Asian Power Couples
Rishi Rich & Manrina Rhode Rekhi Rich
Rishpal Singh Rekhi (Rishi Rich) is a British Indian music producer based in London. He began
his career in the Asian Underground scene and later became internationally known for his
Bhangra tracks, Hindi remixes, and as a pioneer of Indian-R&B fusion music. Through the Rishi
Rich Project, he was responsible for launching British Asian talents such as Jay Sean and Juggy
D. He now runs Rishi Rich Productions with contracts with a number of South Asian British
artists including H-Dhami, Mumzy Stranger, Veronica Mehta, Tasha Tah and Abbas Hasan. In
September 2011 he married his childhood sweetheart, Manrina Rhode.
Rishi Rich & Manrina Rhode Rekhi Rich
Manrina Rhode Rekhi Rich is a British actress and model. She is also a trained cosmetic dentist
and qualified from Guys Hospital, London in 2003. She gained a Master’s qualification in
Aesthetic Dentistry and is a group associate of the British Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. She
currently works at The London Smile Clinic and has made several television appearances and
magazine interviews discussing cosmetic dentistry and is also a media envoy for the British
Dental Association. However her passion for acting and performing led her to appearing on the
big screen. She is currently shooting for a British film ‘Amar, Akbar & Tony’ and has also pursued
a career in modeling that has seen her walk the catwalk for Asiana Magazine.
Raj & Reshma Ruia
Raj Ruia is president of TiE in Manchester, Managing Director of the successful Bolton-based
textiles firm Richard Haworth and Co and a board member of the family-run Ruia Group which
imports and distributes sheets, towels, socks and underwear. Recently the Ruia Group has
diversified, moving into the coffee shop market, with outlets of its Rhode Island chain in the
North of England. The business, which has headquarters at Kearsley Mill in Farnworth, was
founded by brothers Bhim and Jitu Ruia in the mid 1980s and employs around 500 people.
Raj & Reshma Ruia
Reshma Ruia was born in India and grew up in Rome, Italy. After an undergraduate degree in
International Relations and post graduate degree in Economic History from LSE, she moved
back to Rome where she worked as a development economist with the United Nations and
the OECD in Paris. She is now based in Manchester, where she has recently completed a PhD in
Creative Writing from Manchester University. She is the author of Something Black in the Lentil
Soup and she has finished her second novel, A Mouthful of Silence.
Suhayl Saadi & Alina Mirza
Suhayl Saadi was born in Yorkshire of Afghan-Pakistani parents, and grew up in Glasgow,
becoming a medical doctor. He is a physician, author and dramatist whose varied literary
output includes novels, short stories, anthologies of fiction, song lyrics and plays for stage and
radio. His 2004 novel Psychoraag won a PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award and the
National Literary Award (the Patras Bokhari Prize) in Pakistan. Suhayl was a board member and
co-director of the arts production company Heer Productions Limited alongside his wife Alina
Mirza.
Suhayl Saadi & Alina Mirza
Alina Mirza was the artistic director of Heer Productions Ltd, Glasgow from 2004 until 2010. She
is a medical doctor who came to the UK in 1991 to complete a masters degree in public health.
She met and married Suhayl Saadi and settled in Scotland. Alina established the film and crossarts form production company, Heer Productions Ltd, in 2004 and organised Europe’s first ever
Pakistani film, media and arts festival in Glasgow in 2005. In 2009, Alina was awarded the British
Muslims House of Lords Honour for Arts and Culture.
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