Try contacting Mr Tom Alter! He doesn’t carry a cell-phone because he doesn’t like “a good film, conversation or even a silence to be interrupted”. When you manage to touch base with him through his efficient housekeeper and e-mail, it’s a long trudge to town in Mumbai Central where he ocupies a spacious, rented apartment leased out by the Methodist Church. Clearly his personal choices and lifestyle are reflective of his philosophy of “space to wander about physically, mentally and emotionally.”
Born in the hills of Mussoorie to an American missionary couple who were the biggest Indophiles - both his parents spoke Urdu fluently and his dad even “ read the Bible in Urdu”, Alter grew up enjoying the rich syntax of Indian languages. If the Alter clan were to be described collectively, they have to called the “literatti” because in this family “if you don’t write you are considered different”. While Alter’s grandfather as well as father were writers, his elder sister Martha is a PhD in Sanskrit and brother John, a poet and a teacher. Alter himself has to his credit books like The Longest Race,Rerun At Rialto and The Best In The World and he also moonlights as a sports journalist in publications like Sportsweek, The Outlook, Cricket Talk, Sunday Observer and Debonair.
When he made it to the list of Padma Shri awardees of the year alongside Madhuri Dixit and Manoj Night Shyamalan, he was “Utterly shocked and deeply grateful” for the recognition of his work. “I didn’t try to get it, so there is a greater sense of satisfaction in receiving the honour,” he admits. Although his mother is still alive, he wishes his father were around to see his “big day”.

“All because of Aradhana...”
What brought Alter from the tranquil foothills of Himalayas to the urban chaos of film industry is the triumph of free spirit and will. He recalls how his Hindi teacher, Saroj Kapadia at Woodstock School in Mussoorie, introduced them to the magical world of films when she took her class to watch Kabuliwallah. He thoroughly enjoyed being a part of annual Hindi plays in the school too.
Alter picked up a school teacher’s post at the tender age of 19 and worked in the small town of Jagadri in Haryana where they would “play till the light lasted and then it was the movies”. The Asha Parekh-Shashi Kapoor film Pyar Ka Mausam was the very first film with which he opened his account. Completely mesmerised by the moving images, he kept watching films - Heer Ranjha, Jeene Ki Raah and Ganga Jamuna with great relish. “But it was Aradhana that changed the course of my life, I decided to be a film actor after that. I told Sharmila Tagore and Rajesh Khanna about it later,” he smiles.

“Benjamin Gilani and I were chosen from Delhi...”
Tom worked for eight months in Pennsylvania, USA in a Psychiatric hospital where he “learnt a lot about life”. Back in India, he opted for the prestigious FTII ( Film and Television Institute of India ) in Pune which was “like the IIT then”. Alter recalls that he was 900th cadidate appearing for the interview and there were many after him, “From those 1000, only two guys were selected from Delhi. Benjamin Gilani and I,” he reminisces with a hint of pride in his voice. Naseeruddin Shah was also his batchmate in ’72, “Benjamin, Naseer and I formed our theatre troupe,The Motley Group in ’79 and 30 years later it’s still functional, never mind if we are no longer a part of it,” he observes.
Alter is rather proud of his Alma Mater and of the 160 actors who passed out of FTII, before it shut down for 28 long years. About 90 actors are still active in the film industry, “Our hit rate is 60% and the credit goes to Professor Roshan Taneja for making actors and well-rounded human beings out of us,” he remarks. Alter went back to FTII in 2004 when the acting course was resumed and taught students.”Just watch out for the fresh batch - Anurag Sinha has already made a mark in Black And White,” he says.

“Nimble tree-climbing got me my first break...”
In those days when his batchmates - Mithun Chakraborty, Ranjeeta and Rama Vij hit big times, but the first break couldn’t have been easy for Alter what with his firang looks. However, Alter argues that his exotic looks never came in his way. “In fact my looks proved to be an asset for me,” he asserts. Prem Sagar, a fellow student, had seen Alter clamber up a tree most nimbly for a diploma film and when his father, Ramanand Sagar was casting for Charas, he promptly recommended Alter for it. “I landed the role of Dharmendra’s Interpol boss operating from Malta, which was entirely shot in Mumbai,” he recalls with a laugh. He’s quick to point out that he didn’t play a firang in it and that he delivered Hindi lines in a Punjabi accent. Charas was a major hit and radio supremo hailed him as the “Naya chownka denewala chehra” in his film review. Since then Alter has been a part of numerous Sagar projects and he likes to call it “a long relationship, a 2 am friendship that extends to date as I am also a part of the teleserial Hatim made by the next generation of Sagars - Amrit.”

“Manikda, Raj Kapoor, Manojbhai... all the masters”
Of the 230 films Alter has featured in so far, he discloses that he’s played an Englishman with a “Hhum ttumko” accent “only once” and that he has assiduously evaded being typecast with the choice of parts. Only three years after joining films, he was offered Shatranj Ke Khilari by Satyajit Ray who’s popularly referred to as Manikda.”He was the most level-headed and most welcoming film person I have known. He made us relax completely before the camera and brought out the best of his actors,” he says.
He counts Shyam Benegal’s Junoon among the milestones in his career.”Because it gave me the opportunity to act with the late Jennifer Kapoor, the most beautiful person and it was the first film I got to act with Naseer albeit for one shot in which he strikes me dead,” he elaborates.
Alter considers Manoj Kumar his “bhai, malik”.”Hats off to his creative and commercial accomplishment, he gave so many hits in a row - Shaheed, Upkaar, Shor, Roti Kapada...and Kranti. I played the British captain of the ship on which major drama takes place,” he informs.
He considers himself the blessed one because he got the opportunity to work with all the greats “Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor”. Alter played a pivotal role in Ram Teri Ganga Maili. “If Rajji loved you he would do anything for you, I was fortunate that he really loved me,” Alter reminisces fondly.

“A festival of my unreleased films as the hero”
Alter has no regrets that he was relegated to playing character roles and that heroic roles came by rarely to him. “I played the main hero in Chameli Memsaab and Gajomukta, a Bangla film - both directed by Ajit Lahiri,” he enumerates. He jokes that many films of his as a hero remain unreleased and that some day he could have a festival of those.
Of the characters played in a career spanning over three decades, Alter’s all-time favourites are David Barrie, the jailer who tortured Veer Savarkar in the film of that name and Lord Mountbatten in Sardar.
He co-starred legendary Peter O’Toole in One Night With The King, a Hollywood production in ’50s. He now awaits the release of Ketan Mehta’s Rang Rasiya in which he plays the key role of the judge who absolved painter Ravi Verma of the charges of obscenity for making a nude painting.“I have an interesting speech in it,” he says. He’s excited about Subhash Ghai’s production Cycle Kick, and an art film titled Ocean Of An Old Man. “I came here to be a film actor and that’s what I want to do for the rest of my life,” he confesses.

“Plays, Ghalib recitation, writing and cricket - have done it all since schooldays”
Alter’s predeliction for theatre dates back to school and then to the Motley Group. His noted stage appearances are as Maulana Azad in play titled Maulana, he also was the part of theatrical adaptation of William Dalrymple’s The City Of Djinns. He recites the English translation of Ghalib’s nine ghazals and nazms along with Juhi Babbar who recites the Urdu originals.
Alter has been a cricket player and he captained his Match Cut Club team comprising of Naseeruddin Shah, Nana Patekar, Satish Shah and now the younger lot for 15 years. “We have toured the Andamans, Jamnagar, Ajmer and Poona and we have a old rivalry with the Doon School team,” he relates. With growing years and commitments, he may have cut down on actual play but he remains dedicated to the game. However, he doesn’t appreciate the tamasha called IPL”. He has declined plum offers as a commentator.
Alter’s two children have chosen paths that do not converge with his track of film acting. While his elder son James is the associate editor of cricinfo.com, popular portal by Wisden/ESPN, daughter Afshaan is still in college and “sings beautifully” but doesn’t want to be in films.
“I am in no hurry and my faith in my talent and the film industry remains unshakable,” he surmises quoting Ghalib’s couplet:
“The pain that I feel inside me, it never sought relief.
I never became better, what’s wrong with that?”