Tom Alter

Tom Alter
Born	2 Jul 1950 Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1976–present

Tom Alter (born 2 Jul 1950) is an Indian actor. As a thespian and television actor, he is best known for his work in Bollywood,^[1][2] but has also worked in the theatre.^[3]

In 2008, he was awarded Padma Shri by the Indian government.^[4][5]

Early life and education

A native of Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India,^[6] 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, now in Pakistan. His elder sister Martha Chen has a PhD in South Asian Studies ^[7] and his brother John is a poet and a teacher.^[1]

As a child, he studied Hindi and, consequently, he has occasionally been referred to as the "Blue-eyed saheb with impeccable Hindi."^{[citation needed]}

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."^[8]

He is married, with two children, a son, Jamie, and daughter, Afshaan.^[9]

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 years.^[10] He loved his job and the small town of Jagadhri. 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."^[11]

Alter is fluent in Hindi and knowledgeable of Indian culture. He has worked for noted filmmakers like Satyajit Ray in Shatranj Ke Khilari 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. He also wrote on cricket in Indian publications. In 1996, he was invited by friend Siraj Syed to Singapore, to do cricket commentary in Hindi, for Indian viewers, on the sports TV channel, ESPN.

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 TV production Shaktiman (1998–2002). Tom has also acted in the role of a doctor in Bheja Fry, a comedy movie starring Rajat Kapoor.

In April 2011, he acted in a short film Yours, Maria directed by Chirag Vadgama playing the lead role of Matthew Chacha 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 Theatre ever since, his latest being an adaptation of Vaikom Muhammad Basheer's My Grandad had 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 Yahan ke Hum Sikandar (as a generous school teacher), telecast on India's state-owned network, Doordarshan. Since April 2013, he is playing Sahir Ludhianvi in a stage production based on life and work of the famous Urdu poet and film-lyricist. ^[3]

Tom has lent his voice for authorized Audio Autobiography of Dr. Verghese Kurien, titled 'The Man Who Made The Elephant Dance' which was released on 5 September. 2012 at the hands of Infosys Co-founder and Chairman Narayana Murthy at International Convention Centre, Bombay Stock Exchange, Mumbai. It is conceptualised and produced by Atul Bhide of Om Audio Books.

Appearance in Indian TV serials

Tom appeared in many Indian TV serials and were praised by audience for his acting. In Zabaan Sambhalke he played the role of a British writer, Charles Spencers, who lives in India and wants to learn Hindi language.

Filmography

1976 Des Pardes

1976 Charas

References

External links

• Tom Alter at the Internet Movie Database