EastEnders does Bollywood

The nation’s popular soap EastEnders has bedazzled us in the past couple of days. In true EastEnders’ style, the end of the year shows were laced with murder, walkouts, old secrets coming out, renewed engagements (Rickaaay & Bianca) and a big fat juicy wedding.

This year the big and happy event of Albert Square was the colourful wedding of Syed Masood (Marc Elliott) and Amira Shah (Preeya Kalidas). Syed is the first born of the Masood family and the apple of his mother’s eye. He loves his family and wants to make his mum proud even at the cost of and his own feelings. Despite being and knowing he is gay he would not break his family and go against his Muslim religion and tradition, so he went ahead with his marriage. His wife to be Amira is a stunning spoiled princess and a snob, she has no clue that her best friend is in love with her fiancé. Christian (John Partridge) tough on the outside but a real softie in the inside is madly in love with his best friends’ future husband Syed.

Zainab’s (Nina Wadia) lavish and expensive plans for her eldest son’s wedding has caused her husband to break his leg, pushed her future daughter-in-law into steeling from her own father and put her family on the verge of bankruptcy. But eight month pregnant Zainab Masood ran a tight ship and delivered an Asian extravaganza ignoring all expenses and their consequence. The dancing lessens, the groom riding a white horse around the square serenaded by drummers, the beautifully catered food and splendour of a perfect wedding ending with the newlywed driven away by horse and carriage.

My favourite scene was; Masood uninviting and kicking out his older ‘religious and practising’ brother after finding out that the brother has made inappropriate advances towards Zainab. The brother was only invited to bail Masood out, he needed his money to pay back Amira’s father the money she took without his knowledge. The disowned brother bitterly spewed out, “who is going to pay for your son’s wedding now?” and in true Bollywood style out of nowhere Amira’s father steppes into the scene saving the day, “I will, I will pay for their wedding”!