Samir Bhamra was the winner of the Arts and Culture award at the British Indian Awards 2016 which took place on July 15th at Athena in Leicester.
The ceremony was held in celebration of the success and achievements of Britain’s Indian individuals, communities and business people.
Samir, who has been working in the Arts industry for 14 years, said: “I was dealing with so many emotions, I almost broke down. It felt a bit like one of those Oscar moments.
“There were at least four finalists that I thought deserved the award more than I did. I was certain that there was no way I stood a chance. So it was a complete shock when I won which was evident with the speech afterwards – I was not prepared at all.”
Whilst deciding what to study at university, Samir made the choice to study Mathematics and Computing instead of an arts degree. “As I came closer to finishing my degree I realised it wasn’t what I really wanted. I sought a life with risks; a life of learning and creativity and entertaining people,” said Samir.
Originally starting out as a performer, Samir then went to take on management roles. Now he is the Artistic Director for Phizzical Productions and also Creative Director of the annual London Asian Film Festival which takes place in March.
“I felt that lots of Asian people would have done what I did and taken the financial security over whatever their hidden talent was. I set up Phizzical Productions with the quest of finding these people and giving them an opportunity to perform onstage.”
Phizzical Productions is a theatre producing company that covers both live and visual art. The company, when not producing its own unique projects, also helps to give emerging artists a chance to perform onstage or to work with the already established ‘masters of their craft.’
Next year Samir and Phizzical Productions hope to tour their most recent dance-theatre extravaganza Bring on the Bollywood. Also in the works are a Bollywood production and a Shakespeare production.
By Luke Flamson
