Sanjeev Bhaskar

Sanjeev Bhaskar

Sanjeev Bhaskar, OBE (born 1964) is a British comedian and actor, best known for his work in the BBC Two comedy series Goodness Gracious Me and as host of The Kumars at No. 42. He also presented and starred in a documentary series called India with Sanjeev Bhaskar where he travelled India and visited his ancestral home in todays Pakistan.

In 2003, he was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy.

Biography

Personal life

Bhaskar was born in Ealing, and grew up living above a launderette in Hounslow, West London. He experienced racism at school, Hounslow and Southall being particular targets for the British National Front. At one point in his sixth form, all but two of 150 students refused to talk to or sit with him. At first, Bhaskar’s father—a factory supervisor for Nestlé—and mother—a bookkeeper—were mortified by their son’s proposed career. So to appease them, he earned a degree in marketing from The Hatfield Polytechnic (now the University of Hertfordshire) before landing a job as a marketing executive at IBM. He soon realised that he preferred comedy to marketing and joined forces with an old college friend, Nitin Sawhney to start a musical comedy double act called “The Secret Asians” which they first performed in 1996 at the now defunct Tom Allen Arts Centre in East London. This performance was featured on a BBC magazine show called 'Reportage'. They performed extensively also at the Watermans Arts Centre with numerous other acts at a regular Asian comedy night called 'One Nation Under a Groove...Innit'. Their real break came when they were performing a show at the Oval House venue in South London, where after a strong review in Time Out magazine by journalist and playwright Bonnie Greer, they were approached by Anil Gupta, the producer of what was to become the BBC sketch series 'Goodness Gracious Me'.

In 2005 he married his frequent collaborator, Meera Syal, who plays his grandmother in The Kumars at No. 42 and was his co-star in Anita and Me. In August of that year, it was announced that they were expecting their first child. Their son, Shaan, was born at the Portland Hospital on 2 December 2005.

Career

At the age of 32, he at last he felt that his parents were pleased with him. “For the first 32 years of my life, they didn’t laugh at a single thing I said,” he jokes. “Then, quite frankly, they just jumped on the bandwagon because they saw everyone else was laughing!” Bhaskar has starred in a number of United Kingdom-produced films including The Guru and Anita and Me. He also had a cameo as a shop owner in Yash Raj Films' production Jhoom Barabar Jhoom.

Bhaskar, the Kumars and Gareth Gates collectively released the official single for Comic Relief in 2003, which spent 3 weeks at number 1 and was the second highest selling single of the year.

He appeared as a guest on the BBC’s Top Gear in 2003, setting a time of 1:51.0 around a wet Top Gear test track in a Suzuki Liana, placing him 32nd on the original leader board.

In 2005, Bhaskar was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the New Year Honours List.

As part of the BBC’s series of programmes on the 60th anniversary of the independence of India and Pakistan, he filmed a BBC documentary series India with Sanjeev Bhaskar with director Deep Sehgal which was broadcast to coincide with the 60th anniversary of Indian Independence in August 2007,. According to the BBC it included “an emotional journey” to his father’s ancestral home which is now in Pakistan.

His first book 'India with Sanjeev Bhaskar' based on the documentary series became a Sunday Times bestseller in 2007.

In 2008 he made his musical theatre debut as King Arthur in Spamalot at London's Palace Theatre.

In October 2008, he was featured on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.

He has written and will star in the forthcoming ITV sitcom Mumbai Calling and the UK tour of the hit American improv show, Totally Looped.

Filmography

• The Real McCoy (1991) in various roles
• Bollywood or Bust (1994) quiz show, hosted as himself
• Captain Butler (1997) as Adeel
• We Know Where you Live (1997) as various characters
• Goodness Gracious Me (1998) as various roles
• The Dance of Shiva (1998) as Sgt. Bakshi
• Jonathan Creek (1998) as doctor in episode “Black Canary”
• Notting Hill (1999) as Loud Man in Restaurant
• Small Potatoes (1999) as Rick Roy
• The Way It Is (2000) as Various Characters
• Inferno (2001) as Jaz
• Goodness Gracious Me: Back Where They Came From (2001) as Various
• The Mystic Masseur (2001) as Beharry
• The Kumars at No. 42 (2001-2006) as Sanjeev Kumar
• Dick Whittington (2002) as the mayor
• The Guru (2002) as Rasphal the cook
• Dalziel and Pascoe (2002) as Graham Shah in episode “Mens Sana”
• Anita and Me (2002) as Mr. Kumar
• Comic Relief 2003 (2003) as Sanjeev Kumar
• Angell’s Hell (2005) as John Angell
• Life Isn’t All Ha Ha Hee Hee (2005) as Akaash
• Chopratown (2005) as Vik Chopra
• L’Entente Cordiale (2006) as Commander Bashir
• Scoop (2006) as Poker Player
• Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (2007) as shopkeeper
• India with Sanjeev Bhaskar (2007) as Himself
• Mumbai Calling (2007) - as Kenny Gupta
• Jackboots on Whitehall (2009) - Rupee (voice)

Written

• Goodness Gracious Me (1998)
• The Kumars at No. 42 (2001–2006)
• "Mumbai Calling" (2007-2008)

Composed

• Goodness Gracious Me (1998)
• "Mumbai Calling - Pilot Ep" (2007)

Stage

• Art (2002) Whitehall Theatre, London, as Yvan
• Spamalot (2008) Palace Theatre, London, as King Arthur
• Totally Looped (2009) UK Tour

See also

• Meera Syal
• British Comedy

External links

• Sanjeev Bhaskar at IMDb
• "Casting" (MP3). earachevoices.com.