BAFTA 2016 pays tribute to Saeed Jaffrey

Saeed Jaffrey, one of the first Indian actors to successfully establish an international film and theatre career, was remembered at this year's BAFTA awards.

Jaffrey, a BAFTA nominee for the 1985 film, My Beautiful Laundrette, died at the age of 86 late last year.

The actor found mention in the obituary section alongside Alan Rickman, Maureen O'Hara, Omar Sharif, David Bowie, Ron Moody, Frank Finlay and Christopher Lee.

Jaffrey is also the first Indian to receive the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his contributions to drama.

Some of his notable international performances are The Man Who Would Be King, Death on the Nile, Sphinx, The Jewel in the Crown, A Passage to India, The Deceivers, After Midnight, On Wings of Fire and Chicken Tikka Masala. His international career saw him working with Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Roshan Seth, James Ivory, Richard Attenborough and Daniel Day-Lewis.

To his Indian fans, Jaffrey is mostly known for his roles as a benevolent gentleman, friend and father figure in films like Masoom, Chashme Buddoor, Kissi Se Na Kehna and Ram Lakhan, among many other characters. One of his best loved films is Satyajit Ray's Shatranj Ke Khiladi, following which the veteran actor credited Ray with bringing him back to Indian films.