Sanjay Kapoor (EastEnders)
| Sanjay Kapoor | |
|---|---|
| EastEnders character | |
Sharmilla Kapoor | |
| Stepsons | Arjun Kapoor |
Sanjay Kapoor is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Deepak Verma from 9 February 1993 to 24 September 1998.
Sanjay is a market trader, and has an eye for the ladies and a weakness for gambling. He is always full of big ideas and get-rich-quick schemes, which never work.
Storylines
Sanjay is first seen in
Sanjay doesn't get along with
Late one night in early January, much earlier than expected, Gita comes home. As she creeps into the flat to check on Sharmilla, she sees Sanjay and Meena sleeping naked in her bed. Hurt and disgusted, Gita throws them out of the flat amid a tirade of abuse. She goes on to refuse Sanjay access to their stall, and to Sharmilla, and then tells Meena's husband, Jerry McKenzie, about the affair. After many insults and much provocation from Jerry, an enraged Sanjay finally admits that he'd been having sex with Meena for months, 3 or 4 nights a week. Gita takes Sharmilla and leaves Walford, but a few months later they return and move back into the flat. She and Sanjay share the stall work and care of Sharmilla and Sanjay believes he and Gita will be back together soon. But Meena is also around too much, trying to reconcile with Gita as well, which frustrates his efforts. Later the year, Gita becomes the target of
In September, Sanjay returns to India to look after his dying grandfather, on his return, he mistakenly thinks that Gita has been having sex with
In October, Gita announces she is taking Sharmilla and going to visit her sister for a few days. She keeps postponing her return, and Sanjay enjoys his freedom, spending his time drinking, gambling, and flirting. Gita announces that she is finally returning with Sharmilla in January 1998, but Sanjay is late to meet them at the train station. When he finally arrives, they are nowhere to be seen. When there is still no sign of them days later, Sanjay calls the police, but they suspect that he has something to do with his wife's disappearance. They question everyone on the Square and build up a picture of a feeble, infertile womanizer who is prone to aggressive outbursts towards his wife. Next the police see blood on the door of Sanjay's van and are skeptical when Sanjay explains that it is his. Their theory is proven correct when DNA tests confirm that the blood matches Gita's type, not Sanjay's. Sanjay is arrested on suspicion of murder. Sanjay's solicitor manages to get him released and tells him they have no real evidence and were holding him in the hope that he would confess. Eventually the police confirm that the blood isn't either Gita's or Sharmilla's, so Sanjay is in the clear.
Sanjay spends the rest of the year gambling and drinking himself into a stupor and he eventually accepts that Gita and Sharmilla are probably dead. But that July, Gita contacts her friend on the Square, Ruth Fowler (Caroline Paterson). She desperately needs money and help but makes Ruth promise not to tell Sanjay. However, Sanjay finds out and makes Ruth take him with her to meet Gita in Birmingham. They are shocked to discover Gita with a newborn baby. She explains that she had become pregnant after a one-night stand and had run away instead of facing Sanjay; then the father had abandoned her. Sanjay is furious, but after much soul-searching he decides he can be a loving father to this innocent new child, Arjun(Amar Malik), and give their marriage another chance. Unable to forgive her daughter-in-law's infidelity, Neelam decided to return to India; she disowns Sanjay on her way out. Sanjay and Gita are happy for the short while until local reporter Polly Becker (Victoria Gould) discovers their recent scandal. After secretly taping confessions from Sanjay and Ruth, she gets their shocking story published in the Walford Gazette. Suddenly all of Walford know what had transpired in Gita's absence. From then on, Sanjay and Gita are hounded by reporters and Sharmilla is bullied at school. The Kapoors decide that their only option is to leave Walford forever. Their last appearance is in September 1998.
Development
In 1998, EastEnders acquired a new executive producer, Matthew Robinson. Robinson was dubbed "the axeman" in the British press, after a large proportion of the EastEnders cast either quit, or were culled, shortly after Robinson's introduction. It was reported that Robinson hoped the changes would attract more viewers and "spice up [the soap's fictional setting of] Walford".[1]
Among the departing characters were long-running Asian family the Kapoors, including Sanjay,
Reception
In 2020, Sara Wallis and Ian Hyland from The Daily Mirror placed Sanjay 88th on their ranked list of the best EastEnders characters of all time, calling him "Handsome" and commenting on his "eye for the ladies" and "huge gambling problem" did not "go down well" with Gita.[4]
References
- ^ "Entertainment: Soaps battle to be World Cup winners". BBC News. 14 July 1998. Retrieved 18 February 2008.
- ^ Veronica Lee (13 May 2002). "Serial killers". The Independent. Archived from the original on 5 November 2010. Retrieved 18 February 2008.
- ^ "Black actors for TV soap". The News Letter. 7 March 1998. Retrieved 18 February 2008.
- ^ Sara Wallis; Ian Hyland (12 June 2020). "100 Best EastEnders characters ever". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 20 October 2023.