Kabir Bedi with the scroll of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Italy’s highest civilian award / Twitter/@KabirBedi

Veteran Indian actor Kabir Bedi was awarded the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Merito della Repubblica Italiana), the highest civilian award, at a private ceremony in Mumbai, India.

The honor was conferred on him, 13 years after he was knighted as Cavaliere (Knight) of the 'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana' in 2010.

The actor shared the news with his 127.9k followers on X. “AWARDED one of Italy’s highest decorations, The Order of Merit! At a private ceremony overlooking the Gateway of India in Mumbai, I was awarded the “Order of Merit of the Italian Republic” (Merito della Repubblica Italiana), the most prestigious Italian civilian award.”

The scroll of honor, as per Bedi’s post, read, “Kabir keeps on playing, decade after decade, an extraordinary role in promoting better relations between India and Italy. His popularity is widespread across all generations in Italy. This is the reason why the President of the Republic of Italy has decided to present him one of Italy’s highest decorations, The Order of Merit. Kabir is very special for all of us Italians.”

His post continued, “It was a very emotional award for me. Being presented the Order of Merit, Italy’s highest honour, is the fulfillment of my life’s work in Italy. It’s even higher than Cavaliere (Knight), which they made me twelve years ago. This double honour was a goose-bumps moment for me.” Bedi’s wife Parveen Dusanj, and his grandchildren – Omar Furniturewalla and Alaya F – were present at the ceremony to cheer him on.

Bedi’s Italian Connect

Bedi’s association with Italy dates back to the late 70s when he featured in ‘Sandokan’ a six-part Italian television show. Sandokan told the story of an Asian pirate who fell in love with the daughter of an English Lord.

Recalling his journey, the actor wrote, “My journey of becoming Sandokan began one hundred meters from where we were standing, at the iconic Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. That’s where I had met the director and Producer of the “Sandokan” series for the very first time. Life has come full circle.”

After Sandokan, Bedi has acted in six major television series in Italy. In 2022, he was awarded the Filming Italy Movie Lifetime Achievement Award at the Italian Pavilion working space, created by Cinecittà, as part of an initiative by the Directorate General for Cinema and Audiovisual (DGCA) of Italy’s Ministry of Culture (MiC), as per a variety report

The actor said the realization that he could not be a star in Bollywood “unless I wanted to be a singing-dancing star,” made him look for career opportunities abroad. “And it was the Italians that gave me the opportunity to come to Italy by giving me this iconic role of Sandokan,” he recollected.