Short Films
Round 1 (2024) | Writer
Set in 1984. Two British born South Asian men are anxious about their first professional boxing bout. One is from a Hindu family and the other boxer from a Sikh family. Both are feeling uneasy with the backdrop of the troubles escalating in India. Sometimes the beginning of any fight is the pinnacle of fear where just momentarily love and desire often find a way to break through and an unexpected encounter is witnessed.
Left or Right (2024) | Writer
A queer couple decide to take their first visit together to the local Gurdwara and have the dilemma on which side to sit when they are gender fluid. What happens is both transformative, surreal and an awakening they do not expect.
Homesick (2023) | Writer
Set in 1990. A coming out experience for a first-year University student, who is homesick and travelling back from Brighton University to Birmingham. Through an accidental chance encounter with a fellow passenger on the train, hope is restored, isolation is reduced, and we are seen and witnessed. Sometimes all that is needed is a small glimmer of hope, to let us know we are not alone.
The Wandering (2023) | Writer
A Sikh Indian male in his 60s, leaves his house to look for the place where he and his late civil partner first met. He is holding on to a secret and is consumed by guilt. Whilst sitting on his own in the bar he shares a few drinks with first a younger Indian man and then a younger White British man. Sometimes the past memories we have are enough to keep us connected to our loved ones, whilst the present memories are slipping away.
Stage Plays
My Punjabi Mother, Her Dog and Me (2023) | Writer
A play about the acceptance of ill-health, ageing, belonging, and embracing uncertainty, takes place over one afternoon, six months later and a final flashforward of one year. The story is between an elderly mother and her son. They are both struggling with long term health conditions, hearing, and memory loss for the mother and visual impairment for the son.
During an afternoon visit, he lets his mother know that he is getting a dog. She is negative and dismissive at first but then begins to recall her fond memories of her family dog from her childhood village in the Punjab, India. She reminisces about her childhood, her father, and memories of her beloved dog.
The son is afraid of letting his mother know about his failing eyesight and the another secret he is hiding, for fear she will worry unnecessarily, and that this revelation will further affect her potentially significant ill-health challenges ahead of her. The Mother is already aware of her son’s secret, for mothers always know. She too has a secret that she wants to share with her son.
Selected Poetry / Spoken Word