Meera Syal

Meera Syal

Birth : 1961-06-27, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England, UK

History

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Meera Syal MBE (born Feeroza Syal on 27 June 1961) is a British comedienne, writer, playwright, singer, journalist, producer and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created Goodness Gracious Me and became one of the UK's best-known Indian personalities portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, Ummi, in The Kumars at No. 42. She was awarded the MBE in the New Year's Honours List of 1997 and in 2003 was listed in The Observer as one of the fifty funniest acts in British comedy. Description above from the Wikipedia article Meera Syal, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Profile

Meera Syal

Movies

The Smeds and the Smoos
Aunt Smed (voice)
In this animated intergalactic adventure, the red Smeds and the blue Smoos must learn to overcome their differences and work together to find young Janet and Bill – who eloped to escape their families’ long standing rivalries.
The Almond and the Seahorse
Dr. Falmer
For Gwen, it's always 1999. The face in the mirror is unfamiliar and her partner isn't recognizable to her despite waking up together every day. Joe's past is coming undone and his partner, Sarah, fears she will be forgotten. A doctor refuses to give up on them, determined not to let them unravel.
Spin
Asha
Rhea lives with her tight-knit multigenerational family. After her mother’s death, she has been her father’s emotional rock, and her life revolves around her family’s restaurant, her eclectic group of friends, and her after-school coding club. Everything changes when she falls for aspiring DJ Max and a long lost passion for music is reignited. Rhea discovers that she has a natural gift for creating beats and producing music that blends her Indian heritage, but must find the courage to follow her true inner talent.
Dragon Rider
Subisha Gulab (voice)
An unlikely trio of heroes – a dragon, a boy and a forest brownie – embark on an epic adventure to find the “Rim of Heaven” - the mythological safe haven for all dragons.
Yesterday
Sheila Malik
Jack Malik is a struggling singer-songwriter in an English seaside town whose dreams of fame are rapidly fading, despite the fierce devotion and support of his childhood best friend, Ellie. After a freak bus accident during a mysterious global blackout, Jack wakes up to discover that he's the only person on Earth who can remember The Beatles.
Nativity Rocks!
Nina
The staff and students at St. Bernadette's Primary School audition for a coveted place in a spectacular rock musical competition.
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
Cook
When Clara’s mother leaves her a mysterious gift, she embarks on a journey to four secret realms—where she discovers her greatest strength could change the world.
Patrick
Miss Phillips
A woman's chaotic life becomes more complicated when she inherits her grandmother's dog.
To Provide All People
District Nurse
To mark the 70th anniversary of the birth of the NHS, acclaimed poet Owen Sheers takes us on a journey that weaves the extraordinary story of the birthing of Nye Bevan's vision of free healthcare for all people with personal stories of the NHS in British society today.
The Homestay
Meera
A sheltered Indian couple visits their son in the U.S. for the first time and bungles their apartment rental, ending up in close quarters with their hosts, a gay couple and their dogs.
Brexit Shorts: Just a T-shirt
Writer
Priti, a British-born Indian woman in the West Midlands, reports a violent incident in the street.
Brexit Shorts: Just a T-shirt
Priri
Priti, a British-born Indian woman in the West Midlands, reports a violent incident in the street.
Doctor Strange
Dr. Patel
After his career is destroyed, a brilliant but arrogant surgeon gets a new lease on life when a sorcerer takes him under her wing and trains him to defend the world against evil.
Branagh Theatre Live: Romeo and Juliet
Nurse
Live theatre presentation of Shakespeare's classic play about two teenagers from warring families whose love affair ends in tragedy.
Alice Through the Looking Glass
Nobody (voice)
Alice Kingsleigh returns to Underland and faces a new adventure in saving the Mad Hatter.
Better Than the Original: The Joy of the Cover Version
Narrator
Through ten carefully chosen cover versions that whisk us from the British Invasion to a noughties X Factor final, this film journeys over five decades to track how artists as varied as The Moody Blues, Soft Cell, Puff Daddy and Alexandra Burke have scored number 1s with their retake on someone else's song. Each of the ten classic cover versions has its own particular tale, tied not only into its musical and cultural context but also the personal testimony of the artists, producers and songwriters whose lives were changed in the process.
Absolutely Anything
Fiona
Eccentric aliens give a man the power to do anything he wants to determine if Earth is worth saving.
Amar Akbar & Tony
Honey
Amar, Akbar & Tony follows the lives and loves of three childhood friends through twists and turns as the characters face sudden and unforeseen changes to their idealistic and trouble-free young lives. With hilarious and sometimes tragic consequences, the brotherly bond shared by the trio is forced to come to terms with some unexpected challenges. Interracial marriage, near fatal accidents and stints in prison will test old friendships and family values. A coming of age comedy drama showing the absurdities of life can also be the most amusing.
National Theatre Live: Behind the Beautiful Forevers
India is surging with global ambition. But beyond the luxury hotels surrounding Mumbai airport lies a makeshift slum, full of people with plans of their own. Zehrunisa and her son Abdul aim to recycle enough rubbish to fund a proper house. Sunil, twelve and stunted, wants to eat until he’s as tall as Kalu the thief. Asha seeks to steal government anti-poverty funds to turn herself into a ‘first-class person’, while her daughter Manju intends to become the slum’s first female graduate. But their schemes are fragile; global recession threatens the garbage trade, and another slum-dweller is about to make an accusation that will destroy herself and shatter the neighbourhood.
The Boy in the Dress
Jaspreet
Dennis feels different - an ordinary boy in an ordinary house in an ordinary street, playing football with his mates and living with his dad and brother, but frustrated by the boring grey world he inhabits. Life has never really been the same since his mum left. However, transformation can happen in the most unexpected places. Aided by Lisa, the coolest girl in the school, Dennis creates a whole new persona and puts it to the ultimate test - but can a boy wear a dress, and what will the headmaster, his dad and his friends on the football team think if they find out?
Much Ado About Nothing
Beatrice
Iqbal Khan's vibrant and colourful production transposed Shakespeare's vivacious and sometimes unsettling comedy of love and deceit to an Indian setting.
All in Good Time
Lopa
East is East writer Ayub Khan-Din returns with another funny, tender-hearted portrait of family strife. Based on his popular play Rafta, Rafta (itself inspired by Bill Naughtons 1960s classic All in Good Time), the film is set in Bolton where Atul and Vina are celebrating their marriage. However, a honeymoon spent with his parents was not part of their plans. Thoughtless patriarch Eeshwar seems determined to emasculate and embarrass his son. As the weeks pass, consummating their union becomes an impossibility that threatens the couples entire future. A breezy mixture of heartbreak and hilarity, All in Good Time also offers peerless performances from original stage stars Harish Patel and Meera Syal.
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
Dia's Mother
Two married couples find only trouble and heartache as their complicated lives unfold. After 40 years of marriage, Alfie leaves his wife to pursue what he thinks is happiness with a call girl. His wife, Helena, reeling from abandonment, decides to follow the advice of a psychic. Sally, the daughter of Alfie and Helena, is unhappy in her marriage and develops a crush on her boss, while her husband, Roy, falls for a woman engaged to be married.
Desert Flower
Pushpa Patel
The autobiography of a Somalian nomad who was sold in marriage at 13, fled from Africa a while later to become finally an American supermodel and is now at the age of 38, the UN spokeswoman against female genital mutilation.
Mad Sad & Bad
Rashmi
HARDEEP, RASHMI and ATUL are brothers and sisters. Which means they can say anything they like to each other, no matter how honest. Mad, Sad and Bad is a 90-minute comedy about mixed race relationships set in Luton. It's about mid-thirties siblings and friends whose personal lives are continuously messed up by their own selfish needs. Mad, Sad and Bad explores our contemporary metropolitan neuroses through the intersecting lives of these siblings and their friends. The narrative slips from one character to the next as they escape and attack each other. all reluctant members of the same dysfunctional family. Written by Ed Barratt
Jhoom Barabar Jhoom
Satvinder’s mother
London, an overcrowded cafe, one table to share. Two strangers tell each other “how I met my fiancé” stories to kill time. Rikki met his fiance Anaida at the Ritz in Paris and Alvira met her prince charming Steve at Madame Tussauds
Scoop
Joe's Co-Passenger
An American journalism student in London scoops a big story, and begins an affair with an aristocrat as the incident unfurls.
The Children's Party at the Palace
Mary (The BFG)
To celebrate her 80th birthday, the Queen is holding a children's party in the grounds of Buckingham Palace. She has invited many classic characters from British children's literature. But when the baddies, led by Cruella de Vil, discover that they have not been invited, they steal the Queen's handbag containing her spectacles and the text of her speech; without it, the Queen will not be able to make a speech at the party. Can the goodies find the handbag in time?
Anita and Me
Auntie Shaila
Meena, a 12-year-old living in a mining village in the English Midlands in 1972, is the daughter of Indian parents who've come to England to give her a better life. This idyllic existence is upset by the arrival in the village of Anita Rutter and her dysfunctional family.
Anita and Me
Writer
Meena, a 12-year-old living in a mining village in the English Midlands in 1972, is the daughter of Indian parents who've come to England to give her a better life. This idyllic existence is upset by the arrival in the village of Anita Rutter and her dysfunctional family.
Aladdin: The ITV Pantomime
High Priestess
A televised pantomime of Aladdin with characters played by well-known celebrities.
Forgive and Forget
Judith Adams
David O'Neil, a plasterer and mature student Theo have been best mates for fourteen years and are practically inseparable. However, their friendship has become strained as Theo is about to move in with his long-term girlfriend, photographer Hannah. A raging jealousy awakes in David and he starts scheming to break up the loving couple using Hannah's insecurities against them. When the couple eventually separate David is in a quandary about his next move and is forced to confront his long-hidden homosexuality and feelings towards Theo. Eventually, David decides to reveal his sexual orientation and deep love for Theo very publicly by arranging for them both to appear as guests on Judith Adams' talk-show, "forgive and forget", with tragic consequences for their friendship and David's family.
Girls' Night
Carmen
Two British best friends and in-laws Dawn and Jackie work together at a factory. When Dawn is diagnosed with a brain tumor Jackie shares $100,000 she's got from her secret lover with Dawn to fulfil her dream - a visit to Las Vegas. They buy two tickets and fly there...
Crossing the Floor
Reporter
Political satire closely mirroring real-life British politics of the time - a self-serving Conservative minister "crosses the floor" to join the opposition Labour Party, at a time when the Conservative Party has a majority in Parliament of just one seat. Sequel to A Very Open Prison.
Beautiful Thing
Miss Chauhan
Set during a long, hot summer on the Thamesmead Estate in Southeast London, three teenagers edge towards adulthood.
A Nice Arrangement
Sita
Documents an Indian-English family's attempt to give their Briticized daughter a traditional Indian arranged marriage, with as much photography as possible.
O Mary This London
Ranting woman
Three young Dubliners go to London in search of fun, fortune and, in the case of 17-year-old Mary Kelly, an abortion. Homeless and jobless, their adventures quickly turn sour.
Memsahib Rita
Unumma
Using a blend of magic realism and realist drama, Memsahib Rita looks at the physical and emotional violence of racism. Shanti is haunted by both the racist taunts of nationalist white youths and the memory of her white mother.
Bhaji on the Beach
Writer
A group of South Asian women try but cannot escape their problems on a day trip to a British beach resort.
My Sister-Wife
Farah Khan
Farah is an independent young British woman who manages to reconcile her modern lifestyle with her Pakistani heritage. As a Muslim in love with a married man, she can become his second wife - especially as his first marriage to Maryam seems to exist in name only. But with all three under one roof, Farah becomes increasingly insecure.
My Sister-Wife
Writer
Farah is an independent young British woman who manages to reconcile her modern lifestyle with her Pakistani heritage. As a Muslim in love with a married man, she can become his second wife - especially as his first marriage to Maryam seems to exist in name only. But with all three under one roof, Farah becomes increasingly insecure.
Sammy and Rosie Get Laid
Rani
Sammy and Rosie are an unconventional middle-class London married couple. They live in the midst of inner-city chaos, surround themselves with intellectual street people, and sleep with everybody - except each other! Things become interesting when Sammy's father, Rafi, who is a former Indian government minister, comes to London for a visit. Sammy, Rosie, and Rafi try to find meaning through their lives and loves.
Handsworth Songs
Voice Over
The Black Audio Film Collective’s acclaimed essay film, 'Handsworth Songs', examines the 1985 race riots in Handsworth and London. Interweaving archival photographs, newsreel clips, and home movie footage, the film is both an exploration of documentary aesthetics and a broad meditation social and cultural oppression through Britain’s intertwined narratives of racism and economic decline.
Majdhar
Cultural identity, women’s independence and the pressure to conform to British norms are the subjects of this bold and acute feature, which explores both British-Asian experience and the plight of recent immigrants. Rita Wolf (My Beautiful Laundrette), plays Majdhar, a Pakistani woman who transforms herself in London after her husband leaves her for another woman. While Majdhar feels her way towards confident self-determination, husband Afzal is torn between his heritage and his Western aspirations.