Manners McDade's Simon Russell Scores Channel 4's 'The Curry House Kid'

Manners McDade's Simon Russell has provided the score for Channel 4's latest film, 'The Curry House Kid'. Produced and directed by Nick Poyntz, the film follows world-renowned choreographer Akram Khan and his journey back to the curry houses of his childhood. Exploring the lives of chefs who were part of his childhood and established the Bangladeshi-owned curry houses on London’s Brick Lane, with an aim to tell a story of immigrant success in the face of hostility and racism. Akram’s father himself was a Bangladeshi immigrant, and expected him to inherit the family-run business, however Akram chose a very different path and is now one of the world’s leading dancers and choreographers.

Simon Russell is a London-based, award-winning composer, known for his work using found sounds, sampling and electronics. In 2009, Simon scored Havana Marking’s documentary feature, Afghan Star that went on to claim two Sundance awards, The Grierson Award 2009, and a Prix Italia. In the same year, Simon scored From St Peter’s To St Paul’s, that won the RTS Award for Best Arts Documentary. He has also scored Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer which won a Sundance Award and the Best Documentary prize at the British Independent Film Awards in 2013.

Other notable documentary works include We Are Many (directed Amir Amirani), about the demonstrations against the Iraq war in 2003, (a score for which Simon collaborated with Alex Baranowski), Smash & Grab (directed by Havana Marking), an innovative documentary about the notorious diamond thieves, the Pink Panthers; Vote Afghanistan! (directed Martin Herring & Havana Marking), about the country’s first free elections in 2009; a number of series fronted by Waldemar Januzczak, including The Dark Ages – An Age Of Light, a 4-part series looking at art and architecture in the Middle Ages, and the 4-part Renaissance Unchained, both for BBC4, and 52 episodes of the animated show Canimals, for Aardman.

Most recently he was worked on projects such as James Bluemel's remarkable BBC documentary series Exodus: Our Journey to Europe (Which was awarded two BAFTA's, RTS Best Documentary Series 2017 & Prix Italia 2016) and Exodus: Our Journey Continues. Simon also worked on ITV’s three-part series; Joanna Lumley’s India, in 2017. 

'The Curry House Kid' airs on Channel 4, Monday 29 April