Sabu, the Indian Who Made It in 1930s Hollywood
As the West’s “elephant boy,” he was exotic enough to be adored — and expendable enough to be forgotten.
Last month, Deepika Padukone made global headlines as outlets rushed to declare: “First Indian actor to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.” They got it wrong.
When Hollywood began enshrining the names of its most prominent actors into the sidewalks of Los Angeles in 1960, two people with South Asian roots made the cut for the first 500 inductees: actors Merle Oberon and Sabu. While Oberon hid her identity and passed as white, Sabu’s unmistakable Indianness was his brand — and his burden. He was Hollywood’s biggest Indian star at 13, breaking barriers and winning acclaim abroad. But by 39, he was dead and forgotten, erased from the history of both the West and the land he once called home.