Christian & Syed - Press and Interviews

[gaysoapfan]

Nitin Ganatra on today's episode:

Ganatra Praises 'Enders Attack Twist
Wednesday, April 28
By Daniel Kilkelly

EastEnders star Nitin Ganatra has admitted that he was pleased when he learned that Masood Ahmed would leave his son's former lover Christian Clarke to be attacked in a forthcoming episode of the soap.

The surprise twist occurs following Syed Masood's (Marc Elliott) recent decision to finally go public over his secret relationship with Christian, leaving his wife Amira (Preeya Kalidas) heartbroken.

Fans will soon see Christian (John Partridge) get beaten up by a gang of thugs led by Amira's father Qadim (Ramon Tikaram), who is furious over the barman's behaviour. Although Masood witnesses the attack, he decides to walk straight on without helping Christian.

Speaking to DS about the shock moment, Ganatra explained: "I love it! Masood can often be too nice or too laid-back but he's flexible. So for them to write that Masood walks on by when Christian's being beaten up--that's such a brilliant additional layer to the character.

"We get to see an even darker side of Masood. When we filmed the first take of that scene, all the extras and the crew gasped and started hissing!"

The actor confirmed that he does not regard Qadim's violence as a "homophobic attack", instead describing it as "an angry dad venting his frustration".

He added: "But what confused me was that he didn't beat up Syed--I'm still not sure why they didn't do that. We've been questioning why and I'm sure they had a good reason, but I think that's one for Dom [Treadwell-Collins] and the story team!"

[gaysoapfan]

Interviews with Nitin and Nina from Digital Spy. There aren't spoilers precisely, but there is discussion of possible future directions.

* * *

Ganatra Calls for More Chryed "Conflict"
By Daniel Kilkelly

Nitin Ganatra has admitted that he would like to see more trouble ahead for Christian and Syed in EastEnders.

The actor, who plays Syed's father Masood Ahmed, claimed that testing times for the Walford pair are necessary due to the nature of relationships in soap.

Speaking to DS, Ganatra commented: "One part of me would like to see them together and then go for civil marriage and then adoption.

"The problem is, though, once you've found happiness in soapland, that's usually the end of your lifespan in the show. In order for them to survive, I don't want to see them together! There has to be conflict!"

Christian (John Partridge) and Syed's (Marc Elliott) affair was finally exposed to all earlier this week, leading to the departure of Syed's heartbroken wife Amira, played by Preeya Kalidas.

Asked whether he was sad to see Kalidas bow out, Ganatra replied: "Of course. The Masoods get along so well and it's such a rare blessing to enjoy being around the actors that you work with. She had a great send-off."

* * *

Nina Wadia on Tonight's 'EastEnders'
By Kris Green

Hot off the heels of my recent interview with EastEnders actor Nitin Ganatra, here's a fresh chat with DS favorite Nina Wadia.

Tonight's Albert Square offering sees Masood finally discover the true extent of Zainab's deception--and throws her out of the house.

How does Masood react to the news that Zainab's known since the wedding?

"For Zainab's character, the fear's not even so much that Masood knows that Syed's gay--it's the fear that Masood then finds out that Zainab already knew. When he tells her about what he's seen at the flat, she pretends it was a shock to her system again. She panics. If she'd been honest and brave and said she knew straight away, it might not have been so bad for her but the fact that she keeps it to herself…"

It's actually Jane who blurts out the truth isn't it?

"Yes, it sets the whole thing off and at that point she can't backtrack. Zainab tries, she actually goes to Jane and Ian for a bit of advice and Jane says to her, 'You've just got to be honest, just make it work'. So she goes back expecting that she'll be able to convince Masood otherwise. She temporarily does but he tells her she has to change and she can't help herself. There's an incident at the dining table with Tamwar who, in the middle of everything, announces that he doesn't want to go to university after all! That's the last thing she can take--she's at breaking point--and she can't help who she is.

"Then, Zainab says to Masood 'I don't care, you're going to go' and Masood says 'You're never going to change'. At that moment, he makes the decision to throw her out."

Tell us about the scene where Masood throws Zainab out.

"Oh man! I just hope viewers don't notice that when I'm inside the house I'm a size smaller than when I'm thrown out of the house! The reason for that is that I was wearing two sets of thermals and a wetsuit because I was so cold! It was one of the coldest days ever and we decided to do a rain scene in which I get thrown outside in a very thin sweater. The lovely wardrobe department know how cold I get, so they got me this amazing wetsuit to wear and thermals which is great but it had to go under a very thin layered outfit!

"I thought I was being really smart by going to the guys who do the rain machine effect and said 'Why don't we make it warm water?' but they said, 'Because it'll look like you're having a hot shower because of the condensation!'

"I ended up with a little bit of a bruise on my chest and neck because Masood physically throws me out and when we go for it we go for it! I desperately try and get back in the house and he won't let me. He holds my face and basically pushes me away. It was really quite horrible."

Was it weird filming that sort of scene with Nitin?

"It was. Nitin has a fire in his eyes and he's angry and it's quite scary. It's not good to bear the brunt of that but it's a testament to how good an actor he is. We really do vibe off each other and I feel incredibly blessed to work with him. Whatever the energy is between us that sparks us off it seems to translate onto screen. I hope they never break them up because I don't want to lose that."

Will Zainab and Masood survive this ordeal?

"I hope so. I think it would be a real tragedy for them if these two ever fall apart but this is soapland so who knows?"

Then Syed's the one to rush to Zainab's aid.

"That's more about what Syed's character is going through. He loves his mother and I think he's got to the point where now that it's all out and he's numbed by everything being out he just decides that the only way forward with Zainab is to tolerate her. I think he understands where it's coming from, that she is just this out-of-control, depressed woman who has no-one to turn to. Zainab can't change. It's that thing with siblings and parents. It's always the siblings who need to change their behaviour because the parents get set in their ways. The older you get the harder it is to change.

"I think that's what this is--he feels that the only way they're ever going to get their relationship to work is if he thinks, 'I know she loves me and she's doing this because she loves me so I'm just going to have to tolerate this woman'."

What can you tell us about what's to come for the Masoods?

"We don't know. We've had a change of exec and I went up to meet the lovely Bryan Kirkwood and I don't know! I think his personal thing is that he wants to take us back to our comedy roots. I hope he can manage it because it'll be very sad for Zainab to lose that about her. I love doing the drama, don't get me wrong, but you do take it home with you!"

Do you think that Zainab will ever discover that Amira was pregnant?

"Oh, that's an interesting one…."

Zainab won't go hunting her down will she?

"Of course she will--if she finds out!"

* * *

I think the most interesting part of all this is Nina's remark to the effect that Bryan Kirkwood plans to take the Masoods "back to their comedy roots." That would be a huge change of direction, since it's gotten so dark. I can see why the actors would welcome that, though. Both Marc and Nina have spoken about how emotionally difficult filming these recent and upcoming scenes has been.

[Zathras]

Interesting interviews, thanks gaysoapfan . I didn't know Bryan Kirkwood was over at EE now.

[HQ75]

John Partridge and Marc Elliott
on "This Morning"
Pre Soap Awards Interview

[gaysoapfan]

A brief interview with Himesh Patel (Tamwar) from Digital Spy. Warning: spoilerish!

* * *

'Enders Star Grateful for Elliott Scenes
Friday, July 16 2010
By Daniel Kilkelly

EastEnders star Himesh Patel has revealed that he is glad to be sharing more scenes with his screen brother Marc Elliott.

Speaking on This Morning, the actor praised forthcoming episodes which see his character Tamwar Masood supporting Elliott's alter ego Syed while the rest of the caterer's family struggle to accept his sexuality.

Patel explained: "That's been lovely to play because I get on with Marc really well and we were just looking forward to getting to do some stuff together, because mainly it was him and Amira, and Tamwar was off doing his own sort of thing.

"Now that they've put Tamwar in a position where he's the only real family member that Syed has left, it's great stuff."

Discussing the future of Syed's storyline, he said: "We've reached a new chapter in the story. When we last saw Syed, he thought he could cure himself of being gay, which is a bit silly really, but he was put in a position where he was completely desperate and he thought that what he was feeling wasn't right.

"But I think over the next few episodes, we're going to see him just come to terms with the fact that this is his life and there's nothing wrong with being Muslim and being gay."

Patel has previously described Syed's plot as "a really, really great step in the right direction."

[maya]

thank you for the interview, I like Tamwar role in Chryed storyline