When Actor Tom Alter Said He Was Heavily Inspired By This Bollywood Star

Thomas Beach Alter, popularly known as Tom Alter, was a famous face on the big screen of Bollywood. With each film, he made a lasting impression on the audience with his piercing blue eyes and impeccable Hindi. His tall stature and tone of voice won the hearts of viewers. He has acted in notable films like Manmohan Desai’s Parvarish, Satyajit Ray’s Shatranj Ke Khilari and Nasir Hussain’s Hum Kisise Kum Naheen. Did you know that he was heavily inspired by Bollywood star Rajesh Khanna? September 29 marks the anniversary of Tom Alter’s death. On this occasion, let’s look back on his life.

Tom Alter has primarily worked in the Hindi film industry and Indian theater. For his contribution to the industry, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India. He was also called a “blue-eyed saheb with impeccable Hindi”. While teaching in a school in Jagadhri, Haryana, he started watching Hindi films. It was around this time that he started watching Hindi films and saw Aradhana, which proved to be a turning point in his career. He quickly began to consider a career as an actor. He headed to the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune, where he studied acting under Roshan Taneja. In an interview, he had said that he “came to Mumbai to become Rajesh Khanna” and not to perform on stage.

Tom Alter worked in many films from 1970 to 2017 and his acting was highly appreciated by the audience. He mainly got the roles of British officers or foreign characters. The actor has worked in over 100 films. He marked his debut with the film Mrig Trishna. He has worked in films like Charas, Laila Majnu, Saheb Bahadur, Hum Tere Aashiq Hain, Kranti, Ram Teri Ganga Maili, Suryavanshi, Shaheed Uddham Singh, Veer-Zaara, Bheja Fry and many more. He was last seen in 2019 in Kitaab, a short film.

In September 2017, the actor was diagnosed with stage IV skin cancer. On September 29, he breathed his last at his residence in Mumbai.