Rajeev Varma Actor/ Writer/ Producer

Rajeev Varma graduated from The Unitec School of Performing and Screen Arts in Auckland, New Zealand, with a Diploma in Acting in 1995. He immediately created the Rising Generation Theatre Company and produced and acted in Play Lunch, Spies Spy or Die and Versus, all written by Toa Fraser. He produced the premiere season of Bare by Toa Fraser and also produced, acted, devised and starred in Look Me In The Eye, at the Silo Theater in 1999.

From 2000 – 2002, Rajeev was a core member of the improv comedy troupe, The Improv Bandits. In 2003, he toured with them to the Melbourne Comedy Festival.

Stage highlights include: Peter in The Diary of Anne Frank, the New Zealand national tour of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), Puck in A Midsummer Nights Dream, Le Beau in As You Like It, Rajesh in The Taro King. In Taki Rua's production of Awhi Tapu by Albert Belz he won a nomination for “Best Supporting Actor” at the 2003 Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards for his portrayal of Casper.

In 2003, he created The Untouchables Collective, New Zealand’s first South-Asian theatre company, which premiered its first production Yatra at the Wellington Fringe Festival 2004, to great acclaim.

From 2002 onwards, he created Those Indian Guys with New Zealand comedian Tarun Mohanbhai. With Those Indian Guys Rajeev has toured extensively with D'Arranged Marriage and From India with Love to Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and South Africa between 2003 and 2007.

In 2009, Rajeev produced and performed in a five month sold out run of D’Arranged Marriage at the Huron Club at the Soho Playhouse. The show then transferred Off-Broadway to the Triad NYC where it is currently running for a three-month limited run till the end of July 2010.

Television credits include: Xena: Warrior Princess, Young Hercules, Hercules, Cleopatra 2525, Letter to Blanchy, Shortland Street, Asia Down Under, P.E.T. Detectives, Serial Killers, The Mike King Show, Some of My Best Friends Are…Indian, B & B and Burying Brian.

In 2007, Rajeev starred in two prime time comedy shows for TV3: The Millen Baird Show and A Thousand Apologies. The Millen Baird Show was nominated for Best Comedy Programme in the 2009 Qantas Film and TV Awards in New Zealand. 1000 Apologies is groundbreaking New Zealand Television: the first prime time sketch comedy show in the nation that focused on the Asian and South Asian experience.

Feature Film credits include: Amarbir Singh’s digital feature 1nite, The Price of Milk, Toy Love and We Are Here to Help.

Short film credits include: Snap, The Numbing Heart, Act of a Dying Man, Discount Taxi Driver and The Passion of the Heist (winner Best Actor 2007 Auckland 48 Film Festival Awards), all collaborations with award winning director Cristobal Araus Lobos.

Rajeev has also collaborated with director Peter Salmon extensively and is featured in his short films, Letters About the Weather and Playing Possum which is shot on 35mm. Possum screened in competition at Clermont Ferrand, Edinburgh Film Festival and Valladolid International Film Festival. It also screened atTelluride Film Festival, Rotterdam, New York Children's Festival, Mill Valley, Hof, Brisbane and L'etrange (where it won the Grand Prix and audience awards).

Rajeev and Peter's latest collaboration entitled The Box has been accepted into the New Zealand International Film Festival 2010. Click here to visit the Facebook page for a preview.

Directing credits include: Painted Lips by Katherine Van Beek at the 2001 Wellington Fringe Festival, D’Arranged Marriage and most recently Melting in Madras performed by H.R. Britton as part of the 2009 Frigid Festival in New York. Rajeev has facilitated 3rd year graduating students’ solo shows at Toi Whakaari, New Zealand’s National School of Drama, working alongside Jude Gibson in 2003.

In 2008 Rajeev immigrated to the United States.
Since arriving he has performed in the following:

• Elephant in Aryavana Flies or A Pretty Dish by Sheila Callaghan. (Winner Samuel French Short Play Competition 2008.) Directed by David A. Miller.

• Ganesh in A Perfect Ganesh by Terrence McNally. WorkShop Theater Company. Directed by David Epstien.

• The Developer by Marcus Haupt. Presented in the Brooklyn Playwrights Collective's Annual Festival of New Plays 2008. Directed by Melissa Fendell

• Alex in Summertime. A feature film directed by Max Weissberg and produced by Luftmenschfilms.

• Brian the Call Center Operator in the HBO.com webisodes Got No Game with Paul Mercurio.

• Big Love Voice Over Promo for HBO, directed by Peter Feldman

• The Philanthropist Loop Group for NBC with Sondra James Casting

• The Narrator in the audio book of The Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh. A preview and purchase is available at audible.com via Amazon.

In 2009, Raj was featured on Close Up on TVNZ. The interview documented his new life in New York as a New Zealand artist taking on the Big Apple.

In June 2010 Rajeev spent five weeks in New Zealand shooting a digital feature entitled Curry Munchers. It is slated for release in New Zealand in August 2010.

Rajeev Varma lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife. He is a New Zealand born Punjabi/Rajasthani Indian.

Tarun Mohanbhai Co-creator/Performer

Tarun Mohanbhai first began his comedy career at school entertaining his classmates, but it wasn’t until 1996, that he first performed live at Kitty O’Briens comedy evenings.

His career took off from there and in 1998 he had his first festival show, Driving Mr. Daisy with Mike Loder for which he won the Quest of the Fest competition. It was also in this year that he made his first trip to London where he performed at The Comedy Café and to Canada where he was onstage at Lafflines, Yuk Yuks and the Urban Well. He went on to start his own company That Indian Guy (www.thatindianguy.com) which went on to produce the comedy shows "Curry and Rice", Curry Muncher" and the first season of D'Arranged Marriage.

In 1999, after the success of their Comedy festival show Three, Mohanbhai with Chris Brain and Terry Frisby joined with Rhys Darby to form Brat Pack and enjoyed a sellout tour through the South Island and performed regularly at the Classic Comedy Club. Since then he has gone from strength to strength, performing at every New Zealand International Comedy Festival

In 2001 Mohanbhai wrote, directed, and acted in, Night Groovers; a Rad for TV 4 which remained on high rotation for the duration of the network.

In 2002 he devised D’Arranged Marriage, for which he was nominated for a Billy T Award. The show was a sellout success and was picked up by Mollisons in Australia on an international contract. He also traveled to England and appeared at many successful comedy venues including Jongleurs, Mirth Control and was the winner of the Comedy Café Open Mic night. In 2003 he toured extensively with D’Arranged Marriage both nationally and internationally.

Most recently Tarun has performed in The Mentos International Comedy Festival in Durbin, South Africa.

In 2003 he was a core founding member of the The Untouchables Collective, New Zealand’s first South-Asian theatre company which premiered its first production at the Wellington Fringe Festival to great acclaim.

Tarun’s television credits include Pulp Comedy (multiple series), Mercy Peak, Australia’s Comedy channels’ Forum Gala 2003 and the 2002 Billy T Awards broadcast. In 2004, he appeared on Asia Down Under in a monthly comedy sketch and with Pio in the new series of, Some of my Best Friends Are Indian. He has appeared in Havoc, sketch writing and acting in the Mike King show and is a co-writer and performer in the new comedy series “Last Laugh” for TVNZ which is scheduled to air mid 2005. He can also be seen in the up coming feature “Tyrannical Love” and on a new TSB ad soon to hit our screens.

Mohanbhai and Varma’s commercial for the Auckland Dewali festival won widespread acclaim within the South Asian community when it was screened regularly on Auckland’s Triangle Television. Those Indian Guys can also been seen in King Kong: Don’t Mess with the Monkey, a short film that is dedicated to Peter Jackson’s upcoming King Kong feature. You can view the film at www.kongmovie.com.

Tarun is an established MC and if often called on to MC the annual Dewali festival for the Auckland and Wellington Councils along with the annual Auckland Cultural festival. He has performed in most centers throughout New Zealand as a solo artist also with Those Indian Guys.

Currently Tarun is working with Raj in developing From India with Love which opens at the 2005 New Zealand International Comedy and Festival and writing a comedy series that is to be directed by Peter Salmon and produced by Liz Difiore.

Tarun Mohanbhai is a New Zealand born Gujurati Indian.