In 2025, the Asian Media Awards celebrated the work of actor, playwright, cultural leader and educator, Sudha Bhuchar.
Sudha was presented with the Sophiya Haque Services to Television, Film and Theatre Award at the 13th Asian Media Awards in Manchester.
The awards celebrate achievements in a range of categories in journalism, investigations, TV, radio, stage, online and creative media.
The ceremony is supported by the University of Salford and took place at The Manchester Deansgate Hotel on Friday (October 31). It follows a shortlist announcement which was held at BBC Broadcasting House in London.
The category is named in tribute to the late Coronation Street and stage actress, Sophiya Haque, who died of cancer aged 41 in 2013. Her sister Sayera presented the award to Sudha.
Sudha said: “I am truly humbled and honoured to receive this award and to illuminate and keep alive the memory of Sophiya Haque, a beautiful soul with immense talent.
“In an industry that can be punishing and leave us spent, I hope my journey can inspire others to fashion their own path and believe that agency and longevity can be within our gift.”
Sudha began as an actor at Tara Arts, where she met Kristine Landon-Smith and together they founded Tamasha theatre company in 1989, which championed British Asian talent and launched the careers of many actors and writers, who are now global names. Tamasha alumni include Parminder Nagra, Raza Jaffrey, Ishy Din, Emteaz Hussain, Sunetra Sarkar, Nina Wadia and Abhijat Joshi.
Tamasha took control of the narrative and carved a space for greater visibility and presence of British Asian stories.
Sudha’s landmark collaborations with Kristine include the award-winning musical Fourteen Songs,Two Weddings & A Funeral, adapted from the Bollywood hit, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun and Rohinton Mistry’s Booker shortlisted novel A Fine Balance. With Shaheen Khan, Sudha wrote the ‘slice of life’ Balti Kings and Girlies for Radio 4.
A Tamasha highlight is of course Ayub Khan Din’s East in East, now a contemporary classic and iconic film.
After 25 years, Sudha stepped down from Tamasha in 2015 and founded Bhuchar Boulevard. Its inaugural show was a revival of her play Child of the Divide (2017), inspired by Bhisham Sahni’s short story, Pali.
The production marked the 70th anniversary of the Partition of India through the lost narratives of children and won the Asian Media Award 2018 for ‘Best Stage Production’.
Sudha’s writing credits include Final Farewell, for Tara theatre, an audio walk of remembrance, created with the late Abdul Shayek, and Covid and Me & A Picture of Health for Theatre of Debate. Sudha is a mentor, dramaturg and trustee of Actors Touring Company.
Sudha’s writing reaches audiences across ages and cultures and captures intimate lives against a wide political canvas.
Her work has encapsulated the violence of partition, the personal losses through covid and the challenges of inter-generational connection. It touches hearts through insight, humour and an unflinching eye to the truth.
Sudha said: “Whilst Asian actors are more visible and some of the younger generation of actors have established and successful global careers, this is a difficult time and many strides made are derailed time and again.
“Our collective intergenerational presence still has a long way to go. Our generation had to forge our own paths in many ways and lift each other up, inspired by the people that came before us.”
Sudha works as an actor in theatre, tv and film. Theatre includes Gurpreet Bhatti’s Khandan and Tanika Gupta’s Lions and Tigers. She has appeared in shows such as Eastenders, as the iconic femme fatale Meena, which may have inspired her role as Sonia Rahman many years later in Coronation Street.
Other tv credits include Ruth Jones’s Stella for Sky, Lulu Wang’s Expats for Amazon Prime and AA Dhand’s Virdee for BBC 1. Film credits include Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns, Riz Ahmed and Bassam Tariq’s Mogul Mowgli and most recently Imran Perrata’s debut film Ish.
Sudha currently tours her solo show, Evening Conversations, a personal memoir inspired by her conversations with her sons, Samar and Sinan.
She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in English literature by the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2024 and is Artist in Residence at Theatre in the Mill at the University of Bradford, as part of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture.
Sudha said young actors, writers and creatives should ‘not to wait for the phone to ring’ but to focus on their voices and ‘making work where doors may unexpectedly open’.
She told us: “These don’t necessarily have to be the mainstream and stardom.
“I would encourage them to gain knowledge and strength from the work that has come before them and forge their own path, while staying connected to community and peers and to look after their individual and collective well being.
“To be mindful and present and not just living for the future. Where uncertainty is the only certainty it’s important to have strategies to stay grounded.”
