Theatre Collaborations

  • Cornucopia Theatre Company presents its fifth site-specific Shakespeare production in London, Sept 2017 - Oct 2017.  Najma co-composes music with James Hesford, for the adaption of William Shakespeare’s, ‘PERICLES’. Najma sings and acts the role of the narrator. The production was directed by Mark Duncan.  12 performances.
  • Mama Quilla Theatre project 2015 – Musical Composition - Commissioned to write specific vocal pieces for the Singing Stones, a triad of short plays each offering a poetic, fearless and sometimes funny exploration of women and the Arab revolutions. Najma also guested live on the press nights.
  • West End Musical, titled ‘The Far Pavilions.’ Najma was invited to be part of the musical collaborative team to help co-write some of the Indian influenced based songs. 
  • Made a debut performance as an actress and vocalist at the prestigious National Theatre in London, in an ensemble production titled ‘Haroon and The Sea of Stories’- an adaptation of a book by Salman Rushdie and directed by Tim Supple. The play ran in rep from October 1998 to January 1999
  • Invited by the Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Really Useful Group’ to come and coach the cast of the ‘BOMBAY DREAMS’ team in vocal technique. 2002
  • A five-month project where Najma wrote composed and acted in the Tara Arts epic trilogy production ‘The Journey To The West’. 2002
  • Participated in various collaborative workshops with the theatre company ‘Theatre Mélange’ 2002
  • Invited to take part in the Unicorn Theatre workshops in the development of their new production titled ‘The Arabian Nights’. 2001
  • Participated in Theatre Royal Stratford East workshop, titled ‘Music in Theatre’ which involved a collaboration of artists from various backgrounds to deliver a work in progress short musical. 2001
  • Undertook a singing and acting collaboration with English / French based ‘Theatre Mélange’ Company on a touring production titled, ‘The Cinnamon Veil’. 2000
  • Completed a singing and acting collaboration with Tara Arts Theatre Company, titled ‘Genesis’.  (14 week project) 1999

Film and TV Collaborations 

  • Jools Holland & Najma Akhtar co-present a musical extravaganza ‘Later Presents.... Rhythms of Islam.’ On BBC 2 TV programme, as part of  ‘Later with Jools series, 2001
    Introduce artists from the archives, including Public Enemy and Youssou N'Dour. Producer Serena Cross 
  • Jean Baptiste Mondino directed a video to Najma’s music used by fashion designer, Azzedene Alaia for his International Fashion show and video.
  • Co-wrote a song with classical composer Jocelyn Pook for the soundtrack for the movie ‘Brick Lane’. 2008
  • Composed and co-wrote songs with the Fratelli brothers for a short film titled ‘The Fat Plague. (Filmed in India) It was screened on Channel 4 UK and The National Geographic TV Channel. 2005
  • Najma was one of the judges alongside Bollywood Music Director Nadeem / Shravan and UK ‘s Kuljit Bhamra at the Asian Star search competition. 
  • Recorded vocal sound track for The National Geographic TV documentary.  
  • Recorded vocals for Channel 4 documentary on the ‘Kumbha Mela’. 2001
  • Recorded vocals for the History Channel TV documentary, titled ‘The Ganges.’
  • Wrote, composed, recorded and sang 13 songs for a full-length UK film production titled ‘Bollywood Queen’. The album soundtrack was released and published with MCS music / Conexion Music. 2002
  • Wrote the Urdu / Hindi lyrics for the released single titled ‘Butterfly’, for the above film.
  •  Najma’s music has also been used in many other motion picture soundtracks including:     
  • ‘People I Know’ starring Al Pacino and Kim Bassinger.
  •  Robert Altman's film, "Pret a Porter".
  •  Hanif Kureishi's film, "Sammy and Rosie Get Laid",
  •  The movie ‘Brick Lane’ adapted from the best seller novel by Monica Ali.
  • ‘Without a trace’  USA TV series
  • Vocals used for a number of TV commercials.
  • Recorded vocals for a BBC 2 TV wildlife programme titled, ‘The Tigers Of The Emerald Forest.’
  • Recorded ‘Bollywood Style’ songs for an English short film titled, ‘Sari’s and Trainers.’1999
  • Featured in the video for Japan’s Fuji Bank TV commercial.
  • Featured in the Stan Harrison’s video for the track titled ‘The Optimist’ 
  • Played lead role in a UK Urdu TV Drama production, titled ‘Kizmet Road’ screened on Asian Channels in 2001.
  • A guest appearance in a Granada TV Production called ‘Family Pride.’ 1998
  • Modelled a specially designed outfit on the catwalk for the BBC1 programme ‘The Clothes Show’. 1998
  • Images of Najma used in TV commercials i.e. the USA telephone company AT&T screened for Canada and the States.