Sabu Dastagir

Sabu Dastagir was born on January 27, 1924. He obtained American Citizenship before he was an Indian actor. He had created from his first name Sabu. In Britain and America, he was known for his work, during 1930s-1940s. An Indian Mahout (elephant rider) was his father. Journalist Philip Leibfried suggested that Sabu Dastagir was his brother’s name but in most of the reference books his name was Sabu Dastagir, and his actual name was Selar Shaik Sabu or Sabu Francis.

In the robbery of his furniture store his brother had been killed, their business was owned by two men jointly. In 1937, Robert Flaherty discovered and cast him in his film named Elephant Boy in which he played the role of an elephant rider when he was 13 years old. The film was based a story by Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling was born on 30th December 1 >> Read More... named "Toomai of the Elephants". In the Thief of Bagdad, a British film, 1940, he was best known for his role as Abu. He played the role of Mowgli in the Jungle Book The concept about a child being raised in Jungle b >> Read More... , a Kipling story directed by Zoltán Korda in 1942.

He joined the United States Army Air Forces and served as a tail gunner and ball turret gunner on B-24 Liberators, after becoming the citizen of America. In the Pacific, with the 370th Bomb Squadron of the 307th Bomb Group, he flew a dozen missions and was also awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his valor and bravery. He was not able to secure the roles in Hollywood that British films offered after World War II World War II is a Malayalam information TV show on >> Read More... . He got significant roles like his role as supporting actor in film Black Narcissus (1947).

In the Harringay Circus, he was seen with an elephant act, in 1952. A Tiger Walks was his last film that was completed and was released three months after his death on March 1964. Marilyn Copper was his wife. They both got married on 19 October 1948 and had two children. Their marriage lasted until his death. The rock band Sabu was established by his son Paul Sabu in 1980s and their daughter was an animal trainer in various films and her name was Jasmine Sabu, and she died in 2001. Sabu died on 2 December 1963 and was 39 years old.

His death was because of sudden heart attack and her wife mentioned in an interview that two days before his death their doctor said that “If all my patients were as healthy as you, I would be out of my job."