Sandokan (1976 TV series)

Sandokan is a 1976 Italian television series directed by Sergio Sollima, based upon the novels of Emilio Salgari featuring the pirate hero Sandokan. It was followed in 1977 by a feature-length spin-off film, and in 1996 by a sequel series named The Return of Sandokan, with Kabir Bedi reprising his role as Sandokan in both. The series was a RAI co-production with German and French companies Bavaria Film and ORTF.

Universally recognized as one of the most famous television dramas in the history of Italian television, Sandokan was broadcast by RAI in 6 episodes from 6 January to 8 February 1976 on Rete 1 (now Rai 1), enjoying great success, especially among younger audiences. Together with the dramas The Odyssey (1968), Eneide (1971), and Jesus of Nazareth (1977), Sandokan inaugurated the beginning of forms of co-production with Italian and foreign producers; in this way, in the seventies, a different articulation of fiction began to emerge which tended to go beyond the "scripted from published work" genre to expand towards new frontiers, calling on directors and intellectuals to renew and expand the offer of fiction or other genres of the TV schedule.

The production of the drama was very complex and troubled: the production overall took about four years and its completion was mainly due to the great work effort of Sollima, whose intention was to create a realistic and impressive product; to achieve this goal Sollima dedicated almost all his energy during the production period. Precisely the production grandeur and the great success with the public make this drama a milestone in the history of television; it was, in fact, the first case of an Italian teleromanzo or sceneggiato to be made with the care and production grandeur of a colossal film.