Shaheed Udham Singh is remembered as a revolutionary and legendary nationalist who was awarded death sentence after he was found guilty of murder in 1940. He is known for murdering British administrator Michael O’Dwyer who gave a go-ahead to Brigadier-General R.E.H. Dyer to carry out the Jallianwala Bagh massacre that claimed lives of hundreds of men, women, and children while leaving thousands injured.
However, not many are aware that apart from being a freedom fighter struggling for independence under the colonial rule, Udham Singh had performed several other roles. Did you know that Udham Singh had acted in two Hollywood films?
Yes, just a years before he was hanged Udham Singh acted in 2 Hollywood films that included Elephant Boy (1937) and The Four Feathers (1939). Why you ask? He acted in these English movies, to so he could earn some extra money to support the Ghadar Party, an organisation comprising of a group of Indians coming together to end the British rule in India.
Udham Singh who apparently went to London to avenge the Jallianwala Bagh massacre worked as an extra in Alexander Korda’s Elephant boy that based on Toomai and the Elephants from The Jungle Book.
Even though the film never saw a release in India, the film went on to win the Best director’s award in the Venice Film Festival.
Another Hollywood flick called The Four Feathers (1939) was directed by Zolton Korda. Udham Singh played an extremely small role in the movie that was about a British officer who disguises himself as an Arab to save his comrades.
Singh murdered Michael O’Dwyer in Caxton Hall in London after opening fire at him killing him on the spot in March 1940. He was handed on July 31, 1940, at Pentonville Prison.
