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Kumars creator dies aged 40
Mark Blunden30 Jan 2009
THE writer who created the Emmy Award-winning comedy Goodness Gracious Me has died after contracting a rare infection.
Sharat Sardana, 40, collapsed at his father's home with a streptococcal virus and died on Tuesday, four days later, surrounded by family and friends in Whipps Cross University Hospital.
Sardana, who was born in Wanstead, achieved fame and fortune after writing the popular BBC series Goodness Gracious Me. He then went on to write and produce The Kumars At No 42. Most of his characters were based on his family members.
Goodness Gracious Me was the first Asian comedy to break into the British mainstream.
His mother, Raj, one of Britain's first women Indian doctors, died from cancer aged 74, less than a year before her son. The writer collapsed on Friday at the Wanstead home of his 82-year-old father, Om.
His cousin, Anita Kirpal, a psychologist, said: "It is impossible to describe the sadness caused by Sharat's sudden death. He was a funny, insightful man, a great writer, a true friend and a generous family member."
As well as reaping success with Goodness Gracious Me, Sardana enjoyed the collaboration of long-time colleagues Meera Syal and Sanjeev Bhaskar. The couple, who married in 2005, also worked with him on The Kumars, which ran for seven series until 2006.
It won an International Emmy and three Bafta nominations. Goodness Gracious Me spanned three series and two specials, a theatre tour and also received a Bafta nomination.
Ms Kirpal said: "By his mid-thirties he seemingly had it all: the Porsche, the loft in Shoreditch, and he had started dating Miss World."
Sardana, whose comedy heroes were Richard Pryor and Woody Allen, attended Forest School in Snaresbrook, where he met his lifetime writing partner Richard Pinto. In the early Nineties, he met Bhaskar and Syal and spent hours in Al's Café Bar in Exmouth Market, Clerkenwell, developing skits for Goodness Gracious Me. They created characters including Mr "Everything Comes from India" and the snooty Kapoors.
The sketch about "going for an English" - satirising the English trait of getting plastered in the pub and then going for a curry - in which Sardana also appears, is consistently voted one of the funniest of all time. The team's big break came in 1996 when the show was commissioned by Radio Four and later BBC2, with early music by Nitin Sawhney.
Ms Kirpal, 43, added: "Sharat was always very witty. He was able to take family jokes and make them work with a wide audience." Up to his death he was working on a series he hoped would become a male version of Sex & The City.
■Sardana's funeral will be next Wednesday at the City of London Crematorium in Manor Park at 5pm.
Reader views (10)
Cut down in the prime of his life sad, but he leave behind memories for us all to remember.
sincere condolences to his family, RIP
- Surk, london, 02/02/2009 02:02
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what a great man and a great friend he was a real person to chat to and have fun with
never a real man like this and a family will ever cross my life its great to have had the chance to know him im gifted with just that thought
- jimmy cosma, enfiled, 31/01/2009 00:16
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Sharat Sardana was clearly a very talented man his shows often caused me to both think and have a bloody good laugh at the same time.
- Mike Melbourne, Bedford England, 30/01/2009 21:52
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HE WAS A JEWEL TO THE FAMILY CAP.HE WAS VERY HANDSOME,TALL,EMOTIONAL,AFFECTIONATE TO ALL FAMILY & FRIENDS.THIS IS THE EVER BIGGEST LOSS TO THE FAMILY WHICH CAN NOT BE DESCRIBED IN TEARS.WE ALL PREY TO GOD TO TAKE HIM IN HIS LAP.
- Suryansh-Divyansh-Mini-Rajiv Bajaj, NEW DELHI - INDIA, 30/01/2009 18:16
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A very sad loss - Goodness Gracious Me was one of my favourite comedies. RIP
- Matthew, Cheltenham/Cornwall/London, 30/01/2009 17:08
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A sad loss. Goodness... was ground breaking stuff in its day, and gave us some great Asian comedians putting British Asian comedy on the map
- Dhanraj, Basildon Essex, 30/01/2009 16:40
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didnt get to meet him, but he brought great joy and laughter into our lives and living room. God Bless his soul
- Uma Menon, madras, india, 30/01/2009 15:00
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Tragedy. We all love Goodness Gracious Me! You will not be forgotten.
My condolences to his family and friends. R.I.P.
- Coco, New York, US, 30/01/2009 14:46
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What an absolute tragedy, Goodness Gracious Me was one of the all time great Radio 4 comedy programmes. My deepest condolences to his family and friends.
- Andrew, Cambridge, 30/01/2009 13:07
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Thank you Mark for a lovely tribute to a unique soul, who is already greatly missed by those privileged to have called him a friend.
RIP Sharat.
- Mandi Martin, London, England, 30/01/2009 11:31
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