Sanjeev Bhaskar, OBE (born 28 June 1964) is a British Indian comedian and actor, best known for his work in the BBC2 comedy series Goodness Gracious Me and as host of The Kumars at No. 42.

Bhaskar grew up in Hounslow, West London. He experienced racism at school, Hounslow and Southall being particular targets for the National Front. At one point in his sixth form, all but 2 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 University of Hertfordshire before landing a job as a marketing manager at IBM. He soon realised, though, that he and marketing were never going to get along, so instead he tentatively entered a world where he felt much more at ease: comedy. He joined forces with an old college friend, Nitin Sawhney, and started a musical comedy double act called The Secret Asians. On the circuit, he was soon talent-scouted by the producers of a new sketch-show called Goodness Gracious Me.

By now, Bhaskar was 32, but 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. In 2003, he was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. ^[1]

Sanjeev, the Kumars and Gareth Gates collectively released the official single for Comic Relief in 2003. 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 2005, it was announced that they were expecting their first child. Their baby, a boy named Shaan, was born at the Portland Hospital on 2 December 2005.

In 2005, Bhaskar was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the New Year Honours List. Later that year, he appeared in the BBC 1 drama Chopratown as private eye Vic Chopra.

He recently appeared as Robin Hood at the Children's Party at the Palace in 2006.

He appeared as a guest on the BBC's Top Gear, 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.

As part of the BBC's series of programmes on the 60^th anniversary of the independence of India and Pakistan, Sanjeev has recently completed filming for the BBC documentary series India with Sanjeev Bhaskar with director Deep Sehgal which will be aired in time for the 60th anniversary of Indian Independence in August 2007^[2], according to the BBC he also makes "an emotional journey" to his father's ancestral home which is now in Pakistan.

He also had a cameo as a shopowner in the recent Yash Raj Films production Jhoom Barabar Jhoom

Filmography

• The Real McCoy (1991) in various roles
• 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)
• Jonathan Creek (1998) as Doctor in episode Black Canary
• Notting Hill (1999)
• Small Potatoes (TV Series) (1999)
• The Way It Is (2000)
• Inferno (2001) as Jaz
• Goodness Gracious Me: Back Where they Came from (2001)
• 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
• Entente Cordiale, Le (2006) as Commander Bashir
• Scoop (2006) as Poker Player
• Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (2007) as shopkeeper
• India with Sanjeev Bhaskar (2007) A four part series on India.

Written

• Goodness Gracious Me (1998)
• The Kumars at No. 42 (2001-2006)

Composed

• Goodness Gracious Me (1998)

See also

• Meera Syal
• British Comedy

External links

• Sanjeev Bhaskar at IMDb
• Casting MP3

References