Celebs Take To Twitter To Mourn The Passing Away Of Tom Alter But Only A Few Turn Up For Funeral

 

 

Well-known theatre, television and film actor of American descent, Tom Alter, passed away in Mumbai of cancer. A statement issued by his family on Saturday said Alter died Friday night at home with his family around him in Mumbai. Tom, who was suffering from stage-four skin cancer, died at the age of 67. Alter is survived by his wife Carol, son Jamie, and daughter Afshaan.

Celebrities were quick to hit social media with their condolences and it soon flooded the online platforms. Several celebs like Rishi Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, Mahesh Bhatt, Shekhar Kapur, Anupam Kher, Pulkit Samrat and Swara Bhaskar along with several others of the glitterati expressed their grief on Twitter.

 

Unfortunately, no big star from the tinsel town turned up for the funeral of the actor at Worli, Mumbai on Saturday morning in the presence of family members and some close friends. Surprisingly, besides a few people from the industry, no A-lister Bollywood star was present at the funeral.

Actor Raza Murad and filmmaker Shyam Benegal were the only persons from the film fraternity to attend Tom's funeral. It is surprising that no big stars, not even the senior actors who worked with him, dropped in at Worli on Saturday morning.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed his grief and recalled Alter's contribution to the film world and theater.

An Indian actor of American descent, Alter, was born to American Christian missionary parents in Mussoorie in 1950. Alter was working as a teacher in a school in Jagadhri, Haryana, when he was bitten by the acting bug after watching Rajesh Khanna-Sharmila Tagore’s Aradhana.

The actor soon joined Film and Television Institute of India in Pune, where he studied acting from 1972 to 1974 and graduated with a gold medal.

He was a versatile actor, who essayed prominent roles in many big Bollywood movies and TV shows. Tom's death certainly is a big loss to the industry.

Alter made his film acting debut in 1976 with Ramanand Sagar’s directorial venture Charas, which starred Dharmendra and Hema Malini in lead role. Alter played Chief Custom Officer in the movie. His next and one his most celebrated films was Satyajit Ray’s Shatranj Ke Khilari (1977), based on Munshi Premchand’s short story of the same name.

It was followed by Shyam Benegal’s Junoon (1979), Manoj Kumar’s Kranti (1981) and Raj Kapoor’s Ram Teri Ganga Maili (1985). His acting credits also include Aashiqui, Parinda, Sardar Patel and Gandhi.

Alter acted in more than 300 films in several Indian languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Assamese and Telugu. Though Alter was one of the finest actors of his era, he was stereotyped in Bollywood as the perennial British man.

He made his debut in regional cinema in 1977 with Kannada film Kanneshwara Rama. He also acted in Bengali, Assamese, Gujarati, Telegu, Tamil and Kumaoni films.

On television, Alter worked in popular shows like Junoon, Gul Gulshan Gulfaam, Zabaan Sambhalke, Bharat EK Khoj, Shaktimaan, Captain Vyom and Yahaan Ke Hum Sikandar. He was last seen on TV in ongoing serial Rishton Ka Chakravyuh.

Alter was closely involved in theatre throughout his career. He co-founded Motley Productions with Naseeruddin Shah and Benjamin Gilani in 1979.

Alter’s prominent stage works include the two-and-a-half-hour-long solo play in Urdu, Maulana, Babur ke Aulaad, Lal Qile ka Aakhri Mushaira, Ghalib ke Khat, Teesveen Shatabdi, Copenhagen, In Ghalib In Delhi and the theatrical adaptation of William Dalrymple’s City of Djinns.

Alter also was a cricket enthusiast and had written for several sporting journals. He was the first person to interview Sachin Tendulkar for TV, before his debut as a cricketer for India.

 

The actor was awarded Padma Shri in 2008 for his services in the field of arts and cinema. His last film was Sargoshiyan with Alok Nath and Farida Jalal. The film released in May this year.

Alter was the son of American Christian missionaries. His grandparents had migrated to India from Ohio, the United States, in 1916 and settled in Lahore, now in Pakistan. After the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, his grandparents stayed in Pakistan, while his parents moved to India.

He had schooling in the northern Indian hill resort of Mussoorie and later joined the Film and Television Institute in the western city of Pune from 1972 to 1974. He made his Bollywood acting debut in 1976.

Alter's body was cremated on Saturday in Mumbai, the Press Trust of India news agency quoted his son Jamie Alter as saying. A memorial service will be held next week.