Preeya Kalidas

Preeya Kalidas (born 21 June 1980) and was raised in Twickenham, South-West London. Her father is an independent financial adviser, and her mother works for British Airways. She started ballet classes at the age of three, and tap at five. She then trained at the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London. She also trained at Songtime Theatre Arts.

Career

1998–2010 Kalidas first appeared on screen in the drama Googleyes. She went on to play Usha in a short film called Jump Boy in 1998, directed by Menhaj Huda and written by Harsha Patel. After a number of parts in films and on television, including East is East, Bollywood Queen, My Family and Casualty, in 2002 she appeared as Monica in Gurinder Chadha's film Bend It Like Beckham. She then played the female lead Priya in the Andrew Lloyd Webber-produced show Bombay Dreams, written by A.R. Rahman, Meera Syal and Don Black. She also appeared in the BBC Television series Bodies as Dr. Maya Dutta.

In 2007, Kalidas landed the female lead in a West End revival of Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Appearing as the narrator, she performed with Lee Mead, who won the title role of Joseph in BBC One's Any Dream Will Do talent search series. The same year, she appeared in the multi-award-winning Channel 4 miniseries Britz. In 2009, Kalidas appeared in the second series of BBC One's Mistresses, and joined EastEnders in April of that year as Amira Shah, the girlfriend, and later wife of Syed Masood. In January 2010, she decided to quit EastEnders to pursue a pop career. Her final episode was broadcast on 26 April 2010. In July 2011, Kalidas revealed that she would be returning to EastEnders in the latter part of 2011. Kalidas, then left the show in March 2012. In September 2012, it was announced that Kalidas was returning to EastEnders briefly to conclude with the departures of Marc Elliott and John Partridge who play Syed Masood and Christian Clarke respectively.

Kalidas appeared in Hotel Babylon as Aisha Chaudhri, the daughter of a rich Indian hotel owner. She also appeared in the music video "Love Is Blind" by Ramzi featuring Ash King. In December 2009, she played the part of Leanne in ITV comedy drama Mister Eleven. She starred in the 2010 Chris Morris feature film Four Lions playing Sofia, the wife of protagonist Omar (played by Riz Ahmed). The film was released on 7 May.

After leaving EastEnders, Kalidas began to pursue a career in music, signing a record deal with Universal Records. Her second single, "Shimmy", featuring Mumzy Stranger, was released on 26 July 2010. Kalidas appeared on several programmes including the National Lottery Results and Loose Women in promotion of the single. The single received mixed reviews. Ruth Harrison from FemaleFirst stated that she "liked the single" but was not keen on the genre of music.

Kalidas stated in an interview with Digital Spy that her album would consist of a variety of genres. She also confirmed that the album would include collaborations with Bashy, Skepta, Schorcer, Ramzi and Mumzy Stranger. Kalidas' collaboration with Skepta, "Cross My Heart", was released in October 2010 as the lead single from Skepta's second studio album, Doin' It Again, however, at the time of release, Kalidas firmly stated its inclusion on her debut album.

2011–present In 2011, it was announced that due to poor sales of "Shimmy", Kalidas would no longer be releasing an album with Universal Records. In the same month Kalidas was awarded the Best Female Act award at the UK Asian Music Awards, where she performed a new song, "I Like You", alongside "Shimmy" and her collaboration with Skepta, "Cross My Heart". In July 2011, Kalidas signed a new record deal with All Around The World. In September 2011, Kalidas' second single, "It's A Problem", premiered on YouTube. The single features vocals from rapper Scorcher, who had previously been rumoured to appear on the album. The music video for "It's A Problem" premiered on 3 October 2011. The digital package of the single was released on 10 October, containing "I Like You", as well as a further new song, "Dirty Kissin'". Kalidas announced the album's third single, "A Woman Scorn" during an interview on Lorraine in November 2011. However it was never released. In June 2012, Kalidas eventually released her third single titled; "Love Between Us" which featured British producer, DaVinChe, on backing vocals.

In March 2014, Kalidas released the single "Don't Give Up" was working towards release of her debut studio album in 2015. In April 2014 she released a new single called "Can't Live Without You". Both singles will appear on the album. She has also covered a variety of tracks including Beyoncé's track "Blue".

In June 2015, Kalidas began playing the role of Pinky, in the new West End musical Bend It Like Beckham. She previously played the role of Monica in the film version. In 2019, it was announced that she would play the role of Miss Hedge in the hit musical Everybody's Talking About Jamie from 19 November.

In 2018, Kalidas co-hosted the Brit Asia TV Music Awards with Apache Indian.

Discography

Singles

Year Single Peak chart positions Album UK 2002 "Shakalaka Baby" 38 Bombay Dreams OST 2010 "Shimmy"(featuring Mumzy Stranger) 85 Constant Craving 2011 "It's a Problem"(featuring Scorcher) – 2012 "Love Between Us" 197

Featured singles Year Single Peak chart positions Album UK 2010 "Fantasy" (Bashy featuring Preeya Kalidas) 88 The Great Escape "Cross My Heart" (Skepta featuring Preeya Kalidas) 31 Doin' It Again

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1999 Virtual Sexuality Charlotte 1999 East Is East Nazir's Bride 2002 Bend It Like Beckham Monica 2003 Bollywood Queen Geena 2004 Bombay Dreams Priya 2010 It's a Wonderful Afterlife Karishma 2010 Four Lions Sofia 2023 Paso Doble TonyaShort film The Three Musketeers Milady 2024 One Punch Zainab

Television Year Title Role Notes 2000 Doctors Safiya Ranjit 1 episode 2001 Metrosexuality Flora 2001 The Bill Nadia 1 episode 2001 My Family Miranda 2001 Casualty Sherilyn Tilson 2003 Bedtime Mumtaz 2 episodes 2004 England Expects Assma 2004 Bodies Maya Dutta 16 episodes 2005 Broken News Anita Ratchathani 5 episodes 2006 Green Wing Newsagent 2007 Britz Shaz 2009 Mistresses Carrie 2009 Hotel Babylon Aisha Chaudhri 2009 Mister Eleven Leanne 2 episodes 2009–2012 EastEnders Amira Masood 135 episodes 2013 Bollywood Carmen Live Carmen Television film 2014 Casualty Sonja Egan 1 episode 2015 The Last Hours of Laura K Hayley Temple Television film 2016 New Blood Lucy1 episode 2018 Hounslow Diaries Aisha 2025 Bergerac Rachini Wilson 1 episode

Awards and nominations

Music Year Awards Category Work Result 2011 UK Asian Music Awards Best Female Act Herself Brit Asia TV Music Awards Best Female Act 2012 UK Asian Music Awards Asian Woman Best Female

Radio Year Awards Category Work Result 2016 Asian Media Awards Best Radio Show Preeya Kalidasa Show

Television

Year Awards Category Work Result 2009 Inside Soap Awards Best Family EastEnders (Amira Masood) 2010 All About Soap Awards Bride and Doom British Soap Awards Sexiest Female Inside Soap Awards Best Wedding 2012 British Soap Awards Sexiest Female

Theatre

Year Awards Category Result Work 2003 WhatsOnStage Awards Best Actress in a Musical Bombay Dreams 2016 Laurence Olivier Award Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical Bend It Like Beckham Eastern Eye Awards Best Theatre Actress 2020 Best Theatre Actress