By Liam de Brun
Copyright manchestereveningnews
EastEnders star Aaron Thiara has claimed that Ravi Gulati is ‘not the villain’ in a ‘desperate’ admission during a live TV appearance. Aaron joined the BBC soap as the drug dealer back in 2022, initially introduced to Phil Mitchell while Steve McFadden’s character was in prison. Quickly becoming a fan favourite, the son of Nish Panesar has been struggling in recent months trying to balance his family life and criminal activities. Running a drugs operation in Kojo Asare’s flat, with Harry Mitchell and Okie helping him, Ravi has also been attempting to rekindle his romance with the mother of his kids Priya Nandra-Hart. Recent weeks have seen his former rival Jack Branning catch on to his suspicous behaviour, with the pair previously in a love triangle with Denise Fox. Jack eventually found Ravi’s gun, leading to a brawl between the pair that resulted in the accidental shooting of Zoe Slater . Now, Ravi is attempting to blackmail Jack into paying him £100,000 in exchange for his silence as their rivalry looks set for plenty more twists and turns. Appearing on Friday’s (September 12) edition of ITV talk show Lorraine, Aaron had nothing but nice things to say about Jack actor Scott Maslen and Denise’s Diane Parish. “I actually love Scott. To have had a few years working with him and Diane is a real gift and that’s something I don’t take lightly. I’ve learnt so much from him. “He’s done this gig for so many years and been in the industry. We prepare as actors very differently, but I feel the yin and yang kind of helps,” he told Ranvir Singh . Despite the amount of tense scenes between the pair, Aaron revealed that Scott’s ‘very relaxed’ approach helps his nerves before filming. Looking towards the future, Aaron teased that the blackmail plot is set to go ‘up a gear again’ in the coming weeks. He explained: “We’ve also just seen that he’s got caught in the spider’s web with the drug business that he’s involved in. He’s wanted to get out, so that’s gonna put more pressure on him. “So, he’s gonna get a bit more desperate. But then an opportunity will present itself next week between Ravi and Jack… “What’s been brilliant with what Ben Wadey, our producer, and the story people have kind of put together with the story is the pressure that he’s got from loads of different places. He doesn’t really want to be doing it, that’s how I see it.” While Ravi’s antics are frowned upon by the majority of those who know what he’s up to, Aaron remains sympathetic to his character due to Bernie Taylor stealing his family’s money. “I don’t think Ravi is [a villain]. I don’t think he wants to be doing it. He might see himself as being good at doing it, but we did see a few months ago that Bernie Taylor had taken a lot of the money. So, he needed to make money quickly. Really, Bernie’s the villain here,” he claimed.
