Samir Bhamra
{{short description|British actor, costume designer, director, playwright and producer}}
{{EngvarB|date=April 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}
Samir Bhamra is a British artist, playwright, costume designer, producer and musical theatre director{{cite web|title=Why theatre is still all white on the night|date=8 March 2011|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/why-theatre-is-still-all-white-on-the-night-2235125.html|publisher=independent.co.uk|accessdate=3 April 2015}} at Phizzical Productions.{{cite web|title=Phizzical|url=http://housetheatre.org.uk/companies/phizzical/|publisher=Farnham Maltings Association Limited|accessdate=3 April 2015}}
Bhamra graduated from Loughborough University with a BSc. in Mathematics and Computation.{{cite news |last1=Shobowale |first1=Sali |title=Filmmaker's happy ending becoming BAFTA member |url=https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/leicestershire-filmmakers-story-happy-ending-8716437 |work=Leicestershire Live |date=9 September 2023 |language=en}}
Bhamra is the Creative Director of the UK Asian Film Festival.{{Cite news |work=Daily Excelsior |date=2024-04-14 |title=Indian-American-Belgian actor's 'Minimum' to open UK Asian Film Festival in London |url=https://www.dailyexcelsior.com/indian-american-belgian-actors-minimum-to-open-uk-asian-film-festival-in-london/ |access-date=2024-06-24 |language=en-US}}https://www.dailyexcelsior.com/indian-american-belgian-actors-minimum-to-open-uk-asian-film-festival-in-london/
His writing and directing credits include Bombay Superstar,{{Cite news |last=Le Mesurier |first=Nick |date=21 October 2022 |title=Review: Bombay Superstar is a dazzling night of Bollywood adventure on Coventry stage |url=https://www.warwickshireworld.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/review-bombay-superstar-is-a-dazzling-night-of-bollywood-adventure-on-coventry-stage-3888959 |access-date=2024-06-24 |work=Warwickshire World}}https://www.warwickshireworld.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/review-bombay-superstar-is-a-dazzling-night-of-bollywood-adventure-on-coventry-stage-3888959 Precious Bazaar{{cite web|title=Samir Bhamra talks a load of Bollywood|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/cambridgeshire/content/articles/2005/07/08/bollywood_samir_bhamra_qa.shtml|publisher=BBC|accessdate=3 April 2015}} and an academically acclaimed production of William Shakespeare's Cymbeline.{{cite web|title=Samir Bhamra (British South Asian Theatre Memories)| date=8 April 2014 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WOD0ZQ4pSQ|publisher=FIPAarts|accessdate=3 April 2015}}{{cite web|title=Sponsored feature: Cymbeline, Bollywood style – comic, romantic and magical|date=November 2013|url=http://www.ayoungertheatre.com/sponsored-feature-cymbeline-bollywood-style-belgrade-phizzical-samir-bhamra-nia-lynn/|publisher=A Younger Theatre |accessdate=3 April 2015}}{{cite web|last1=Faruq|first1=Aisha|title=Samir Bhamra|url=http://www.desiblitz.com/content/shakespeare-meets-bollywood-cymbeline/samir-bhamra|publisher=DESIblitz|accessdate=3 April 2015}}{{cite web|work=Pukaar Magazine|title=Shakespeare Meets Bollywood|date=27 January 2014|url=http://www.pukaarmagazine.com/?p=2246|accessdate=3 April 2015}} He was the 2021 Senior Producer at Belgrade Theatre Coventry producing the theatre's UK City of Culture 2021 programme.
He is the Creative Director of the UK Asian Film Festival.
Musicals
In 2022, Bhamra wrote, designed and produced his dream production Bombay Superstar {{Cite web|url=https://www.elementarywhatson.com/single-post/belgrade-theatre-review-bombay-superstar|title=Bombay Superstar|date=21 October 2022 }} co-produced with the Belgrade Theatre Coventry and The New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich with musical director Hinal Pattani and musicians The 515 Crew. The cast included Nisha Aaliya, Pia Sutaria, Sheetal Pandya, Amar, Chirag Rao, Yanick Ghanty, Robby Khela, Rav Moore, Daisy Hardy, Alexandra Adams, Aaron Mistry and Pavan Maru.
In 2019, he directed Stardust{{Cite web|url=http://www.belgrade.co.uk/event/stardust|title=Stardust|work=Belgrade Theatre|language=en|access-date=2019-05-03}} at Belgrade Theatre in Coventry based on songs by Robby Khela, composed by Devesh Sodha with a book co-written with hard-of-hearing writer Shahid Iqbal Khan. Stardust is a finalist for the [https://asianmediaawards.com/asian-media-awards-2020-finalists/ 2020 Asian Media Awards Best Stage Production award]. Samir worked with actor, singer and songwriter Robby Khela{{cite web|url=http://www.castingcallpro.com/uk/view.php?uid=223715|title=Robby Khela|publisher=blue compass|accessdate=4 April 2015}} in [http://www.phizzical.com/bollywood-tour-17 Bring on the Bollywood], Cymbeline and previously Jean Genet's The Maids.{{cite web|url=http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/maids-rev|title=The Maids|publisher=David Chadderton|accessdate=4 April 2015}}
His first musical was Precious Bazaar which opened in 2004 at The Y in Leicester,{{cite web|title=Precious Bazaar|url=http://www.uktw.co.uk/archive/Birmingham/Crescent-Theatre/Musical/Precious-Bazaar/L085302286/|publisher=UK Theatre Web|accessdate=3 April 2015}} {{cite web|title=Archive listings for Precious Bazaar|url=http://www.uktw.co.uk/archive/Musical/Precious-Bazaar/S1848967943/|publisher=UK Theatre Web, UK|accessdate=3 April 2015}} which featured 10 performers who took part in a BollyIdol contest he developed with BBC and B4U.{{cite web|last1=Mercury|first1=Leicester|title=From Beaumont Leys to Bollywood: Actress Fagun Thakrar on her childhood in Leicester, her acting debut, and why her latest film is so important to her|url=http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Fagun-Thakrar/story-25887788-detail/story.html|publisher=Local World|accessdate=3 April 2015}}{{cite web|title='I have loved Hrithik ever since his first movie.'|url=http://www.glamsham.com/movies/interviews/13-fagun-thakrar-interview-061104.asp|publisher=Fifth Quarter Infomedia Pvt. Ltd.|accessdate=3 April 2015}}{{cite web|title=Fagun Ivy|url=https://www.cssd.ac.uk/student/fagun-ivy|publisher=The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama|accessdate=3 April 2015}} EastEnders actress Rakhee Thakrar played the lead role Suhani in Precious Bazaar.{{cite web|title=Precious Bazaar|url=http://www.redhotcurry.com/entertainment/theatre/precious_bazaar.htm|publisher=Redhotcurry Limited|accessdate=3 April 2015|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924085501/http://www.redhotcurry.com/entertainment/theatre/precious_bazaar.htm|archivedate=24 September 2015|df=dmy-all}}{{cite web|last1=Mercury|first1=Leicester|title=From St Matthew's to the Mitchells... Leicester's Rakhee Thakrar is the new face on EastEnders|url=http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/St-Matthew-s-Mitchells/story-20459595-detail/story.html|accessdate=4 April 2015|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402192642/http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/St-Matthew-s-Mitchells/story-20459595-detail/story.html|archivedate=2 April 2015|df=dmy-all}} Precious Bazaar was nominated for a Windrush Award in 2004.{{cite web|title=What You Fancy|url=http://www.ethnicnow.com/entertainment/arts-culture/what-you-fancy/|publisher=Ethnic Now|accessdate=4 April 2015}}
Theatre
During the World Shakespeare Festival, he was seconded to the Royal Shakespeare Company from the National Theatre programme Step Change.{{cite web|title=Celebrating 5 Years|url=http://d1wf8hd6ovssje.cloudfront.net/documents/5_years_of_Step_Change.pdf|publisher=National Theatre|accessdate=4 April 2015|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402121832/http://d1wf8hd6ovssje.cloudfront.net/documents/5_years_of_Step_Change.pdf|archivedate=2 April 2015|df=dmy-all}} His Bollywood styled production of Cymbeline toured for 12 weeks to 22 venues in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and was the longest theatrical tour by any British Asian theatre company.{{cite web|title=Shakespeare with a Bollywood twist at the Belgrade Theatre|url=http://www.belgradeplaza.co.uk/2013/09/shakespeare-with-a-bollywood-twist-at-the-belgrade-theatre/|publisher=The Belgrade Plaza Partnership|accessdate=4 April 2015|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20150404124013/http://www.belgradeplaza.co.uk/2013/09/shakespeare-with-a-bollywood-twist-at-the-belgrade-theatre/|archivedate=4 April 2015|df=dmy-all}} The production received generally positive reviews.{{cite web|title=Cymbeline – Curve. Leicester|url=http://www.thepublicreviews.com/tag/samir-bhamra/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402152215/http://www.thepublicreviews.com/tag/samir-bhamra/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=2 April 2015|accessdate=4 April 2015}}{{cite web|last1=Blacklock|first1=Daisy|title=Review: Bollywood meets Shakespeare in Cymbeline at Taunton's Tacchi-Morris|date=4 October 2013 |url=http://www.somersetcountygazette.co.uk/leisure/whats_on/10717604.REVIEW__Bollywood_meets_Shakespeare_in_Cymbeline_at_Taunton_s_Tacchi_Morris/|publisher=Newsquest Media (Southern) Ltd|accessdate=4 April 2015}}
Bhamra has directed an adaptation of Layla and Majnun and Romeo and Juliet in 2006 titled Romeo + Laila, and produced Omar Khan's adaptation of Twelfth Night{{Cite web|url=http://metro.co.uk/2008/07/10/theatre-what-you-fancy-265367/|title=Theatre: What You Fancy|date=10 July 2008}} titled What You Fancy which was directed by Leylah. In 2008, Samir directed the 1994 Pulitzer Prize nominated play A Perfect Ganesh written by Terrence McNally.{{cite web|url=http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/perfectganesh-rev|title=A Perfect Ganesh|publisher=David Chadderton|accessdate=4 April 2015}} He developed the ideas behind the play as part of in Residence at Haymarket Theatre.{{cite web|url=http://www.sustainedtheatre.org/?location_id=365&item=345|title=Phizzical Productions|publisher=Sustained Theatre|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402104113/http://www.sustainedtheatre.org/?location_id=365&item=345|archivedate=2 April 2015|url-status=dead|accessdate=4 April 2015|df=dmy-all}}
Samir is currently researching and developing a production of William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale set in Kashmir.{{cite web|title=Looking for King Lear in Kashmir|date=22 August 2014|url=http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/discussion/looking-for-king-lear-in-kashmir|accessdate=6 April 2015}}
Dance
Samir was the first judge of the UK version of Boogie Woogie and set the judging format which was followed from 2004 to 2008.{{cite web |url=http://www.redhotcurry.com/profiles/samir-bhamra.htm |title=Redhotcurry - Profiles. Samir Bhamra |accessdate=2015-03-26 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091104120936/http://www.redhotcurry.com/profiles/samir-bhamra.htm |archivedate=4 November 2009 |df=dmy-all }}{{cite web |url=http://www.sustainedtheatre.org/?location_id=365&item=345 |title=Membership list - sustained theatre |accessdate=2015-04-04 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402104113/http://www.sustainedtheatre.org/?location_id=365&item=345 |archivedate=2 April 2015 |df=dmy-all }} Bhamra was a guest judge in the preliminary stages of Just Dance with Hrithik Roshan.{{Cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=196341517061831&id=193|title=Facebook|website=www.facebook.com}}{{cite web|title=Arati Menon leads Imperial College to win UK's first inter-university Bollywood dance competition (Videos)|url=http://www.ukmalayalee.com/nri-news/news.php?id=MjQzNQ==|publisher=UK Malayalee|accessdate=6 April 2015}}{{cite web |url=http://www.ukmalayalee.com/nri-news/news.php?id=MjQzNQ== |title=NRI News - Arati Menon leads Imperial College to win UK's first inter-university Bollywood dance competition (Videos) |website=www.ukmalayalee.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150117105053/http://ukmalayalee.com/nri-news/news.php?id=MjQzNQ== |archive-date=2015-01-17}}{{cite web|last1=Sethi|first1=Sonika|title=Imperial College London winners of Just Bollywood|date=27 December 2014|url=http://www.desiblitz.com/content/imperial-college-london-winners-of-just-bollywood|publisher=DESIblitz|accessdate=6 April 2015}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.desiblitz.com/content/just-bollywood-2014-inter-university-dance-competition|title=Just Bollywood 2014 ~ Inter-University Dance Competition|date=9 December 2014}} Bhamra has been judging [http://www.justbollywood.co.uk/ Just Bollywood], a Bollywood dance competition organised by Imperial University for students from all UK wide universities since 2015. He is a mentor to young adults to nurture their personal best.
Bhamra produced Subhash Viman's triple bill contemporary dance work Gamechanger, featuring Morphed, Fly From and Three. In 2018, he produced BBC Young Dancer finalist Anaya Vasudha's EKA which premiered at The Place.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theplace.org.uk/whats-on/satoko-fukuda-anaya-vasudhadefinitives-dance-company|title=Satoko Fukuda/ Anaya Vasudha/Definitives Dance Company {{!}} The Place|work=www.theplace.org.uk|access-date=2019-05-03}}
Cultural Strategy
Samir was one of many cultural leaders who developed a new cultural strategy for Leicester. {{cite web |url=http://www.culturalambitionleicester.co.uk/aboutus.html |title=Cultural Ambition Leicester - About Us |website=www.culturalambitionleicester.co.uk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130914032251/http://www.culturalambitionleicester.co.uk/aboutus.html |archive-date=2013-09-14}} for the City of Leicester.
Awards
Samir Bhamra was one of the winners of the Olwen Wymark award from the Writers Guild of Great Britain in 2021.{{cite news |title=Simon Stephens and Jo Clifford among Olwen Wymark Awards winners |url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/simon-stephens-and-jo-clifford-among-olwen-wymark-awards-winners |work=The Stage |language=En}} He won several global awards for costume design and directing his first short musical film Mad About The Boy, screened in Shanghai, Manila, Toronto, Cannes, and at the Queen Palm International Film Festival in California.{{Cite web|url=https://www.queenpalmfilmfest.org/april-2019-main-honorablementions|title=April 2019 Main- Honorable Mentions {{!}} Queen Palm International Film Festival|work=Queen Palm Film Fest|language=en|access-date=2019-05-03}} He won the Arts and Culture Awareness award for his extensive work at the 2016 British Indian Awards in association with BDO.{{Cite web|url=http://www.pukaarnews.com/bollywood-producer-honoured-arts-culture-award/16673/|title = Leicester Artistic Director Honoured Arts & Culture Award – Pukaar News|date = 25 July 2016}}
Precious Bazaar was nominated for a Windrush Arts Award{{cite web | url=http://xtrax.org.uk/directory/profile/view/phizzical | title=Phizzical }} in 2004.
Samir received two High Commendations at the 2003{{cite web |url=http://www.redhotcurry.com/news/2003/windrush2003_winners_list.htm |title=Redhotcurry - News. Windrush Awards 2003 - Winners |accessdate=2015-04-03 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924085506/http://www.redhotcurry.com/news/2003/windrush2003_winners_list.htm |archivedate=24 September 2015 |df=dmy-all }} and 2004 Windrush Awards for his pioneering work in Digital, Internet and Technology.
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|1832303}}
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Category:British writers of Indian descent
Category:British people of Indo-Kenyan descent
Category:Kenyan emigrants to the United Kingdom
Category:English theatre directors
Category:Indian theatre directors
Category:English dramatists and playwrights
Category:Kenyan people of Indian descent
Category:English people of Indian descent