Â鶹Éç Asian Network launches Silver Street
- the nation's first Asian radio soap
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The cast
Paul Bhattercharjee
Paul's career stretches across film, television, radio and theatre.
He recently recorded Arundhati Roy's The God Of Small Things for Â鶹Éç
Radio 4. His film credits include Wild West, Jinnah, Dirty Pretty Things
and White Teeth. His television credits include Thieftakers, The Jury
and Hawk. His theatre work includes The National Theatre, The Royal
Court, The Young Vic and Tara Arts. Paul is currently rehearsing Guantanamo
for The Tricycle Theatre. Silver Street isn't Paul's first soap; he
first appeared in Albion Market for Granada Television.
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Rahual Das
Rahual Das is ten-years-old and from Birmingham. He has attended drama
lessons since the age of five and is a member of Carlton Junior Television
Workshop. His previous performances have included parts in Filmy Azam,
Layla Majnun and Domestic Magic. Rahual takes an active role in drama
and music at school – he performs in school plays and has also
been a member of the school choir. But his biggest break to date has
been landing the part in Silver Street, in which he plays Krishan Chauhan,
the youngest member of the cast.
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Sartaj Garewal
After graduating in Accounting and Finance and working in various city
jobs (possibly the worst decision of his life), Sartaj retrained and
became an actor, focusing initially theatre and then television, film
and radio later on. As someone with a short attention span, acting is
his perfect career but he says he's always slightly nervous that he'll
be exposed as a fraud and have to find a sensible job!
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Pooja Ghai
They say life is a journey and Pooja hopes and fully expects hers to
be filled with joy, fun, warmth and the endless creation of characters
and their stories. Her first love is theatre where she has appeared
in A Midsummer NightÂ’s Dream, 14 Songs, 2 Weddings and a Funeral
and Singh Tango's. Last year Pooja joined a team of Asian artists from
Britain and travelled to Bangladesh with the British Council to work
on a short play for International Women's Day with local actors. Her
recent television credits include Holby City and The Bill and she has
just finished filming the second series of Grease Monkeys for Â鶹Éç THREE,
to be shown this summer. This is her first experience with radio and
she is looking forward to it immensely.
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Ashvin-Kumar Joshi
Born in Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania, Ashvin arrived in England on a cold
December morning in the mid-1980s. After first pursuing a money-oriented
career amongst silicon chips, in the late Nineties he decided to pursue
his dreams in performance. Ashvin's work has also led him to be a total
cinema addict – he spends as much time as he can watching movies
and fantasising about being in the next Tarantino/Rodriguez film! Having
journeyed across various productions in theatre, TV and film, his next
stop is Silver Street.
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Jay Kiyani
Jay Kiyani hails from the North West of England where he participated
in amateur boxing for more than ten years before deciding to formally
train as an actor in London. Jay graduated from The Academy of Live
and Recorded Arts in September 2003. Since then he has been on tour
with Snap Theatre Company's UK Premiere of The Buddha of Suburbia, playing
the role of Haroon. Jay was a late replacement and took the role at
a week's notice but has earned some excellent reviews for his performances.
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Surendra Kochar
Surendra started her long association with radio in her teens, recording
children's programmes with All India Radio Delhi. Her next step into
the world of acting was performing in television dramas in Delhi, with
occasional roles in stage plays and operas. This was followed by performances
for Â鶹Éç World Service broadcasts and presenting Asian programmes on
Â鶹Éç Television. Her television and film credits include roles in Family
Pride, Bhaji On The Beach, Coronation Street, The Buddha Of Suburbia,
and the recent Canterbury Tales.
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Sohm Kopila
Sohm is currently in her final year at drama school but she's already
had plenty of work. She recently appeared in Casualty as Tasleem and
her stage work includes Days of Hope, Widows and Haroun and the Sea
of Stories. Ironically, Sohm says her greatest fear is affecting a Birmingham
accent and she lives in the hope that one day the script writers will
decide to move her character, Nadia, to Nottingham (her home town) and
amazingly pick up an East Midlands accent!
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Hema Mangoo
Hema Mangoo comes from Birmingham. Since completing her training as
an actress at the East 15 Acting School in London, she has appeared
in a number of plays, including Paradise at Birmingham Rep and the title
role in Layla Majnun as well as recently recording an episode of the
Doctors for Â鶹Éç ONE. Hema enjoys all areas of the profession and is
particularly happy to be working in radio, playing the character Jasmine
Chauhan in Silver Street.
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Gerard McDermott
Gerard McDermott trained at The Welsh College of Music and Drama in
Cardiff. He is an experienced radio actor, having recorded more than
100 plays including The Old Curiosity Shop and His Dark Materials. Gerard's
theatre and television credits include parts in Christmas Carol at the
Vasa Theatre, Stockholm and King John for a Northern Broadsides tour,
as well as parts in Badger and The Wrong Husband. He says playing an
Irishman, Brian Kavanagh, in Silver Street is not only going to be enormous
fun, but a great talking point; he hopes to be dining out on it for
years!
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Carole Nimmons
Carole is an experienced actress, with many stage, television and film
credits to her name. Her theatre credits include Otherwise engaged,
Whose Life is it Anyway at the Savoy, Melon at the Haymarket and Life
Support at Aldwych. Carole has appeared in a range of television programmes
including Boon, Coronation Street, The Lakes and Casualty and her film
credits include Harry's Game and Run of the Country.
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Bharti Patel
Bharti Patel hails from Coventry and is proud of it. She had no idea
what she wanted to do in the big wild world and fell into acting by
chance - and she certainly landed on her feet. Bharti says her life's
ambition is to be in the Indian equivalent of a James Bond film with
songs, costume changes behind every tree or mountain, and an exotic
location.
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Dharmesh Patel
Born in Kettering and raised in London, Dharmesh trained at Hope St
Theatre in Liverpool where physical theatre was high on the agenda.
On mastering the forward role Dharmesh was able to graduate, after which
he went on to perform at the Leicester Haymarket, playing the role of
Dini in the Bollywood Jane. Having just finished a tour of Italy and
Sicily playing Benjamin and various other characters in Animal Farm,
Dharmesh is preparing for the part of Arun Chauhan in Silver Street.
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Kee Ramsorrun
Kee Ramsorrun is feeling very lucky to be playing the part of Sean in
Silver Street. He trained at Birmingham Theatre School and has since
worked regularly in touring theatre, film, and various pubs and restaurants.
He says his recent television experience includes tuning in his new
colour TV and enjoying watching 24 on a Thursday night! In his spare
time, Kee enjoys making short films. He is a big Laurel and Hardy fan
and is currently working on resurrecting them in the form of two bumbling
street youths. He says he has never claimed to have a good idea!
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Vineeta Rishi
Vineeta trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. Her theatre credits
include Beasts and Beauties at Bristol Old Vic, Hobson's Choice at The
Young Vic, The Firebird at the Midlands Arts Centre and an open air
production of The Tempest in her native North East. She has also had
TV roles in The Bill and Doctors.
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Hari Sajjan
Born and raised in South London by parents from both sides of the globe
- Asian/Fijian father and Austrian/Hungarian mother - Hari originally
opted for a career in music. A founder member of Thrashing Doves, he
has also worked with The Beloved. Hari trained in London and Los Angeles
and made his acting debut in Â鶹Éç ONE's Messiah. He has since appeared
in Eastenders, Casualty and the feature film Bollywood Queen, as well
as other stage and radio productions.
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Renu Setna
Renu Setna tried a number of jobs before he became an actor, including
working as a navvy as part of his National Service and training in tailoring
and pattern designing. He attended RADA from 1960-63 and has worked
as a professional actor ever since. He says the highlights of his career
so far include working with Ingrid Bergman in Captain Brassbound's Conversion
and performing his two one-man shows, The Prophet and Sohrab and Rustum.
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Balvinder Sopal
Whilst studying for a degree in Theatre with Media at the University
of Huddersfield, Balvinder worked voluntarily with a community based
theatre company called Chol. She made her stage debut in November 2001
with The Beautiful Violin - an Asian Romeo and Juliet - which toured
the North West for six weeks. Since then, Balvinder has worked on the
Bradford New Writers Festival and with the Â鶹Éç's Northern Exposure project
Kidhaar. She has recently finished working on the Alan Ayckbourn play
Absent Friends.
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Jetinder Summan
Jetinder trained at the Birmingham School of Speech and Drama and his
career was launched when he first appeared on the daytime television
soap Doctors. Working with experienced actors for just a short period
of time gave Jet the ambition to progress his career. He has since had
a string of theatre performances, a lead role in the television soap
Kismet Road and is the voice for a major soft drink's latest advertising
campaign.
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Rakhee Thakrar
Rakhee Thakrar's passion for acting first blossomed when she was cast
as a "disturbed girl who had lost her marbles" in Somewhere
Over the Rainbow in 2000. Since then Rakhee has gained experience in
theatre, but has also acted in a film screened at Londons Odeon West
End. She is now a managing director at a theatre company based in Leicester.
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Clive Wedderburn
Clive is a television, radio and theatre actor who says he gets his
'fix' performing on stage while being fascinated by television - making
short documentaries whilst appearing on the screen in various guises.
He describes himself as a cog in the story-telling machine and puts
great importance on developing his characters. Clive is probably best
known for the role of PC Gary McCann in The Bill but his credits include
a wide range of stage, radio and television, including Volpone at the
Sydney Arts Theatre and Full-Blown on Â鶹Éç Radio 4.
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