Sanjeev Bhaskar
Sanjeev Bhaskar
Sanjeev Bhaskar, OBEis a British comedian, actor and broadcaster, 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 in which he travelled to India and visited his ancestral home in today's Pakistan. Bhaskar's acting roles include the lead role of Dr. Prem Sharma in The Indian Doctor and a main role as...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionComedian
Date of Birth27 June 1961
vocabulary way stage
I'm sure I went through a stage when I resented being Indian because in every other manner, in terms of cultural reference points and vocabulary and all the rest of it, I was way ahead of everybody else - so the one thing that set me back was being Indian. And I couldn't do anything about it.
people feelings looks
If I go anywhere where there are people who vaguely look like me, there is always that feeling of, 'Actually I do look quite similar to everyone else.' At moments like that, I become very, very British. My accent gets more clipped, and I stride around as if I've got an empire.
asian world comedy
It always interested me that 'Goodness Gracious Me' and 'The Kumars,' when shown around the world, were referred to as British comedy. It was only here that they were referred to as Asian comedy, even though I always felt it was very British in its humour and structure.
actors india timing
Michael Bates was a very funny actor; he'd served in India, could speak Urdu, and had great comic timing.
writing kids home
Alan Alda and his wife Arlene are two of the most life-affirming people I've ever met. He espoused equal rights for women while producing, writing, acting in and directing 'MASH'; he used to commute between the set and home because he didn't want to disrupt his kids' schooling.
weekend asian different
Because of my Asian-ness, I couldn't be anonymous - what I said, what I ate, what I did at the weekend were startlingly different to what everyone else did. I was also a performer, quick and chameleon-like, good at accents, so that made me stand out.
thinking firsts chance
I've always felt I had to prove myself, and now it has become second nature. When I first went to university, I took lodgings with a woman who said, 'What are the chances of you staining my pans?' I said, 'I don't think I understand the question...' and she said, 'When you cook your curries.'
ideas continents five
'The Kumars'... played on five continents, and even when I came up with the idea, I was slightly surprised that no one else had.
blood giving cash
It is better to give blood but receive cash than the other way around.
hard-work parent culture
Both my parents were migrant workers who came to the U.K. in the Fifties to better themselves. The culture I grew up in was to work hard, save hard and to look after your family.
video might fatness
I might do a fitness video. Actually, more of a fatness video.
funny greatly influenced liked literary saucy slightly
I was greatly influenced by 'The Goons' and 'Monty Python' reconstituting what comedy was - it could come from a funny word, not just a set up and a pay-off. I liked the zaniness; they were satirical, slightly saucy and very literary in their references.
remains
My head is in India, yet my body remains in Britain. I straddle the world like a colossus. Like a 5ft. 7in. colossus.
programme
With 'Mumbai Calling,' I was surprised it was ITV that went for it because it didn't traditionally seem like the kind of programme they would make.