Bad Indian sells out Soho House - Hong Kong

Bad Indian has gone international, selling out its first Hong Kong performance at Soho House on 24 September.

Before becoming an actor and writer, Saaj Raja spent four years living and working in the city, building a career in finance before eventually walking away from that world and returning to the UK to pursue a life in the arts.

Performed to a packed room at Soho House Hong Kong, Bad Indian took audiences through Saaj’s experiences of growing up British Indian, navigating family and cultural expectations, burning out on a trading floor and ultimately questioning what it means to live a life shaped by other people’s ideas of success.

The sold-out performance marked another milestone for a show that began life in scratch performances and intimate spaces before going on to sell out multiple London dates.

For Saaj, the show was a homecoming of sorts , returning to a city where one chapter of his life had unfolded, this time as an artist telling the story of what came next.

Bad Indian now returns to London for three performances at Riverside Studios from 13-15 October, followed by two performances as part of Lambeth Fringe at the Bread & Roses Theatre on 21-22 October.

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Riverside Tickets

Lambeth Fringe Tickets

Bad Indian featured on Riverside Radio

Bad Indian was recently featured on Riverside Radio’s Spotlight, a programme celebrating emerging theatre and creative work across London.

Writer and performer Saaj Raja joined the show to talk about the journey behind Bad Indian, the process of developing a deeply personal solo show, and how the production has grown from its early scratch performances into a full-length piece.

The conversation also looks ahead to an exciting few months for the show, with upcoming London performances and Bad Indian heading overseas for its first international dates in Hong Kong.

The Glitch, Waterloo — 9 & 10 September 2026
Soho House Hong Kong — 24 September 2026
Fai Gai, Hong Kong — 25 September 2026
Riverside Studios, London — 13, 14 & 15 October 2026
Lambeth Fringe — 21 & 22 October 2026

Full Circle at Deptford Scratch: Saaj Raja Returns as a Judge

A year after Bad Indian first appeared at Deptford Scratch, Saaj Raja has returned to Deptford Lounge, this time on the other side of the table.

In 2025, Bad Indian was selected for Deptford Scratch, marking the show’s first mini London iteration. At the time, the piece existed as a short extract: an opportunity to put the work in front of an audience, test the material and begin discovering what the show could become. Since then, Bad Indian has developed into a full-length solo show, selling out performances across London and preparing to travel to Hong Kong this September.

Last week, Saaj joined creatives Gloria Akpoke and Brad Tutt for Deptford Scratch’s first A Seat at the Table: Global Majority Spotlight. Led by producer and Deptford Scratch founder Jessica Fowler, the group read and discussed new writing before helping to select the pieces that will be presented at the next Deptford Scratch.

For Saaj, returning to the place that gave Bad Indian one of its earliest London platforms felt particularly significant. Scratch nights can be an important first step for new work. They give artists the chance to experiment, hear their writing in a room and begin understanding how an idea might develop in front of an audience. For Bad Indian, Deptford Scratch was exactly that.

What began as a ten-minute sharing has since grown into an ambitious full-length production, with performances across London and its first international dates ahead. Returning to help select the next group of artists offered a fitting full-circle moment and a reminder that sometimes a much bigger journey can begin with just ten minutes in a room.

Who Am I? - Play - Stanley Art Centre - London

Saaj Raja is currently in rehearsals for Who Am I?, a powerful new play presented by Mukul and Ghetto Tigers. The production explores questions of identity through the experiences of second and third generation children whose families left pre-partition India, migrated to East Africa, and were later displaced again during the 1972 Ugandan exodus.

Written by Tarun Jasani and inspired by oral histories, the play asks how the struggles of parents and grandparents continue to shape the lives of young people growing up in Britain today.

For Saaj, whose own Gujarati heritage is rooted in this history of migration, the project feels deeply personal. “It’s a reminder of the resilience of those who came before us, and the complexities of what it means to belong”.

The evening also features a film screening and an interactive panel discussion provocatively titled: “So somebody asked me, ‘Britain? Where do you really come from?’” - a question many from diaspora communities will instantly recognise.

Who Am I? promises to be both moving and thought-provoking, and Saaj is honoured to be part of a team bringing these vital stories to the stage.

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