There’s only room for one Panesar patriarch in EastEnders – and Nish (Navin Chowdhry) is determined that he’s going to reclaim what he sees as his rightful place at the head of the family.
While Nish was in jail for the past 20 years for murder, his family have always been on his mind, as Navin Chowdhry explains.
‘He feels a huge, heart-breaking pain that he’s missed out on 20 years of his children’s lives, but he wants to reconnect with them on his terms,’ says the actor. ‘He is desperate to rebuild the life that he lost through his own actions, but Nish blames everybody but himself.’
This immediately brings Nish into conflict with his eldest son, Kheerat (Jaz Singh Deol).
‘Nish says to Ash (Gurlaine Kaur Garcha) that at a young age, Kheerat had to become the head of the family and a father figure for the other children,’ Navin told us. ‘Nish readily admits Kheerat took on that responsibility which, rightfully, he cannot relinquish now his dad is out.
‘Nish reconnects with the younger ones – Ash and Vinny (Shiv Jalota) – because he knows he can easily win them over. He does have genuine compassion and love for them, but it’s on his terms. With Kheerat, Nish probably sees a lot of himself, and knows he’s the biggest challenge. But if Nish can’t win Kheerat over, he’ll get him out of the way. If anybody stands in Nish’s way, they do not stand a chance.’
There’s no doubting that Nish is a dangerous man who in the past has been abusive and controlling towards Suki (Balvinder Sopal) and has had no qualms about killing anyone who got in his way. Should Kheerat be afraid of what his father might do?
‘Nish believes that the empire the Panesars built while he was in prison belongs to him,’ Navin says. ‘And with that comes conflict with Kheerat and Suki. Nish is coming out as a man on a mission to reclaim what he believes is rightfully his.’
In other words, yes – Kheerat should be very afraid indeed.
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