British Indian actor nominated for coveted TV award

British Indian actor Sacha Dhawan has been nominated for the prestigious Royal Television Society (RTS) award for his role in "Bradford Rights", a television drama.

"Its an honour that my work has been recognised. I think this is much to Neil Biswas's credit for creating such an important project. It strives not to represent a community, but to represent the individuality that exists within a community. And that means a lot to me, especially in today's current climate," Dhawan was quoted by the Asian in Media magazine as saying.

The RTS award recognises excellence in all disciplines of broadcasting in Britain. The awards function is slated for March 13.

"Bradford Riots", broadcast on Channel 4 in 2006, was also nominated at the recently held South Bank Awards.

On July 7, 2001, the Manningham area of Bradford experienced what has been described as the worst riots in mainland Britain in 20 years. The riots were the result of tensions between ethnic communities and far right groups.

Written by Neil Biswas, "Bradford Riots" narrates the night of vicious rioting from the perspective of a group of young South Asian men whose lives, families and community were decimated by the events.

Dhawan first came to prominence as Akhtar in the Westend theatre production "The History Boys", which went on to tour New York's Broadway, Sydney, Wellington and Hong Kong. It was later made into a film - also starring him.

The actor has appeared on a number of television shows including "Perfectly Frank", "Altogether Now", "City Central" and "Out of Sight".