Deepika Padukone is not the first Indian honoured with a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame, it was Sabu Dastagir

While Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone was recently named among the 2025 inductees to the prestigious Hollywood Walk of Fame, the celebration surrounding her as the "first Indian" to receive the honour isn't historically accurate.

Earlier this week, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced that Deepika, known internationally for her role in XXX: The Return of Xander Cage, will soon have her name engraved on the iconic boulevard in Los Angeles.

Many Indian media outlets hailed it as a “first” for India, however, that title actually belongs to Sabu Dastagir, a lesser-known but pioneering Indian actor from pre-partition Mysore.

Born in 1924 in Mysore (then part of undivided India), Sabu was the son of an elephant mahout.

He was discovered by American filmmaker Robert Flaherty and made his acting debut in Elephant Boy (1937), a film inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s stories.

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His natural screen presence and charisma earned him leading roles in several Hollywood productions, including The Drum (1938), The Thief of Bagdad (1940), Arabian Nights, White Savage, and Cobra Woman.

At the height of his career, Sabu was celebrated as one of the most prominent actors in Hollywood, known particularly for his work in fantasy and adventure films.

In 1944, he became a American citizen and enlisted in the US Army Air Forces during World War II. After the war, his fame gradually declined, and he appeared mostly in less popular European productions.

Despite his fading stardom, Sabu's contribution to global cinema was formally acknowledged when he was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.

Sabu passed away at the young age of 39 in 1963. Interestingly, he never acted in a single Indian film, yet he remains the first Indian to leave a lasting mark in Hollywood.