Parminder Nagra/ Neela Rasgotra

Wow, her dresses are so nice. It's so cute that the ER cast did things for her, like the wedding bands.

She looks beautiful

Very beautiful dress Mindi had.

Those are amazing!

She looked so happy, and Im so glad the ER people were there!

I think Shanes promoting one of his many movies, so maybe thats the reason why he isnt there.

Awwness! She looks lovely. Congrats to them

What was the last thing you bought?

Two maternity tops from A Pea in a Pod in LA. I'm five-and-a-half months pregnant.

Have you bought much maternity clothing?

Not really. I buy normal clothes, just a size bigger. I have had to buy maternity jeans though.

Where's your favourite shopping destination?

London. It's much more hip than Los Angeles. I bought some funky boots from Dune recently and everyone here in LA loved them.

Who is your ideal shopping companion?

Natalie Portman or Keira [Knightley] - she has an amazing style.

What shops do you miss in the UK?

Next. I always end up going there. It's really good for basics.

What are your favourite shops?

Anthropologie because it's slightly offbeat and unusual. I like simple lines. I went through a phase of wearing a lot of Ted Baker and Reiss - I was thrilled when they opened here. Apart from my Indian clothes, my wardrobe is filled with navy- blue, gold and black.

Where do you buy Indian styles?

There's an area called Artesia in LA County where they have sari boutiques and lots of great handbags.

Have you been shopping for the baby?

I just started. I have to try not to get carried away though, because all the clothes are so cute. I saw some ridiculously expensive designer baby shoes, but I could hear my mother's voice in my head saying: "The baby will grow out of them in four weeks."

• Parminder Nagra stars in In Your Dreams, out on DVD on 9 February.


source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/jan/30/1

Parminder Nagra is eating her full-monty American diner-style breakfast with the enthusiasm of the several-months pregnant. It's a chilly morning in Los Angeles - it'll be 80F by lunchtime, though - and she is wrapped up warm, exhibiting little of the blazing-eyed defiance and vulnerability that is her staple as an actor. She is excellent company, with a healthy loud laugh, warming to such topics as exile, America versus the UK, and the changing fortunes of artists of Indian, Anglo-Indian and south Asian descent in the 21st century.

This spring, Nagra completes her six-year stint as trainee doctor Neela Rasgotra on ER, as the US drama, for 15 years the mainstay of NBC's Thursday night schedule, bows out. Now 33, Nagra joined the cast when she was just 26, the unknown star of the surprise smash Bend It Like Beckham. Much to her bemusement, her role in the girls-and-goals movie led to Fifa declaring her footballing personality of the year. The Leicester-born actor was a near total newcomer to LA and the US then; now she's a fully fledged local girl, with two dogs, a new house in the hills above Los Feliz, a list of good local Indian restaurants on the fridge, and a baby on the way, courtesy of her photographer husband.

"I've had such a blast," she says of her ER character, who's lost one husband to a roadside bomb in Iraq and a lover to a double amputation for which she was made to feel responsible. "I've been on it for about the same time as you might spend at college, six years - a large amount of time. About a month ago, I started to get quite emotional about it all coming to an end."

One thing she didn't really notice about her role when she started was how quietly groundbreaking it was for Indian actors in the US. "I didn't think much of it at the time, until I read articles people were writing: 'First mainstream Indian character on American network TV!' That's thrilling in itself, because the only other one at that time was Apu on The Simpsons, and I always had problems with his accent."

Try being part-Scottish in America, I say, and living through Groundskeeper Willie's horrible accent. "That's the thing with The Simpsons," she says. "You end up imitating the accent, even though you know it's wrong. That's how good that show is! Luckily for me, I was allowed to keep my own accent on ER, which was great, considering I was already going to have to learn these reams of medical terminology - it's almost like learning Shakespearean language."

Being Asian in the US is not quite the same as in the UK. There's no post-imperial umbilical connection, no established Asian political infrastructure, and relatively few Asian elected officials. Even the word has a different meaning: "Here it means, like, Chinese or Japanese. When I say I'm Asian, they go, 'Oh, you mean south Asian.' So I now know to say I'm south Asian. It's more specific, but in a way I like that more. And then the word Indian has a whole other set of complex historical meanings. I hate those forms you get at the doctors: 'What's your ethnicity? Indian subcontinent?' I have no idea how to answer this question."

This complexity was folded into her ER character right from the off. "They asked me, 'What, traditionally, would happen in this situation?' I said I'd just like to let this character play out without all that - try to see what any young twentysomething girl moving somewhere new is going to feel like. Of course, I have my heritage. It's not like I don't want to talk about it; it's such a part of me - but it's not two different identities, it's one and the same. Ever since then, the storylines I've had have usually been about the cases, not about - oh my God! - her traditional family background. I feel, even more so than the shows I did in England, that we've really nailed it: me being allowed to play a character for six seasons and not being stuck in this kind of political arena. Plus they love all those English swearwords like 'bollocks' and 'wanker'."

There are other differences between working in the US and the UK: "In England, it feels like there's a lot more material to be had. In terms of the British-Asian experience, we kept seeing things about arranged marriages, mixed-race relationships, with things imploding then ending well. There were more British Indians getting into it recently - writing their own work and getting it made - instead of other people writing what they thought those experiences were. America still has some catching up to do in that regard."

One of the pleasures of working on ER, she says, was its ensemble feel, the fact that cast and crew could move up through the ranks. "It's one of those rare places where they're very nurturing. Somebody who started as an assistant finally got his first episode made, which he wrote. That's amazing. I don't know how quickly that would happen in England: there's always some stumbling block. In England, there are fewer people deciding your fate, or whether something's any good. Here, the industry is a lot bigger and richer. There are more companies to go to, more decision-makers, more networks to approach."

Last year, Nagra returned home and took on a somewhat different role in an ITV drama called Compulsion. A modern-day rendering of Thomas Middleton's Jacobean tragedy The Changeling set among the British-Indian bourgeoisie, Compulsion was due to screen at Christmas but is now scheduled for May. Nagra has the prime role as the princessy, stone-hearted daughter of a successful businessman, who uses the family chauffeur/henchman, played by Ray Winstone, to get rid of the bore she's arranged to be married to. She then finds she quite likes being evil, and is more than slightly turned on by this brute she's always despised. There is a lot of sex.

"When the script turned up, there was a lot of very heightened sexuality in it, and the arranged marriage thing again. But knowing Ray was in it, I thought, 'I can't just get stuck on that.' As I read further, I thought, 'Oh my God, this is an awful person!' I kept reading, looking for some redeeming feature. Most characters I get, there's some light at the end of the tunnel, but with this one there was nothing. I started to like it for that reason." And working with Ray Winstone? "Now there's someone who sticks with his accent - even when he's playing Henry VIII!"

How about all those sex scenes? "We couldn't stop laughing. We mainly talked about food - 'I wonder if it's shepherd's pie for lunch today?' - even in the middle of these sizzling clinches. You really mark it out, then say, 'Tell me when you're running and we'll just go for it.' It's very awkward at the best of times, but Ray's great with women. He has to be. He's surrounded by women at home: wife, three daughters - no peace."

We finish by talking about Obama's presidency ("best soap opera ever") and Jhumpa Lahiri's novel The Namesake, about Bengali immigrants in New York, which was made into a movie by Mira Nair in 2006. "That film is so right about what it's like being an immigrant, constantly adapting all the time, parent or child. You end up respecting the parents for what they went through and what they sacrificed. They came from India to make a new life. I can relate to that in that I made a move over here. But I had a great job and I speak the language. And I wouldn't have had that if my mum hadn't moved to England."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/mar/09/parminder-nagra

What a lovely article - I have to say, Parminder just sounds like a down to earth lovely person. Can I call her my new best friend? I would love to grab dinner with her.

Side note that Ray B. (since there's another Ray in this article) is called a "lover" and the only two love interests that are mentioned are Ray and Michael. The only two that matter!!! bwa-hah-hah-hah!

EDIT: Thanks Admin for putting this up - I like to read this stuff to make sure the actors are nice people in real life. Parminder's article is a far cry from Julianna's in TV Guide.

Thanks for posting!

Is so cute that they are al getting emotional!

Loved that Ray and Mike were the only ones they named, and Plus they love all those English swearwords like 'bollocks' and 'wanker'." give me a good laugh

Here's a sweet video of Mindi talking about her baby shower and joy of being a new mother. She looks wonderful! http://news.sawf.org/Gossip/57259.aspx

g-unit wrote:

Here's a sweet video of Mindi talking about her baby shower and joy of being a new mother. She looks wonderful! http://news.sawf.org/Gossip/57259.aspx

Aww thanks for posting this G, it's really lovely. She looks great doesn't she?And she seems so nice as well

She was so cute!!

Wish she could have said something about Reela, but I guess she couldnt.

Here's another video from Access Hollywood: http://news.sawf.org/Entertainment/57305.aspx

Thanks G! I don't get it - this entire article makes it sound like she just filmed her last episode, when we know that's not the case.

Meaning her last appearance is in the context of a...surprise?

Huh.

Kay20 wrote:

Thanks G! I don't get it - this entire article makes it sound like she just filmed her last episode, when we know that's not the case.

Meaning her last appearance is in the context of a...surprise?

Huh.

Yeah I got that vibe as well, she said it was almost like it was saying goodbye to neela, almost? so its not her final appearance yet...besides, she was on the set of er in different scrubs, so thats a no.

Just curious.

Was that interview supposed to be on set. Because if it was, Parminder was very obviously in maternity garb and in a baby goods store!!!

GalwayGirl wrote:

Just curious.

Was that interview supposed to be on set. Because if it was, Parminder was very obviously in maternity garb and in a baby goods store!!!

Yeh, you can't help but notice that! - wow, I wonder what's in store for us? - It did look like a set for sure

Also, you could say she has filmed her last appearance as a County doc - I still think we'll now see her out of hospital scenes, just as they did with Luka.

I'm pretty sure I read an article sometime back that said that Parminder had just finished her scenes for the series finale. She definitely shot for them. Otherwise, where did that pic of her in green scrubs come from? I'm pretty sure the filming of ER is officially over---since John Wells is planning that new series...

GalwayGirl: I'm pretty sure that is her own baby shower. She looks gorgeous!

Admin wrote:

I'm pretty sure I read an article sometime back that said that Parminder had just finished her scenes for the series finale. She definitely shot for them.

I've been trying to find that article for the past 2 days Admin. Do you know where it is? It was posted somewhere on this board a couple weeks ago I think. But I can't find it for the life of me.

Ack---I know it's here somewhere. And lol, the fact we both confirmed it, means it exists, but yeah, I can't find it for now...maybe whoever posted it has an idea?

ETA: This is from Ask Kristin (not the same article but confirms that Mindi will be in the last two eps)

Morgan in Seattle: I've heard rumors that Parminder Nagra is leaving ER before the series finale. Please tell me this isn't true!

We heard the same thing, but sources close to the show tell me that while her last "big episode" called "Shifting Equilibrium," airs March 19, Neela does appear in the remaining episodes of ER, which I'm guessing means they won't leave her out of the April 2 series finale.

Admin wrote:

Ack---I know it's here somewhere. And lol, the fact we both confirmed it, means it exists, but yeah, I can't find it for now...maybe whoever posted it has an idea?

ETA: This is from Ask Kristin (not the same article but confirms that Mindi will be in the last two eps)

Morgan in Seattle: I've heard rumors that Parminder Nagra is leaving ER before the series finale. Please tell me this isn't true!

We heard the same thing, but sources close to the show tell me that while her last "big episode" called "Shifting Equilibrium," airs March 19, Neela does appear in the remaining episodes of ER, which I'm guessing means they won't leave her out of the April 2 series finale.

Fhew, then this right there just proves we got more reela in store for us..why be in it at all if she left county? ray..

Admin wrote:

Ack---I know it's here somewhere. And lol, the fact we both confirmed it, means it exists, but yeah, I can't find it for now...maybe whoever posted it has an idea?

Oh my god! I found it! It was in the episode 20 spoiler thread. And guess what? I was the one that posted it!lol Anyway, she did film in the finale for sure! Here it is:

While Thursday night is the homecoming episode, next Thursday night marks a major point of closure for Nagra’s character, Dr. Neela Rasgotra, as she embarks on her last day at County General. Nagra, whose first child with husband James Stenson is due in early summer, fully utilized all her acting chops for the powerful episode, she says. “I go through a half gallon of emotions.” Last week also marked the filming of her last scene in the two-part series finale that airs March 26 and April 2. “There was this weird kind of giddiness about it on stage. I think people have been dealing different ways. For me, certainly it was just wanting to enjoy that one last moment with people who I’ve spent so much time with.”

http://blogs.usaweekend.com/whos_news/2009/03/past-er-stars-r.html

g-unit wrote:

Admin wrote:

Ack---I know it's here somewhere. And lol, the fact we both confirmed it, means it exists, but yeah, I can't find it for now...maybe whoever posted it has an idea?

Oh my god! I found it! It was in the episode 20 spoiler thread. And guess what? I was the one that posted it!lol Anyway, she did film in the finale for sure! Here it is:

While Thursday night is the homecoming episode, next Thursday night marks a major point of closure for Nagra’s character, Dr. Neela Rasgotra, as she embarks on her last day at County General. Nagra, whose first child with husband James Stenson is due in early summer, fully utilized all her acting chops for the powerful episode, she says. “I go through a half gallon of emotions.” Last week also marked the filming of her last scene in the two-part series finale that airs March 26 and April 2. “There was this weird kind of giddiness about it on stage. I think people have been dealing different ways. For me, certainly it was just wanting to enjoy that one last moment with people who I’ve spent so much time with.”

http://blogs.usaweekend.com/whos_news/2009/03/past-er-stars-r.html

Sweet, that proves it right there, more reela...

americanamuchacha020 wrote:

g-unit wrote:

Admin wrote:

Ack---I know it's here somewhere. And lol, the fact we both confirmed it, means it exists, but yeah, I can't find it for now...maybe whoever posted it has an idea?

Oh my god! I found it! It was in the episode 20 spoiler thread. And guess what? I was the one that posted it!lol Anyway, she did film in the finale for sure! Here it is:

While Thursday night is the homecoming episode, next Thursday night marks a major point of closure for Nagra’s character, Dr. Neela Rasgotra, as she embarks on her last day at County General. Nagra, whose first child with husband James Stenson is due in early summer, fully utilized all her acting chops for the powerful episode, she says. “I go through a half gallon of emotions.” Last week also marked the filming of her last scene in the two-part series finale that airs March 26 and April 2. “There was this weird kind of giddiness about it on stage. I think people have been dealing different ways. For me, certainly it was just wanting to enjoy that one last moment with people who I’ve spent so much time with.”

http://blogs.usaweekend.com/whos_news/2009/03/past-er-stars-r.html

Sweet, that proves it right there, more reela...

I figured Neela wouldn't be left out of the last two episodes. I don't mean to rain on ne1's happiness but be cautious b/c just b/c she's in the next two episodes doesn't mean Shane will be. I hope and think he should b in order to give Reela proper closure, but it would also depend on shane's schedule when they filmed the last 2 episodes. They may have Neela in it talkin to some1 on the phone that's at County and she may reference Ray, but they could leave him out of it. Of course I hope and pray i am wrong, but I like to be ready for the worse case scenario.

SEM was right, I really need to stay off the boards....any negative speculation just really burns me.