"I was hungry for more."
Jaz Singh Deol took to Instagram to reveal why he left EastEnders.
The actor joined the soap in 2019 as Kheerat Panesar.
Kheerat was the quintessential Punjabi, presiding over his family and wearing a turban.
With Kheerat were his brothers Jagvir ‘Jags’ Panesar (Amar Adatia) and Vinny Panesar (Shiv Jalota).
The brothers were introduced as the relatives of the established character Ashneet ‘Ash’ Panesar (Gurlaine Kaur Garcha).
They were joined by their mother Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal) in 2020, while their father Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry) arrived in September 2022.
In November 2022, Kheerat made an unannounced departure from EastEnders after falsely confessing to Ranveer Gulati’s (Anil Goutam) murder.
He did this to save his mother Suki from going to prison for the crime. However, Ranveer was killed by his adopted son Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara).
Jaz posted a picture of himself on Instagram. In a lengthy caption, he explained why he chose to leave EastEnders:
“People have been asking what life has been like post leaving not only a great show but a fantastic character that I not only had the privilege of playing but building and creating over my tenure with some amazing cast, crew and executive producers.
“It not only meant so much to the fans but people from my community.
“To this day, almost two years on, people come up to me and share how much they miss him. You and me both.
“So why did I choose to leave? Because it felt right and I was hungry for more.
“This is the start of something that I believe I’m going to offer to the world.
“It will take however long it takes because that is what it means to be a Journeyman actor.
“Has it been easy? No, but nothing that you dream of is. I’ve never been someone to take the comfortable path.
“But I love what I do and I believe in it. I’m built for this.
“I’m grateful for the things that are now happening externally, but more importantly internally.
“Life throws you surprising lessons to learn.
“Dream big, have faith and NEVER give up.
“Lots of love to you all who follow me and share the love. I do it all for you.”
The post elicited positive reactions from people.
Toby-Alexander Smith, who played Kheerat’s enemy Gray Atkins in EastEnders, commented:
“I miss our fights and running out of burning buildings!”
A fan wrote: “The day your character was sent down was an incredibly sad day.
“It broke my heart not only for the character leaving but you yourself going.
“Amazing actor and I was so envious of Lacey [Turner] playing your girlfriend.
“Both of you worked so well together. I hope we will see you in something soon. Thanks for this post.”
While in the show, Jaz was involved in some significant storylines.
These included a relationship with Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) and discovering his mother in bed with Eve Unwin (Heather Peace).
He quickly established himself as one of the soap’s most iconic South Asian characters.
Since leaving the show, Jaz has opened an organisation to teach budding actors.
Meanwhile, EastEnders continues on Monday, July 22, 2024.
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