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.

Rajeev Varma is an experienced writer, director, producer and actor. In 1995 he graduated from The Unitec School of Performing and Screen Arts in Auckland, New Zealand, with a Diploma in Acting. He then went on to form the Rising Generation Theatre Company, whose productions include Play Lunch, Spies Spy or Die and Versus, all written by Toa Fraser. Raj produced the premiere season of Bare by Toa Fraser at the Silo Theatre in Auckland, which went on to achieve international success.

His directing credits include Painted Lips by Katherine Van Beek at the 2001 Wellington Fringe Festival, and D’Arranged Marriage. He has facilitated the 3rd year graduating students at Toi Whakaari, the National School of Drama with their solo shows, working alongside Jude Gibson.

Television credits include Xena: Warrior Princess, as Krishna, Young Hercules, Letter to Blanchy, Shortland Street, P.E.T. Detectives and Serial Killers. His greatest claim to fame? Being featured in two Vodafone commercials in 2004 & 2005. Lots of kids on various New Zealand streets have pointed at him and laughed snidely.

He has appeared on Asia Down Under in a comedy sketch series that he wrote and devised with Tarun Mohanbhai. He was interviewed by Pio, a well known New Zealand entertainer, in the documentary series Some of My Best Friends Are…Indian. He has also been seen on the Mike King Show.

Varma can also been seen in King Kong: Don’t Mess with the Monkey, a short film dedicated to Peter Jackson’s King Kong feature. You can view the film at www.kongmovie.com.

Rajeev was seen as a lead character in Amarbir Singh’s digital feature 1 nite that premiered at the New Zealand International Film Festival in 2004. His role as a frustrated Sikh taxi driver won him critical acclaim for his powerful performance. Currently 1 nite is being marketed internationally. 1nite was nominated for Best Digital Feature Film at the 2005 New Zealand Film and Television awards. It opened the K’Rd Festival 2005 in Auckland.

On stage he was a core cast member of Improv Bandits for two years and toured nationally and internationally with them to the Melbourne Comedy Festival.

Other theatrical roles include Peter in The Diary of Anne Frank directed by Raymond Hawthorne, the New Zealand national tour of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) and The Taro King.

Varma appeared in the premiere production of Awhi Tapu, written by Albert Belz and produced by Taki Rua, for which he won a nomination for “Best Supporting Actor” at the 2003 Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards.

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. In October 2004 Rajeev appeared again in The Taro King which performed at Bats theatre in Wellington.

When not touring with Those Indian Guys, Rajeev spends time with his talented and beautiful, white, actress fiancé in New York. His mother is accepting it...She is happy, at the very least, that Raj is not gay…If you know any Hindu rabbis please let him know.

Raj is working on a number of film and theatre projects in development…But really, Rajeev just can’t wait to play another dairy/ Dunkin Donuts owner, taxi driver or terrorist. It makes him feel special and increases his range as an ethnic actor.

Rajeev Varma is a New Zealand born Punjabi/Rajasthani Indian.