Preeya Kalidas

Preeya Kalidas
Born	June 21, 1980 (1980-06-21) Isleworth, England
Other names	Preeya
Occupation	Actress, singer
Years active	1998- Present

Preeya Kalidas (born 21 June 1981) is a British singer and actress of Indian descent. She plays Amira Masood in the soap opera EastEnders. She returned to a career in singing, with her single "Shimmy" being released in July 2010 taken from her debut album (I'm Over It) Constant Craving, was supposed to be released in September 2010, but has been postponed until March 2012 due to work commitments.

Early life

Born in Isleworth, she was raised in Twickenham, south-west London, the daughter of an independent financial adviser father, and mother who works for British Airways. She started ballet classes at the age of three, and tap at five. She then trained at the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London. She trained at Songtime Theatre Arts.^{[citation needed]}

Acting career

Kalidas first appeared on screen in the drama Googleyes. She went on to play Usha in a short film called Jump Boy in 1998, directed by Menhaj Huda and written by Harsha Patel. After a number of parts in films and on television, including East is East, Bollywood Queen, My Family and Casualty, in 2002 she appeared as Monica in Gurinder Chadha's film Bend It Like Beckham. She then played the female lead Priya in the Andrew Lloyd Webber-produced show Bombay Dreams, written by A.R. Rahman, Meera Syal and Don Black. She also appeared in the BBC Television series Bodies as Dr. Maya Dutta.

In 2007, Kalidas landed the female lead in a West End revival of Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Appearing as the narrator, she performed with Lee Mead, who won the title role of Joseph in BBC One's Any Dream Will Do talent search series. The same year, she appeared in the multi-award-winning Channel 4 miniseries Britz. In 2009, Kalidas appeared in the second series of BBC One's Mistresses, and joined EastEnders in April of that year as Amira Shah, the girlfriend, and later wife of Syed Masood. In January 2010, she decided to quit EastEnders to pursue a pop career. Her final episode was broadcast on 26 April 2010. In July 2011, Kalidas revealed that she would be returning to EastEnders latter part of 2011.

Kalidas appeared in series 2, episode 7 of Green Wing as a newsagent, and in Hotel Babylon as Aisha Chaudhri, the daughter of a rich Indian hotel owner. She also appeared in the music video "Love Is Blind" by Ramzi featuring Ash King and "Lets Work it Out" by Raghav. In December 2009, she played the part of Leanne in ITV comedy drama Mister Eleven. She appeared in the 2010 Chris Morris feature film Four Lions playing Sofia, the wife of main protagonist Omar (played by Riz Ahmed). The film was released on 7 May. She also appeared in a small role in Gurinder Chadha's latest film It's a Wonderful Afterlife.

Singing career

After leaving EastEnders, Kalidas began to pursue a career in music, and managed to sign a record deal with Universal Records. Her debut single, "Shimmy", featuring Mumzy Stranger, was released on 26 July 2010. Kalidas appeared on several programmes including the National Lottery Results and Loose Women in promotion of the single. The single received mixed reviews, including BBC Newsround, who only awarded the song three stars, giving it a negative review. Ruth Harrison from FemaleFirst stated that she 'liked the single' but is not keen on the genre of music.

Kalidas stated in an interview with Digital Spy that her album will consist of a variety of genres. She also confirmed that the album would include collaborations with Bashy, Skepta, Schorcer, Ramzi and Mumzy Stranger. Kalidas' collaboration with Skepta, "Cross My Heart", was released in October 2010 as the lead single from Skepta's second studio album, Doin' It Again, however, at the time of release, Kalidas firmly stated it's inclusion on her debut album.

In 2011, it was announced that due to poor sales of "Shimmy", Kalidas would no longer be releasing an album with Universal Records. However, in the same month, Kalidas was awarded the Best Female Act award at the UK Asian Music Awards, where she performed a new song, "I Like You", alongside her debut single "Shimmy" and her collaboration with Skepta, "Cross My Heart". In July 2011, Kalidas signed a new record deal with All Around The World, a label who's artists including multi-award winning N-Dubz and British rapper Tinchy Stryder. In September 2011, Kalidas' second single, "It's A Problem", premiered on YouTube. The single features vocals from rapper Scorcher, who had previously been rumoured to appear on the album. The music video for "It's A Problem" premiered on October 3, 2011. The digital package of the single was released on October 10, containing "I Like You", as well as a further new song, "Dirty Kissin'". During an interview on Lorraine in November 2011, Kalidas confirmed that the album's third single, "A Woman Scorn", will be released in January 2012. A rough tracklisting for Kalidas' album surface on the web during this time.

Discography

• "I'm Over It" (2012)

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Shimmy" (featuring Mumzy Stranger)	Janet Ava Leon, Alex James	Alex James	3:26
2.	"It's A Problem" (featuring Scorcher)	Kalidas, Alex James, Tayo Jarrett	Alex James	3:10
3.	"Cross My Heart" (with Skepta)	J. Adenuga	J. Adenuga	2:53
4.	"Fantasy" (with Bashy)	Ava Knox, Chris Peters, Drew Peters	Peters & Peters	3:04
5.	"Dance Dance" (featuring Mumzy Stranger)
6.	"Love Is Blind" (featuring Ramzi)
7.	"Dirty Kissin'"
8.	"Crush"
9.	"Show It To The DJ"
10.	"I'm Over It"
11.	"Touch The Sky" (featuring Ramzi)
12.	"I Like You"
13.	"A Woman Scorn"
14.	"Shimmy" (Desi Remix) (featuring H-Dhami)	Janet Ava Leon, Alex James	Alex James	5:56

External links

• Official website
• Preeya Kalidas at the Internet Movie Database