Shobna Gulati (born 7 August 1966) is a British actress, writer, and dancer. Gulati is a soap star best known for playing Anita in Victoria Wood's dinnerladies, Sunita Alahan in the long-running soap opera Coronation Street from 2001 to 2006, a role to which she returned at the end of 2009 and departed again in 2013, and Farah Khurana in River City from 2017 to 2018. From 13 March 2013 to 30 May 2014, Gulati appeared as a panellist on the lunchtime chatshow Loose Women. Gulati is also one of very few actors to have appeared on both Coronation Street and its rival series EastEnders in 2000. Gulati was born in Oldham, Lancashire to parents of Hindu Indian descent. She has a degree in Arabic and Middle Eastern politics from the University of Manchester. One of Gulati's earliest appearances was as a dancer in the video for Boy George's 19...