Ace Bhatti

Ahsen Rafiq Bhatti (born 13 September 1969), known professionally as Ahsen Bhatti until 2008 and as Ace Bhatti thereafter, is a British actor who trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He has starred in numerous television series, including New Street Law, Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee, The Sarah Jane Adventures as Haresh Chandra and in EastEnders playing villain Yusef Khan (2010–2011).

Ace Bhatti
Born
Ahsen Rafiq Bhatti

(1969-09-13) 13 September 1969
Nottingham, England
OccupationActor
Years active1984–present

Career

Bhatti began acting at age fourteen starring in the children series Dramarama, however it wasn't until the nineties until he furthered his career, for which he appeared in the British soap opera Family Pride, Band of Gold, Holding On, and most notably as Dr Rajesh Rajah in Cardiac Arrest, among many other television roles during this time. In 2002 Bhatti made a brief appearance in Bend It Like Beckham, played the central character Dave in BBC Three's dark comedy Grease Monkeys (2003), and played flashy Ash Aslan in 2006's New Street Law. In 2007 he took on a minor role for two episodes in the first series of Secret Diary of a Call Girl as Ashok, a regular client of the main character, Belle. He reappeared in 2010 in the same role. In 2008 Bhatti appeared as a supporting character in the second series of The Sarah Jane Adventures, and reprised his role for the third series in 2009, the fourth series in 2010 and in the fifth series in 2011. Although credited in his early career by his birth name Ahsen Bhatti, Bhatti changed his professional name to Ace Bhatti (Ace is a childhood nickname). In 2011 he played Commander Khokar in the BBC2 series The Shadow Line.

In April 2013, Bhatti became a patron of Theatre Royal Wakefield. In 2018, he played Freddie Mercury's father Bomi Bulsara in the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.

EastEnders

In 2010, Bhatti was cast as Yusef Khan, the father of already established character Afia Masood (Meryl Fernandes). Bhatti was already known to EastEnders executive producer Bryan Kirkwood when he auditioned for the part, as Kirkwood and Bhatti worked on Coronation Street at the same time. Bhatti was the only actor who auditioned for the part of Yusef.[1] In fact, Wadia recommended Bhatti to Kirkwood to play Yusef, as she "thought that he definitely had the quality that Yusef would need—which is a very ambiguous but charming quality!"[2] Bhatti explained to Digital Spy that the EastEnders cast are very welcoming. He explained: "They're so welcoming. There's a lot of joking about. I'm having a great time at EastEnders - it's a real privilege to be here. I've known Nitin and Nina Wadia, who plays Zainab, for a very long time and we've always got on very well. Nitin and I play tense scenes together so it's nice that we can have a laugh afterwards."[3] He featured in a Domestic violence storyline in late 2011 with co-star Nina Wadia who plays Yusef's wife Zainab. Yusef starts to abuse Zainab both physically and mentally. He forbids Zainab to leave the house and later starts using her son, Kamil, to control her. Wadia explains that she wants the storyline to have a positive impact against real-life violence. She told BBC News :"I think the idea behind showing a strong woman like Zainab changing like this is to show that it can happen to even the strongest of women. They can change and they can be manipulated - especially if they're isolated from their friends and family. The manipulator can take advantage, so it's to prove that it can even happen to people like her. To be honest, if even one woman rings that Action Line at the end of the show and there's some difference made to her life, I'll feel like we've done our job," she continued. "It is a serious issue and I'm glad it's being highlighted. I hope that it wakes anyone up - not just women, I know that there are abused men out there as well. So if it gives anyone the strength to leave a relationship like that, we'll have done our job."[4] The scenes where Yusef refused to let Zainab see Kamil pulled in 8.69m viewers at 7.30pm. BBC Three's repeat of the episode later secured 994k viewers at 10pm.[5]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1984 DramaramaEddie
1995 Treasure of the Peacock's EyeIndian Lieutenant
1995 Brothers in TroubleIrshad
Ghostbusters of East FinchleyDI Cunliffe
1997 Sixth HappinessCyrus
1998 VerdictSanjay Mehta Q.C.
1999 CleopatraSceptical Citizen
GraftersTom
Last ChristmasDoctor
2000 Peak PracticeSpecialist
Harbour LightsRamesh
Silent WitnessDCI Ranjeet Naval
2001 Love or MoneyAli
2002 Bend It Like BeckhamNairobi Grandson
2003 EmmerdaleBobby Khan
2004 The DeputyNickhall Gangwani
The Secret of Year SixAbdul
2005 Ultimate ForceHandsome
Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee HeeDeepak
2006 Bradford RiotsFaisal
GoldplatedHaq
2007 FrankensteinDr. Dhillon
2009 New TricksGeeten Mistry
Coming UpShahid
Wish 143Consultant
2010 My LadAziz
It's a Wonderful AfterlifeTej
Break Clause Kadir
2013 The Last WitchDoctor
2014 Amar Akbar & TonyDoc
2018 High Strung, Free Dance Ravi
2018 Bohemian RhapsodyBomi Bulsara

Television
Year Title Role Notes
1991 Family PrideSuresh
1994–95 Cardiac ArrestDr. Rajesh Rajah
1995–96 Band of GoldDez4 episodes
1997–08 The BillSunil Davdra4 episodes
1997 Holding OnZahid
2000 Urban GothicJim Takeshi
2001 NCS: ManhuntDC Johnny Khan
Dalziel and PascoeRavi Ghataura
2002 NCS: ManhuntDC Johnny Khan
2002–05 Holby CityAndy Fishman
2003 The Second ComingPeter Gupta
2003–04 Grease MonkeysDave Dhillon20 episodes
2004 BodiesRajesh Rajah
2005 Cold BloodAjay Roychowdury
2005–06 Coronation StreetJayesh Parekh
2006 Blue MurderSaadiq Aziz
2006–07 Cold Blood 2Ajay Roychowdury
2006–07 New Street LawAsh Aslan10 episodes
2007 CasualtyAndy Fishman
2007–08 Cold BloodDC Ajay Roychowdury
2007–08 Secret Diary of a Call GirlAshok3 episodes
2008 Kiss of DeathMiles Trueman
2008–11 The Sarah Jane AdventuresHaresh Chandra24 episodes
2009 CasualtyRafiq
The FixerSupari
SpooksAmish Mani
2010–11 EastEndersYusef Khan94 episodes
2011 The Shadow LineCommander Khokar4 episodes
2012 Midsomer MurdersHarry Dutta1 episode
2014 Silent WitnessMousa RashidEpisode: "Commodity" (2 parts)
SilkDani Kakwani2 episodes
From There to HereDI Graves2 episodes
In the ClubVinay1 episode
LewisRizwan NooranEpisode: "Entry Wounds"
2015 Father BrownSyrusEpisode: "The Lair of the Libertines"
Jekyll and HydeDr. Vishal Najaran3 episodes
2016 ShetlandCalvin Sarwar3 episodes
BeowulfHarken4 episodes
DCI BanksMalik Nadir4 episodes
2017 Three GirlsNazir Afzal2 episodes
2017 Still Star-Crossed Venetian MoneylenderEpisode: "The Course of True Love Never Did Run Smooth"
2017 Love, Lies and Records Mr. Hussain1 episode
2018 Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators Chester PattersonEpisode: "This Rough Magic"
2018 No Offence (TV series)Mayor Hassan3 episodes
2018 Hounslow Diaries Uncle Abdul AzeezEpisode: "Pilot"
2019 Line of Duty PCC Rohan Sindwhani 4 episodes
2020 The Stranger Parth Kuhalam
2020 Alex RiderJohn Crawley8 episodes


References
  1. "Meet Whitby's soap star doctor". Whitby Gazette. 18 March 2011. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
  2. "More 'EastEnders' chat from Nina Wadia". Digital Spy. London: Hachette Filipacchi UK. 31 March 2011. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
  3. Rainey, Naomi. "Ace Bhatti: 'Enders cast are so welcoming'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
  4. Kilkelly, Daniel. "'EastEnders' Yusef plot should have positive impact, says Nina Wadia". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  5. Kilkelly, Daniel. "'EastEnders' Yusef drama pulls in 8.7m". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
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