Pravesh Kumar is the Artistic Director and Chief Executive of award winning Rifco Theatre Company, he was awarded an MBE in the Queens Honours list 2022 for Service to Theatre. He started the company in 2000 to make a different kind of theatre for a community that could not see themselves represented on English stages. He has been at the forefront of bringing new British South Asian audiences into theatres in their thousands, often for the first time by making entertaining and accessible theatre.
Pravesh has a background in film and worked in the commercial Indian film industry often called Bollywood for many years. His theatrical directorial debut was in 2000 with a UK tour of Bollywood – Yet Another Love Story. He has gone on to achieve critical acclaim for Rifco’s productions: Dishoom!, Pyar Actually, Miss Meena & the Masala Queens, Laila The Musical, Britain’s Got Bhangra, Happy Birthday Sunita, It Ain’t All Bollywood, There’s Something About Simmy, Airport 2000, Meri Christmas, Where’s My Desi Soulmate?, The Deranged Marriage and Break The Floorboards.
His short film, Gods on Mountains was nominated for the Satyajit Ray Short Film Award. His short film The Deranged Marriage was selected for the BAFTA accredited BUFF festival in 2019. Most recently Pravesh wrote the book for the acclaimed rap musical, Mushy: Lyrically Speaking. Pravesh is currently writing an ambitious new main stage musical and in post-production on his debut feature film Little English. He leads on the Rifco Associates programme finding new British South Asian voices of the future.