EastEnders fans gobsmacked by real-life age gap between Ravi and on-screen daughter Avani
EastEnders fans have been left gobsmacked after discovering the age gap between Ravi star Aaron Thiara and his on-screen daughter Avani Nandra-Hart actor Aaliyah James
EastEnders fans have been left scratching their heads after discovering the minor age difference between Ravi Gulati actor Aaron Thiara and Aaliyah James, who portrays his on-screen daughter Avani Nandra-Hart.
Ravi made his entrance into Walford in 2022 as the hidden estranged offspring of local baddie Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry). Shortly after setting foot in the Square, Ravi killed his adoptive father Ranveer Gulati (Anil Goutam) and pinned the blame on his stepmother Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal).
He then attempted to woo Denise Fox (Diane Parish) behind her husband Jack Branning’s (Scott Maslen) back, before falling for Chelsea Fox (Zaraah Abrahams) – a romance that was short-lived.
Ravi was taken aback when his distant ex-lover Priya Nandra-Hart (Sophie Khan Levy) reached out to her estranged son Nugget (Juhaim Rasul Choudhury) and introduced their daughter Avani to the Panesar clan, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Schoolgirl Avani has left her mark on Walford with her cheeky charm and bold demeanour. However, in this week’s episodes of the BBC soap, Avani has been left shaken after being assaulted by her older boyfriend.
The drama kicked off when Nugget cunningly noticed Avani messaging her older beau Mason (Alex Draper) and threatened to reveal all to their dad Ravi.
Avani has been weaving a tale to her mum Priya, suggesting that her love interest is Albert Square’s newcomer Barney (Lewis Bridgeman), who landed in the summer alongside his older brother Harry (Elijah Holloway) and their dad Teddy (Roland Manookian).
However, Mason has been nudging Avani to take their relationship to the next level. But when they met on Monday (October 21), Avani firmly stated she wasn’t ready to sleep with him as the pressure mounted.
Her brave honesty emerged after Mason picked her up in his car and found a hidden spot between some garages. As he began to get closer to Avani, she looked terrified and wanted to leave.
Shortly afterwards, Mason labelled Avani a ‘tease’, before aggressively throwing her to the ground and causing her lip to burst. Nugget swiftly found Avani and guided her to safety at Walford East, leaving Ravi fuming.
Ravi quickly located bookworm Barney in the Square’s gardens, wrongly assuming he was the one who assaulted his daughter.
Off-screen, despite portraying father and daughter, there’s only a seven-year age difference between the two actors. While Aaliyah James portrays teenager Avani, the actor was born in June 2000, whereas Ravi star Aaron Thiara was born in May 1993
EastEnders fans have expressed their surprise on social media about the minor age gap between the two.
On X, one user was gobsmacked, posting: “Just found out that Ravi’s actor and Avani’s actor are only 7 years apart in age #Eastenders.”
Another fan couldn’t hide their surprise, commenting: “SHE’S TWENTY FOUR?? “, followed by another simply exclaiming: “WHAT!!! “.
Adding to the humour, one viewer quipped: “Modern day Kathy and Ian”, whilst another shared their disbelief: “Actually can’t believe he’s younger than me” Meanwhile, someone else echoed the shock with: “She’s supposed to be 15??!”
EastEnders airs Monday – Thursday at 7:30pm on BBC One and iPlayer
