Ben Kingsley, 64, with Brazilian-born Daniela Barbosa de Carneiro, his 35-year-old fourth wife

London, Dec. 4: Had Gandhi been alive, he would probably be fasting outside the Taj for peace by now.

Ben Kingsley, who will always be known as the actor who portrayed the Mahatma in Richard Attenborough’s Oscar-winning Gandhi in 1982, is a slightly more cautious man.

He has expressed support for Indians in the aftermath of the Mumbai horror but indicated his shooting schedule in India may be affected.

The 64-year-old actor, who likes to be addressed as “Sir Ben”, said: “I was planning a film there, one or two films there. One was a film about Buddha, the other is not far enough along for me to describe.”

Asked whether the terrorist attack would affect his plans adversely, he admitted: “I am sure it will. It won’t be my decision as to whether we go, it will be the financiers and the producers. I was going to be filming definitely in 2009, so probably in the first few months of the year….”

Kingsley, who was speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live at the recent British Independent Film Awards, said: “I’m absolutely horrified by the events in Mumbai. I hope that India will survive and move forward, but she is really going to watch her back. She really is. I am deeply sorry.”

He added that India, as a great emerging economy and an ancient civilisation and culture, must avoid cynicism in this hour of crisis.

“I really hope India can shake this off, because so many people want to be there and invest there and enjoy their industry and economy. I am sure they are in shock. They don’t have the mindset that other nations have, of saying to themselves it (another outrage) could happen today, they just don’t. And I hope they never have that cynical mindset, but they have got to be careful.”

Kingsley belongs to a previous generation of Indian immigrants in Britain when having an Indian name could be a disadvantage. He was speaking at a ceremony when a British actor, Dev Patel, took the most promising newcomer accolade.

Born Krishna Bhanji in Yorkshire on December 31, 1943, the young actor thought it prudent for career reasons to change his name to Ben Kingsley in the 1970s.

Ironically, in today’s England it is a disadvantage for British-born Indian actresses to be too fair complexioned as they often find themselves turned down for parts on the ground that they “don’t look Indian enough”.

Someone who looked like Aishwarya Rai, for example —Kingsley apparently wants to cast her as Mumtaz in a film about the Taj (the one in Agra) he wants to produce — would not stand a chance. Nor would Kareena Kapoor.

Kingsley’s father was Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji, an Ismaili Muslim of Khoja Gujarati descent who was born in East Africa and came to England to become a doctor. Kingsley’s mother was Annalyna Mary (ée Goodman), the daughter of an English East London garment worker and a father who was believed by the family to have been a Russian or German Jew.