Sanjeev Bhaskar Quotes

• The worst moment in my life was when I was seven years old and I discovered that there was a thing such as racism. You don't know you're different until someone lets you know.

  Sanjeev Bhaskar

  Years, Worst Moments, Racism

  "Spam curry, chips - and our beautiful launderette". Interview with Vincent Graff, www.theguardian.com. August 19, 2007.

  9 Copy quote

• I have issues with inheritance tax, particularly coming from a migrant family. My dad has worked incredibly hard all his life, so it seems odd to me that someone who has gone through that experience and has managed to save then gets taxed for dying.

  Sanjeev Bhaskar

  Dad, Issues, Dying

  "Biography/Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

  5 Copy quote

• 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.

  Sanjeev Bhaskar

  Hard Work, Parent, Migrants

  8 Copy quote

• I went to a psychotherapist for a year and a bit, and it was fantastic. I went in with a very clear question: I couldn't work out why I behaved in a certain way in certain situations, and I got that answered.

  Sanjeev Bhaskar

  Years, Work Out, Way

  "My body & soul". Interview with Laura Potter, www.theguardian.com. May 30, 2009.

  4 Copy quote

• During an early performance of 'Spamalot,' I left my regal gloves in the fridge to cool down and didn't remember them until I was on stage. They needed to be thawed overnight.

  Sanjeev Bhaskar

  Gloves, Down And, Remember

  Interview with Rosanna Greenstreet, www.theguardian.com. September 19, 2008.

  4 Copy quote

• I was far too embarrassed to share the experience of Indian food at school. As a kid, you're desperate to fit in, to assimilate in some way, and everything about me stood out.

  Sanjeev Bhaskar

  School, Kids, Way

  "Spam curry, chips - and our beautiful launderette". Interview with Vincent Graff, www.theguardian.com. August 19, 2007.

  4 Copy quote

• There are occasions when I've had beef, but I generally tend to avoid it, as a nod towards my parents' culture.

  Sanjeev Bhaskar

  Parent, Beef, Culture

  "Spam curry, chips - and our beautiful launderette". Interview with Vincent Graff, www.theguardian.com. August 19, 2007.

  5 Copy quote

• 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.'

  Sanjeev Bhaskar

  Thinking, Firsts, Chance

  4 Copy quote

• Good drama, challenging drama - and comedy for that matter - has a place in the daytime schedule.

  Sanjeev Bhaskar

  Drama, Challenges, Schedules

  "Daytime TV viewers deserve decent drama too, says Sanjeev Bhaskar". Interview with Tara Conlan, www.theguardian.com. November 2, 2013.

  4 Copy quote

• I am officially a doctor, and believe it or not, I can save lives and tune certain instruments and can beat peasants with a stick.

  Sanjeev Bhaskar

  Believe, Doctors, Tunes

  4 Copy quote

• It is better to give blood but receive cash than the other way around.

  Sanjeev Bhaskar

  Blood, Giving, Cash

  Interview with Rosanna Greenstreet, www.theguardian.com. September 19, 2008.

  4 Copy quote

• Theatre has always been better disposed to colourblind casting than telly or film. Given that most television is contemporary, and it reaches 56 million people, I am disappointed there still isn't more representation.

  Sanjeev Bhaskar

  People, Theatre, Television

  4 Copy quote

• I might do a fitness video. Actually, more of a fatness video.

  Sanjeev Bhaskar

  Video, Might, Fatness

  4 Copy quote

• I make terrible jokes every time I go into a hospital. I think it's a defence mechanism.

  Sanjeev Bhaskar

  Thinking, Terrible, Defence

  "My body & soul". Interview with Laura Potter, www.theguardian.com. May 30, 2009.

  4 Copy quote

• 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 M*A*S*H; he used to commute between the set and home because he didn't want to disrupt his kids' schooling.

  Sanjeev Bhaskar

  Home, Writing, Kids

  "Portrait of the artist: Sanjeev Bhaskar, actor and comedian". Interview with Laura Barnett, www.theguardian.com. April 5, 2010.

  4 Copy quote

• On a radio drama I'd like to feel that I had just as much chance of playing Mr Darcy as anyone else because I can sound like him, yet many radio producers find it very difficult to extend their imaginations to employing anyone who's non white.

  Sanjeev Bhaskar

  Drama, White, Imagination

  "Is this it?". The Guardian Interview, www.theguardian.com. July 28, 2007.

  4 Copy quote

• My mother had been an English teacher in India before she came to the U.K., and she taught me to read early on - not only in English, but in Hindi, too. My teachers didn't like the fact that I was reading more quickly than they were teaching, and as a consequence, I would sometimes get bored in class.

  Sanjeev Bhaskar

  Mother, Teacher, Reading

  4 Copy quote

• 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.

  Sanjeev Bhaskar

  Asian, World, Comedy

  4 Copy quote

• 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.

  Sanjeev Bhaskar

  People, Feelings, Looks

  4 Copy quote

• I love team sports - they give me something to focus on rather than the fact that I can't breathe or my muscles are aching.

  Sanjeev Bhaskar

  Sports, Team, Giving

  "My body & soul". Interview with Laura Potter, www.theguardian.com. May 30, 2009.

  4 Copy quote

• 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.

  Sanjeev Bhaskar

  Vocabulary, Way, Stage

  "Spam curry, chips - and our beautiful launderette". Interview with Vincent Graff, www.theguardian.com. August 19, 2007.

  4 Copy quote

• 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.

  Sanjeev Bhaskar

  Weekend, Asian, Different

  "Sanjeev Bhaskar: Goodness, I'm home!". Interview with Tina Jackson, www.theguardian.com. December 3, 2010.

  5 Copy quote

• I think family, friends and a sense of community give you greater happiness than money. But, of course, one has to have a minimum on which to live. The joy I get from sitting around and having a laugh is immeasurable - much greater than anything that I have ever bought.

  Sanjeev Bhaskar

  Thinking, Giving, Laughing

  5 Copy quote

• I started working myself from about 14, really, so I wasn't a burden on my family. I did a paper round and a milk round. When I was 15 or 16, I worked in a supermarket on Saturdays stacking shelves, and then every summer I temped, right through university until my working days started.

  Sanjeev Bhaskar

  Summer, Paper, Milk

  4 Copy quote

• I sense a kind of fear of writing black or Asian characters from non-ethnic writers, who perhaps feel that they don't know the culture and therefore can't write about it. By and large, if there's an Asian character, I might get a call. But if the character is called 'Philip,' the chances are I won't.

  Sanjeev Bhaskar

  Writing, Character, Black

  4 Copy quote

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