James Bond Wiki
Register
Advertisement
James Bond Wiki
Header_Tag_Spacer.png
Cinematic Tag


Gobinda (গোবিন্দ) was Kamal Khan's primary and most loyal henchman. A major antagonist portrayed by Indian actor, Kabir Bedi, and doubled by stuntman, BJ Worth[1], the character first appeared in the 1983 James Bond film, Octopussy.

Biography[]

Gobinda is generally seen accompanying Kamal Khan wherever he goes, and performing various other duties, mainly security based. British agent James Bond first spies the tall, imposing man when Gobinda is acting as chauffeur for Khan and his henchwoman Magda in a street after the Sotheby's auction. Later in India, it is clear Gobinda means business when he destroys the rigged dice after Bond defeats Kamal in a game of backgammon at the hotel casino. Then later, he and Khan's other henchmen chase Bond and his Indian ally, Vijay, through the streets of Agra driving tuk-tuks and try unsuccessfully to shoot 007 and Vijay. Ultimately the goon captures Bond after Magda seduces the spy and steals the real Fabergé Egg. He takes the agent to stay as Kahn's 'guest' at the Monsoon Palace, where 007 finds out that Khan is working with General Orlov.

Later, Gobinda fights Bond on Octopussy's train in Germany but fails in killing him when the British falls off the train. He notices 007 when they are leaving the circus and informs Khan, who says to let their enemy keep going and that he will soon die in the explosion. However, Bond and Octopussy manage to deactivate the bomb and return to India to attack Kamal Khan. During the assault on and in Khan's palace, Octopussy gets captured by Khan and Gobinda, who escape the palace and into a plane. Bond follows them and jumps on the plane, disabling one of its engines in the process. Khan so instructs Gobinda to fight 007 atop the plane, albeit understandably with some reluctance. His reluctance was with good concern, as that was a very risky venture that ultimately led to Gobinda's doom. Bond figured he was outmatched and wing-walking makes a poor choice for a battleground. While Gobinda is attempting to grab Bond, 007 pulls back the plane's antenna and snaps it at Gobinda's head. Gobinda screams in pain due to the blistering sting of the antenna's snap, and it also causes him to loosen his arm's grip on the fuselage, causing him to fall to his death.

Behind the scenes[]

Gallery[]

Gobinda/Gallery

Trivia[]

  • With Octopussy and Magda redeemed and General Orlov taken down, Gobinda is arguably the film's overall secondary antagonist.
  • After Bond wins Kamal’s fixed game of backgammon, Gobinda crushes the loaded dice with his bare hands – similar of Oddjob crushing Goldfinger’s golf ball 19 years earlier.
  • Gobinda could be considered as one of the most sadistic henchman characters, supposedly killing two of Kamal Khan's servants after they were ordered to put the Russian jewelleries into Orlov's helicopter on the rooftop of Monsoon Palace. The murder was never visually confirmed, but the last time they were seen alive was with Gobinda as he supervised the jewelleries' loading. Seconds later, they were seen hanging dead when Bond attempts to hide in the palace's mortuary. This could be suggested as a possibility that Gobinda kills them both after they sincerely did their job.
  • Gobinda had some parallel to Jaws, in that they were both physically intimidating men who said little. Both had stunt doubles in a climatic scene of high altitude, although in the case of Jaws being on the aerial tram, actor Richard Kiel refused to do such a dangerous stunt, citing his acrophobia.
  • Gobinda was similar to Necros: they were large men fiercely loyal to their boss, both seemed to overpower Bond in an even fight and both men died from being defenestrated from an airplane in flight.
  • The name Govinda or Gobinda means "keeper of cows" and is one of the epithets of the god Vishnu.

References[]

  1. Testing the Limits. Octopussy: Blu-ray Edition: MGM Home Entertainment.

Advertisement