Sanjeev Kohli

Sanjeev Singh Kohli
Born (1971-11-30) 30 November 1971
London, England
Occupation Comedian, writer, actor
Years active 1990s–present
Known for Still Game
Meet the Magoons
Fags, Mags and Bags
River City
Spouse(s) Fiona

Sanjeev Singh Kohli (born 30 November 1971[1]) is a British Asian comedian, writer and actor. He is most famous for his role as Navid in the Scottish sitcom Still Game. In 2016 Sanjeev reprised the role of Navid in the sitcom Still Game. He also playes Ramesh Majhu in the radio sitcom Fags, Mags and Bags and (since 2015) as AJ Jandhu in the BBC Scotland soap opera River City. Kohli has also played Norrie in BBC Four's Bob Servant Independent.

Early life

Kohli was born in London to a social worker and a teacher, who had come to the United Kingdom in the 1960s from India.[2] When he was three years old, they moved to Scotland.[3] Kohli's parents could afford to move him, aged six, and his brothers out of state schooling to be educated by the Jesuits at St. Aloysius' College, a Roman Catholic school in central Glasgow. To finance their family through private school, Kohli's parents ran a corner shop.[2]

He went on to Glasgow University to study medicine, but changed course to study mathematics,[4] gaining a first-class degree, and subsequently studied for a PhD.[2]

Career

Kohli starred in Meet the Magoons for Channel 4, co-written by his brother Hardeep, as Surjit Magoon[5] and has appeared in several episodes of the BBC comedy series Look Around You as Synthesiser Patel.[6] He was the former presenter of the BBC's Asian Network and has previously written for Goodness Gracious Me, The Big Breakfast and Chewin' the Fat, which was also written by future Still Game co-stars, Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill.

In December 2006, the Sunday Mail revealed that Kohli would be starring in the major ITV thriller, Losing Gemma. Starring alongside Alice Eve, he played "a member of the British High Commission, who helps a young English tourist jailed in Delhi, India".[7] Kohli revealed in 2007 that he would be working on a radio comedy project for BBC Radio 4, entitled Fags, Mags and Bags.[3] The series was broadcast in 2008 and was nominated for a Sony Award.[8] The Daily Record also revealed Kohli would be writing for ITV children's show, My Life as a Popat.[3] Kohli has also starred in BBC Three's Rush Hour as an intolerant taxicab driver,[9] and on the same channel in Phoo Action as a television news presenter.[10]

On 21 August 2007 he presented a show called 10 Things To Hate About The Edinburgh Festival. Kohli also sometimes appears as a pundit on BBC One Scotland's Saturday afternoon Sportscene football programme. Kohli made a brief cameo in a speaking role as himself in an episode of BBC's VideoGaiden, where he received a fish in the mail as a gift from the hosts in an attempt to recreate the Nintendo game Animal Crossing. One of the hosts was Robert Florence, a writer whom Kohli worked with on Chewin' the Fat.[11]

In February 2008, it was announced that he would play the role of God in the video for Glasgow band Attic Lights single 'God' [12]

In 2011, Sanjeev appeared on Scottish tea-time magazine show, The Hour on STV. He co-hosted on two separate weeks (ten episodes), alongside main presenter Michelle McManus.

In 2012, Sanjeev appeared on the Channel 4 comedy program Fresh Meat as a dentistry lecturer Dr Minaj.

Kohli joined the rest of the cast of Still Game in 2014 at the comeback live show at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow. There was 21 performances of the sell out show.

In October 2015 Kohli made his first appearance in the Scottish soap opera River City as AJ Jandhu in part of a big storyline.

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes Channel
2002 Comedy Lab Surjit Meet The Magoons Special E4
2002-2007, 2016–present Still Game Navid Harrid Series Regular BBC One
2004 Look Around You Synthesizer Patel BBC Two
2005 Meet the Magoons Surjit Series Regular Channel 4
2007 The Peter Serafinowicz Show Various Characters Series Regular BBC Two
2009 Hope Springs Mo Khan Series Regular BBC One
2010 Rab C Nesbitt Mr Khan Guest Role BBC Two
2010 Angelos Epithemiou's Moving On Gupta Series Regular BBC Three
2011 Gary Tank Commander Director Guest Role BBC Two
2012 Fresh Meat Dr Minaj Recurring Role Channel 4
2013 Bob Servant Norrie Guest Role BBC Four
2013 Filth Sunil
2014 Walter Hardeep
2014 Still Game: Live at the Hydro Navid Harrid Main Cast BBC One
2015 Fried Mike Fagins BBC Three
2015 You Me and the Apocalypse Doctor Guest Role Sky 1
2015–present River City AJ Jandhu Series Regular BBC One
2016 Cold Feet Shopkeeper one off ITV

Controversy

In 2005, Kohli was reprimanded by Glasgow City Council and had his licence to rent out a property in the city suspended for two years due to safety concerns.[13] The Kohli family have a very successful business in property in Scotland.

In January 2007, Kohli commented on the accusations of severe racism on Celebrity Big Brother. He told of an incident in which a former boss called him "Mahatma", in reference to Gandhi.[14]

He also caused controversy when he criticised the comedy output of Scottish radio. In 2008, he said to The Sunday Times that "The stuff on Radio Scotland just now is just woeful, I actually can't listen to it because it's so pedestrian and monochromatic. It just doesn't have any comedy sensibility. So it can be quite crippling to work in comedy here". BBC Radio Scotland head Jeff Zycinski replied to these criticisms by saying "We are committed to launching lots of new comedy over the next year with new writers, performers and producers. The comedy is coming from a wide variety of sources, both independent and in-house. Not all comedy pleases everybody."[15]

Personal life

Kohli currently lives in Glasgow with his wife, Fiona, and their three children.[2]

He has two elder brothers — Randeep Singh Kohli (born 1966), a senior police officer with the Metropolitan Police in London, and Hardeep Singh Kohli (born 1969), who is also a journalist and broadcaster.[2]

References

  1. England & Wales, Birth Index: 1837-1983
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 McFerran, Ann (2007-08-26). "Relative Values: Hardeep Singh Kohli and his brother Sanjeev". London: The Times. Retrieved 2007-10-05.
  3. 1 2 3 English, Paul (2007-04-09). "TILL GAME". Daily Record (Scotland). Retrieved 2007-04-16.
  4. "Maths graduation".
  5. "Meet the Magoons". British Sitcom Guide. Retrieved 2007-10-06.
  6. "Look Around You". BBC Press Office. 2005-01-11. Retrieved 2007-10-05.
  7. "Sunday Mail". NAVID'S GAME FOR NEW TV ROLE. Retrieved 18 December 2006.
  8. "Sony Radio Academy awards 2008 nomination". London: The Guardian. 2008-04-10. Retrieved 2010-05-23.
  9. "Rush Hour". BBC Online. Retrieved 2007-10-06.
  10. "Still Game Sanjeev To Be TV Newsreader". Daily Record (Scotland). 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
  11. "YouTube". videoGaiden: Rab and Ryan Go Animal Crossing. Retrieved 31 August 2007.
  12. "Sanjeev Kohli's New Role As God". Daily Record. Retrieved 2008-02-26.
  13. . "Navid the landlord falls foul of council". The Scotsman. 3 September 2005.
  14. "Daily Record". DON'T REVEL IN RACISM. Retrieved 9 February 2007.
  15. "Scottish radio comedy is 'woeful'". Chortle. Retrieved 2008-05-10.
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