Khan called home with a gun at 5 in the morning when there was a threat to his life
Bob had just slept after reaching home when Sanjay Khan called at 5 in the morning. He said come home with the gun. Bob reached his house without asking questions. On reaching home, Sanjay told that bullets had been fired at his bungalow from Ranjit’s house. Someone fired two bullets from the gate towards his house. Somebody has slapped his guard. The police were called and an investigation was conducted. When it was light, both reached Dilip Kumar’s house to seek his advice. In this connection, Subhash Ghai had to spend a day in jail as well. Some seniors of the film industry ended the matter by meeting with Sanjay Khan and others.
In 1988, Bob appeared in the English film Bloodstone. Rajinikanth was also in the film.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra considered Bob Christo to be a cheater, said – he will run away with the money
Sanjay Khan and Bob became close friends after working together in the 1980 film Abdullah. Once Sanjay Khan had to get 50 thousand dollars from Switzerland, but he could not go because he was busy. Sanjay had so much faith in Bob that he asked him to leave. Bob also left alone for the sake of his friend.
When Sanjay’s friend Vidhu Vinod Chopra came to know about this, he expressed his displeasure. It is said that he has sent someone like this for such a huge amount. See, as soon as he gets the money, he will run away and all the money will be looted.
Vidhu bets Sanjay 100 pounds and says he will not return. Sanjay was so sure that he also placed a bet of 500 pounds and said that Bob would definitely come. When Bob was about to return, he called Sanjay from the London airport. Sanjay told him that there was a condition of 500 pounds on his arrival or not. Sanjay told Bob that when the flight lands, you should come to the lobby after a long time. This will make Vidhu think that he has won the bet, but then he will come to know the truth. Bob did just that. When Bob came in front of Vidhu, he was shocked.
When the assistant director started calling Bob Christo Babu Krishna
According to Lallantop’s report, once Bob went to the studio to shoot a Tamil film. The studio was not empty, so Bob stood outside waiting for his scene. As soon as his turn came, the director told his assistant to go get Bob Christo. Kaan’s raw assistant came out and started shouting Babu Krishna, Babu Krishna.
Bob was standing nearby, but he could not understand that the man shouting Babu Krishna’s name was looking for him. When she didn’t stop shouting, Bob went and asked who were you calling. Then it was understood that he was actually calling Bob Christo as Babu Krishna. He also clarified that even Bob would be called Babu in Tamil. When the director came to know about this, he also laughed a lot.
Apart from Hindi, Bob appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada language films.
Worked in TV shows too, then left the industry and became a yoga teacher
Apart from 200 films, Bob Christo has also acted in TV shows like The Sword of Tipu Sultan and The Great Maratha. He was well liked as Ahmed Shah Abdali. After 2003, Bob stopped working in films. After the death of his first wife, Helga, Bob remarried to a woman named Nargis, with whom he had a son, Sunil. As soon as he got away from films, he became a yoga teacher. Since 2003, he has never had any connection with the industry, although his statements kept coming to the fore.
Used to say that Parveen Babi committed suicide
When Parveen Babi, who introduced Bob Christo to films, died on January 20, 2005, Bob could not believe it. Till the last moment, he kept saying that Parveen had committed suicide after being fed up with life. Bob also died of a heart attack on March 20, 2011, at the age of 72.
