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India’s first Hollywood star Sabu’s epic journey heads to the big screen
Sabu Dastagir was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.
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Jeffin T. Kaleekal - Fri, 25, Jul 2025
- 03:15 EDT
- 35
India's first Hollywood star, the oft-forgotten Sabu, is set to return to the big screen. However, this time around, the late actor's life would take center-stage as it gets featured in the film adaptation of his biography, 'Sabu: The Remarkable Story of India’s First Actor in Hollywood,' by author Debleena Majumdar, Variety reported.
The film will chronicle the incredible life of Sabu Dastagir, a young boy from Mysore, who rose from elephant stables to the heights of Hollywood fame.
A Hollywood hall of famer, Sabu, was a mahout's (elephant handler) son in colonial India and it was from this humble origin that he scaled the heights of global cinema.
Almighty Motion Picture has acquired the film and television rights to the biography by Majumdar, painting his life's journey that features his breakout role as the 'elephant boy' in his first acting venture to his service as an air gunner in the second World War.
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Sabu's debut film even won its director, Robert J. Flaherty, the Best Director award at the Venice Film Festival.
A Hollywood superstar in his own right, Sabu played lead roles in movies like “The Thief of Bagdad” (1940), “Jungle Book” (1942), “Arabian Nights” (1942) and “Black Narcissus” (1947).
Prabhleen Sandhu, producer at Almighty Motion Picture talked about the upcoming film told Variety, “Sabu’s story deserves to be told with grandeur and truth.” She added, “He wasn’t just India’s first global star—he was a bridge between worlds, cultures, and eras. To bring his story to the screen is more than filmmaking – it’s preserving a legacy the world must never forget and is a responsibility we hold close to our hearts.”
Author Debleena Majumdar said: “It was an honor to research on this book and more importantly to learn about how cinema and movies evolved through world changing global events.”
Sabu's contribution to world cinema and India extends beyond box office sensations, he was a cultural bridge between the East and West.
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