EastEnders is celebrating a milestone birthday for Avani Nandra-Hart (Aaliyah James) with a big ‘sweet 16’ bash.
Earlier this week, the teenager Avani was joined by her older brother Davinder ‘Nugget’ Gulati (Juhaim Rasul Choudhury) and he recommended the siblings start inviting friends ahead of the celebrations.
But her brother then implied he will be turning 18 soon, as he said: “And my 18th ain’t far away. I’ve got to celebrate that too”.
Their dad Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara) agreed to go all out for his daughter’s birthday with no expense spared. However, the businessman is currently struggling financially after Bernie Taylor (Clair Norris) drained the Panesar business accounts.
In an attempt to earn some cash quickly, Ravi got involved in a drug scam and hid his stash in the boot of a car which he parked at The Arches.
But Harry Mitchell (Elijah Holloway) soon discovered the drugs were missing before Kojo Asare (Dayo Koleosho) admitted to flushing them down the toilet.
Harry staged a break in at the garage and told Ravi his stash had been stolen before agreeing to throw Avani’s birthday party at Harry’s Barn, for free.
Ravi arrived in Walford back in 2022 as the estranged secret son of local villain Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry).
Not long after he step foot in the Square, Ravi murdered his adoptive father Ranveer Gulati (Anil Goutam) and framed his stepmum Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal).
He then tried to romance Denise Fox (Diane Parish) behind the back of her husband Jack Branning (Scott Maslen), before finding love with Chelsea Fox (Zaraah Abrahams) – which didn’t last long.
In 2023, Ravi was shocked when his estranged ex-lover Priya Nandra-Hart (Sophie Khan Levy) got in contact with her long lost son Nugget (Juhaim Rasul Choudhury) and introduced their daughter Avani to the Panesar family.
Schoolgirl Avani has made her mark in Walford thanks to her cheeky personality and brash attitude.
Away from the soap, despite playing father and daughter, there is only a seven year age gap between the two actors.
Although Aaliyah James plays teenager Avani, the actor was born in June 2000 making her 25 years old, while Ravi star Aaron Thiara was born in May 1993 and is 32.
The age gap between Aaliyah and Sophie Khan Levy, who plays Avani’s mum Priya, is also much smaller than what is portrayed on the show.
Sophie is 35 years old, meaning there’s only an 10 year age gap between herself and her on-screen daughter.
