Del Singh enjoying his time on the set with Kabir Bedi and Roger Moore

[singhbj singh]

‘I hung out with him on the set of Octopussy’

In the summer of 1982 a man asked if I was a Sikh and if I wore a turban. He had phoned to book a disco as I ran a mobile disco with my brother, so I wondered what my religion had to do with things. He told me he was from Eon Studios, the company behind the James Bond film franchise. 

He said the next Bond film Octopussy would have scenes filmed at the steam railway in Peterborough and the movie’s main villain would be wearing a turban and they needed someone who could tie one: could I do this for them? 

That rather surreal conversation led to me meeting Roger Moore and Kabir Bedi - the movie’s villain - in a local hotel and I got the gig, possibly because I had my own turbans.

I spent the next four weeks on set tying what was my grey school turban on Kabir’s head, as the ones they had purchased in India were too small and kept falling off.

I was paid £50 per day for what was 10 minutes of time to tie on the turban and then hung around the set “chatting” with the Bond Girls or in Kabir’s trailer, which was next to Roger Moore’s.

I found it really easy to sit and chat with him as he loved cinema as much as I did. He wasn’t even offended when I told him that Sean Connery was my favourite Bond. 

Reporters allowed on set tried their best to goad him about the Connery vs Moore Bond rivalry since Connery was coming back to do a Thunderball remake Never Say Never Again. But Roger never rose to the bait he simply commented that both he and Sean interpreted Bond in their own way. 

He had a fantastic and very dry sense of humour. He also never took himself seriously - the ability to laugh at oneself is a gift many of us lack, but not Sir Roger. He will be sadly missed.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/may/25/one-of-natures-true-gentlemen-your-roger-moore-stories

[KhalistanYouth]

Interesting read