Asmita just alerted me in the comments that Tom Alter has passed away. Which immediately brought up his face in my head. He has been in sooooooo many movies. And he did such a good job in them! (If you are interested in seeing a recent performance, he was in M Cream which is now on Netflix)
In the grand scheme of white Hindi film actors, Tom Alter was something special. Born and raised in India, the child of missionary parents who were also born and raised in India, Hindi was his childhood language, and India was his home country. He wasn’t “acting” Indian in movies, he WAS Indian. Just, an Indian with white skin.
I first saw him in Asambhav, a terribly wonderful movie with Tom Alter, Naseeruddin Shah and very young and starting out Arjun Rampal and Priyanka Chopra. And a ridiculous plot. Tom Alter was there to be Naseerji’s scene partner, which is a compliment in itself. Certainly young Priyanka and Arjun weren’t up to the task, so they had to bring in a ringer.
(Although both Young Priyanka and Young Arjun are very very pretty.)
And it wasn’t just that he batted the dialogue back and forth like a pro, it’s that there was a real comfort there. He and Naseerji had been working together since they were in their twenties, in theater groups and films and everywhere else. We believed the backstory that they were old friends from India who had somehow landed in Switzerland as drug dealers/smugglers/nightclub owners (like I said, I terribly wonderful movie), because that kind of was their backstory, old friends from India who somehow landed in a film in which they played Swiss drug dealers.
There’s more to being a Hindi film actor than just knowing Hindi. Tom knew Hindi, but he also knew Indian acting. He had friendships going back decades with people throughout the industry, he knew how to emote and declaim in Indian style, and he had no shame in taking a small “anti-hero’s friend” role, or working in half a dozen or more films in one year. Or in mixing together challenging artistic performances with fun potboilers.
I don’t know if we will have another Tom Alter in Hindi cinema. I hope so, another reminder that India is made up of more than just the standard type. And a reminder that excellence can be recognized no matter what it looks like. And just how open the Indian film industry is.
dontcallitbollywood 
That’s sad 😦
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Tom Alter was the resident “Britisher” in Hindi films. I wonder if he actually played an american. I was really angry that he wasn’t a part of Lagaan because the forced Hindi accent that the foreign actors did in the film was so pathetic! He had one of the best hindi/urdu accents, even better than Naseeruddin Shah but sort of comparable to Raza Murad in enunciation. He will be missed!
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So many of the white people actors in Indian films, you can tell they are just random tourists who stumbled into the role because they look right. I wish there was more encouragement/outreach to local actors who have the right look like Tom Alter. He can’t have been the only one with that kind of background.
On Sat, Sep 30, 2017 at 2:13 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Totally agree
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I’ve only seen him in the small character roles (doctor etc) so will watch Asambhav to see him in a larger role.
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His role isn’t that big even in Asambhav. But you should still watch it because it is super fun!
On Sat, Sep 30, 2017 at 2:21 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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One of my earliest memories of him is as the strict warden from Aashiqui.
Him and another bald fellow played the white skinned villain in many a movie.
RIP Tom Alter
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Bob Christo! He died in 2011, he spent his later years as a yoga instructor. He was from Australia, a civil engineer, landed in India waiting for a work permit, and Parveen Babi discovered him/gave him his first role.
On Sat, Sep 30, 2017 at 8:29 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I loved him as the bad ahibdi speaking smuggler in Mr. India saying Jai Jai Bajrangbali with an accent.
Thanks for the name.
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He had put his stamp in regional films as well.He acted in 4 Malayalam films.I remember being pleasantly surprised by seeing him in Anuraga Karikkin vellum (an otherwise lackluster film).He was building low cost housing for the poor and spent the better part of the movie chasing the hero (his architect) who was not interested in the not-so-prestigious-project.Such a change from the usual evil foreigner roles.
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That’s another reason he will be missed. He inspired people to do something a little more with the foreigner parts.
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Sachin’s first interview was with Tom Alter
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