Shruti Chauhan was recently unveiled as the new presenter of Bollywood Tamasha on BBC Radio Leicester.
Shruti Chauhan was recently unveiled as the new presenter of Bollywood Tamasha on BBC Radio Leicester. The show combines great music and entertainment with stories from the city’s large South Asian community. However, Shruti was determined to put her own stamp on the show by providing a much-needed platform for young British Asians to discuss and explore the many issues which affect their lives, including mental health, climate change, sex, colourism and drugs. Young British Asians Talk, which Shruti produces and hosts, is the new podcast-format part of Bollywood Tamasha.
Shruti has also received praise from Radio Leicester’s acting Managing Editor, Kamlesh Purohit: “Shruti is part of a new generation of talent we have nurtured at Radio Leicester alongside the likes of Aminata Kamara, Owynn Palmer-Atkin, Sophie Cook and Jack Rafferty. She has brought a fresh and exciting perspective to the issues we cover on the station, and that is so important for us if we are to continue being relevant in the lives of our listeners.”
Shruti was no stranger to the station’s airwaves though; as an acclaimed local poet she had made several appearances as a guest on various shows. And it was during a collaboration for BBC Leicester’s alternative take on Christmas, where Shruti played the role of Angel Gabriel, that her talents were spotted by the management. The rest, as they say, is history.
Before hitting the broadcasting limelight, Shruti had been performing her poetry across the UK and beyond. She had performed at Royal Albert Hall, Southbank Centre, TEDxLeicester, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Rich Mix, the US Embassy’s American Center in New Delhi and the Green Mill in Chicago.
In 2015, Shruti toured the poetry show, Three the Hard Way – Part 2 with world-renowned poet, Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze MBE and Lydia Towsey. She was voted Best Spoken Word Performer at the 2018 Saboteur Awards and won the National Poetry Library’s Instapoetry competition the same year. Shruti wrote song lyrics for the BBC4 documentary My Asian Family – The Musical, directed by BAFTA award-winning Brian Hill before publishing her debut poetry book, That Which Can Be Heard, with Burning Eye Books.
You can catch Shruti Chauhan’s Bollywood Tamasha on BBC Radio Leicester every Thursday evening (6-10pm), on DAB from 6pm, and on 104.9FM/DAB/BBC Sounds from 7-10pm.
