Navin Chowdhry’s co-stars have paid tribute to him following his exit from EastEnders.
The actor, who played Nish Panesar for two years, left the BBC One soap last week. It was a dramatic exit for Nish, as his final scenes aired at the same time The Six storyline reached a conclusion.
After discovering the truth about Keanu Taylor’s (Danny Walters) death, Nish took advantage of Suki (Balvinder Sopal) and the rest of The Six.
As Nish plotted, so did Suki. She told the group of women if she gets back with Nish, he would eventually agree to take the blame for Keanu’s murder.
Once the former couple decided wine was needed for their dinner, Suki headed to the Minute Mart for time alone. After she sent Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) home, Stacey arrived in search of an update.
Suki was in tears by this point and told Stacey it didn’t look as though their plan was going to work.
As they chatted, Nish was alone and becoming very angry. By the time Suki returned, a fuming Nish took his anger out on her and wondered why she cannot love him anymore.
As Nish pushed Suki onto the table, Avani Nandra-Hart (Aaliyah James), Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) and Nugget Gulati (Juhaim Rasul Choudhury) arrived. Stacey pulled Nish from Suki as Avani screamed at her granddad to stop. In the kitchen, the two characters had a conversation as Avani became terrified of Nish’s dark behaviour.
She said that while she loves Nish, she knows Suki doesn’t and if he has any good in his heart, he will let her go.
Seeing Avani utterly terrified was seemingly enough for the fog to be lifted from Nish’s mind. For the first time in what felt like forever, he had actually listened to someone.
With that, Nish left the Panesar home and instructed The Six to enter the pub. There, he spoke about the events of Christmas Day and wanted to know exactly how Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) killed Keanu. As blue lights approached Walford, a few members of the group thought Nish had called the police for them – but that thankfully wasn’t the case.
At the Panesar home, Nish spoke to DCI Arthurs and spun a massive story that made it look as though he orchestrated Keanu’s death. Given his previous conviction after murdering an old family friend, Nish’s fate was sealed.
Outside, as fireworks lit up the sky, The Six watched as Nish was placed into a police car and driven away.
Now Nish has departed, Navin has spent time paying tribute to his EastEnders co-stars and more specifically, his Panesar family members.
Sharing a sweet video of himself, Aaron Thiara (Ravi Gulati), Balvinder and Shiv Jalota (Vinny Panesar), Navin simply wrote alongside: ‘Family ♥️🙏🏾♥️🙏🏾’.
Navin, Aaron, Balvinder and Shiv can be seen hugging and smiling in the small video. In the comments section, Aaron wrote: ‘The best two years with you on screen Father ❤️🙏🏽❤️’ while Gurlaine Kaur Garcha, who played Suki and Nish’s daughter Ash, said: ‘Love you onscreen dad. the very best of the best. so lucky to have shared the screen with you xxxxxx’.
Nish Panesar arrived in Walford in 2022, after spending well over 20 years behind bars for murder. As he got settled back into family life, his coercive and abusive behaviour resurfaced, forcing Suki to live in fear everyday.
Their marriage ended due to Suki falling in love with Eve Panesar (Heather Peace).
With time, Suki eventually managed to free herself from Nish’s clutches, something he refused to accept.
Earlier this year, Nish told the Panesars that he had been diagnosed with a heart condition. For a while, viewers of the BBC One soap thought Nish’s exit would see him killed off.
While this looks like it could still happen, Nish will more than likely die behind bars now.
